View all Host Rooms

Report by CTBUH Advisory Group Member Mic Patterson, Enclos

Hosted By:

On October 26 and 27, the Façade Tectonics Institute assembled a world-class lineup of building façade specialists at the CTBUH 2015 International Conference in New York City. The host room, titled Skinning the Tall Building: Framing the Future of Building Façade Technology, featured a series of presentations and panels from experts in an intimate, standing-room only venue that yielded an expressive, and at times impassioned, dialogue.

Facade-1

Delegates gather to discuss how emerging materials and diverging design practices are dictating today’s building skin applications.

The two-day program featured five sessions and 20 speakers. Emerging materials and diverging design practices are dictating today’s building skin applications. To address this, session one featured a lineup of façade luminaries discussing “The Expanding Palette of Façade Materials and Systems.” Chair Silvia Prandelli , of Werner Sobek, framed the discussion on material-driven design trends and developments in façade technology. Presenter Charles Blomberg, Rafael Viñoly Architects, kicked off the event by discussing the evolution of building façade technologies throughout his career: out are horizontal ribbon windows, in are naturally lit, highly transparent enclosures. Next, Bill Kreysler, Kreysler & Associates, discussed the growing potential of polymers in architectural applications. Edward Peck, Thornton Tomasetti, followed with an examination of the expanding palette of façade materials and systems, intelligent combinations and layering of technologies, the integration of kinetic systems, and innovative shading systems.

Transparency was the theme of session two, under the banner of “Myths & Tales of Transparency: Bringing Clarity to Emergent Façade Technology.” CTBUH Advisory Group member Mic Patterson, Enclos, led the dialogue on transparent façade technologies and the role of natural light. Cross-disciplinary designer James Carpenter, James Carpenter Design Associates, discussed the optics of light, and how design, structure, and craft all contribute to the artistic and performative aspects of a naturally lit built environment. James O’Callaghan, Eckersley O’Callaghan, followed with a presentation discussing his firm’s pursuit of engineered transparency and oversized glass. O’Callaghan ended, however, with the declaration, “Size mattered. Now Energy Governs,” a sentiment built upon by Nico Kienzl, Atelier Ten, who discussed energy profiles and façade optimization strategies for tall buildings. In particular, Kienzl noted that the role of the building envelope will become exponentially important as other systems (HVAC, electrical lighting, etc.) reach their limits of optimization. Referring to advanced building skin applications to date, he ended with a quote from William Blake: “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

Facade-2

The Tall Building Façade Room featured a number of panel discussions on changing façade design.

Day one concluded with the themed session “Performative Skins: Integrative Solutions to Multiple Performance Drivers.” Chair Peter Arbour, Vidaris, kicked off the discussion with performance drivers and integrative solutions, before leading into a presentation by Stephen Selkowitz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Selkowitz discussed high-performance façades in detail, including strategies to achieve a 50–80 percent reduction in carbon through urban planning, smart glazing technologies, and alternative energy sources. Selkowitz firmly believes that it is possible to design a highly glazed façade system that outperforms insulated, opaque walls in any climate zone. The key is identifying crucial parameters and performance requirements, new material development, and daylighting simulation/optimization. Building specialist Lance Bischoff, AKRF, followed with a primer on acoustical design – an expanding field as the world continues surges toward urbanization – and the multiple physical properties that contribute to the auditory performance of wall systems. Deborah Moelis, Handel Architects, closed the session with an insider’s look at the thermally broken wall system designs, solar orientation optimization, and shading techniques employed at Cornell Tech’s 26-story residential building currently under construction in New York. The building is designed to be the tallest passive house high-rise in the world, and its influence on a sustainable built environment is a potential game changer.

Renewing the previous day’s discourse, session four began with a panel of advanced façade practitioners addressing the theme “Tall Tales: Framing the Future of Tall Building Facades.” Chair Dr. Winfried Heusler, Schüco, launched the discussion with an international perspective by discussing performance drivers stateside versus the European market. Using three climatologically diverse case studies, Christoph Timm, SOM, followed with a discussion on window to wall ratios, sun shading analysis and optimization, and vortex shedding techniques employed by his firm. Peter Simmonds, Building and System Analytics, built on this theme with a presentation on the role of building simulations, form refinement of geometrically complex façades, active façades, and passive ventilation strategies. Peter Weismantle, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, wrapped up the session with a presentation of Jeddah Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which will be the tallest building in the world upon completion in 2018. Weismantle discussed his firm’s commitment to designing elegantly simple façade systems, balancing efficiency of performance and cost. Remarkably, the tower employs only a single major wall type.

20151026CTBUH_NYC_SM_1665

The two-day program featured five sessions and 20 speakers.

Session Five brought the event to a close with a session themed “Skin & Bones: Integrative Solutions to Envelope & Structure.” Chair Greg Otto, Walter P Moore, contextualized the topic before turning the podium over to colleague Sanjeev Tankha, Walter P Moore, who presented the work process employed at their firm combining holistic building design and engineering, integrated workflows, and data-centric research spanning from schematic design through the production phases of a project to completion. Tom Reiner, Knippers Helbig, discussed a multidisciplinary approach to integration and experimentation in structural engineering, façade design, and geometric form-finding processes. Next, Mic Patterson challenged the meaning of integration, exploring the relationship of integration and disintegration at various scales in the building arts, developing a discussion thread that culminated in whole-building integration and its meaning in the context of redundancy, complexity, cost, durability, and maintainability. He concluded with a series of structural glass façade applications driven by the pursuit of transparency and realized through a dematerialization of structure resulting from a high level of integration between the structure and cladding systems.

Patterson, president of the newly formed member-based façade research organization, the Façade Tectonics Institute, closed the event with a special thanks to the speakers and to the select group of industry sponsors – 3M, AGC Interpane, Enclos, Kuraray, Sage Glass, Schüco, University of Southern California School of Architecture, and Walter P Moore – that made the event possible, crediting them with collectively “leading the way to a resilient and sustainable built environment.” Tectonic Press, a publisher, worked with the Institute to produce an extraordinary booklet comprising narrative contributions from the speakers and sponsors, who were invited to submit informal reflections on subject matters of their choosing. These contributions – including the latest passions, ideas, concerns, and musings from renowned industry leaders – are combined within a 70-page book. The books were distributed to all attendees of the free event. Limited quantities are available upon request.

Monday, October 26, 2015

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM

“Materially Speaking: The Expanding Palette of Façade Materials and Systems”
Chair: Silvia Prandelli, Werner Sobek, New York
Charles Blomberg, Rafael Vinoly Architects, New York
Bill Kreysler, Kreysler & Associates, San Francisco
Edward Peck, Thornton Tomasetti, Chicago
Q&A Session

12:45 – 1:45 PM

Lunch Break

1:45 – 3:15 PM

“Myths and Tales of Transparency: Bringing Clarity to Emergent Façade Technology”
Chair: Mic Patterson, Enclos / CTBUH Advisory Group, Los Angeles
James Carpenter, James Carpenter Design Associates, New York
James O’Callaghan, Eckersley O’Callaghan, London
Nico Kienzl, Atelier Ten, New York
Q&A Session

3:15 – 3:45 PM

Coffee Break

3:45 – 5:15 PM

“Performative Skins: Integrative Solutions to Multiple Performance Drivers”
Chair: Peter Arbour, Vidaris, New York
Stephen Selkowitz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, San Francisco
Lance Bischoff, AKRF, Philadelphia
Deborah Moelis, Handel Architects, New York
Q&A Session

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

9:00 – 10:30 AM

Steering Committee Meeting: Façade Tectonics Institute

10:30 – 11:00 AM

“Face Time: Introducing the Façade Tectonics Institute”
The Institute is a newly founded research organization housed at the University of Southern California School of Architecture with a broad-based agenda of all things “building skin.” Meet the people behind this organization, including some of the newly elected officers, to better understand more about the Institute and its mission, and how firms can participate in this dynamic enterprise.

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM

“Tall Tales: Framing the Future of Tall Building Façades”
Chair: Dr. Winfried Heusler, Schüco, Bielefeld
Peter Simmonds, Building and Systems Analytics, Los Angeles
Peter Weismantle, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture / CTBUH Advisory Group Chair, Chicago
Christoph Timm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, New York
Q&A Session

12:45 – 1:45 PM

Lunch Break

1:45 – 3:15 PM

“Skin & Bones: Integrative Solutions to Envelope & Structure”
Chair: Greg Otto, Walter P Moore, Los Angeles
Thorsten Helbig, Knippers Helbig, New York
Sanjeev Tankha, Walter P Moore, Los Angeles
Mic Patterson, Enclos / CTBUH Advisory Group, Los Angeles
Q&A Session

3:30 – 4:00 PM

“Face Time: Introducing the Façade Tectonics Institute”
The Institute is a newly founded research organization housed at the University of Southern California School of Architecture with a broad-based agenda of all things “building skin.” Meet the people behind this organization, including some of the newly elected officers, to better understand more about the Institute and its mission, and how firms can participate in this dynamic enterprise.