Agenda
Symposium
Times in PST
8:00 – 9:30 AM
9:30 – 9:40 AM
9:40 – 9:45 AM
9:45 – 10:30 AM
This session explores how glass and wood can transcend their traditional roles to create environments of warmth, transparency, and healing. Through the Hana Bank Headquarters in Seoul and the Montage Health Ohana Campus in Monterey, we will examine how materiality shapes human experience—whether uniting a corporate community through daylight and nature, or fostering resilience and connection in a pediatric behavioral health setting. Both projects demonstrate how design can dissolve the barriers between people, place, and well-being, offering new possibilities for restorative and inclusive architecture.
Moderated by: Vivian Ngo
10:30 – 11:00 AM
In this panel, attendees will explore cutting-edge building envelope products and services that are revolutionizing the AEC industry. These innovations enhance energy efficiency, durability, and sustainability while pushing the boundaries of design and performance. Experts will discuss how advancements in materials, fabrication techniques, and digital tools are enabling architects, engineers, and contractors to work smarter, build better, and achieve their design visions with greater precision. These panelists will share their manufacturing expertise on technologies that contribute to meeting evolving building codes, improving occupant comfort, and reducing environmental impact, ultimately shaping the future of high-performance building envelopes.
Moderated by: XiaoXiao Bao
11:00 – 11:30 AM
11:30 – 12:00 PM
Richard Kennedy Architects is known for a thoughtful, technically graceful, site-responsive approach that balances modernity with regional, climate responsive identity. For Jim Richard, architecture is about creating spaces that enhance human experience while context and climate of a place. This often translates into thoughtful material choices that reflect the regional vernacular in harmony with the landscape. Jim will be presenting his thoughts on facade design highlighting the under construction Palm Springs Library along with other of his firms work.
Moderated by: Jack Murphy
12:00 – 12:30 PM
Amir Mikhael (BIG) and Alex Rosenthal (Heintges) will be sharing the recently-completed Robert Day Sciences Center stands as the inaugural landmark in a BIG-designed masterplan for the Claremont McKenna College campus. The four-story, 135,000 square foot integrated sciences center is composed of a series of stacked and rotated truss volumes, resulting in a dynamic sequence of laboratories, terraces, classrooms, communal, and circulatory spaces. The board-formed GFRC clad unitized curtain wall panels featured on the exterior were designed to both celebrate its integral supporting structures as well as blur boundaries with the Douglas-fir clad truss members inside. This knowledge sharing presentation will highlight the technical challenges in its realization as well as to celebrate a successful collaboration amongst a largely Southern California based ownership, design, and contracting team.
Moderated by: Michael Young
12:30 – 12:45 PM
12:30 – 1:30 PM
1:30 – 1:45 PM
2:00-3:00 PM
Winka Dubbeldam is a renowned Dutch-American architect, designer, and academic. She is the founder and partner of Archi-Tectonics, an architecture firm known for its cutting-edge, award-winning designs that integrate smart building systems with a focus on sustainability and innovation.
Human activity has impacted the environment to such an extent that many now consider the Anthropocene as a distinct geological epoch, marked by observable environmental changes.
Recent research on plant intelligence has shown that plants possess an innate ability to react to environmental stresses, adapt, and mutate. Not only can they survive environmental catastrophes, but they also enhance their phytoremediation capabilities while evolving into new forms of beauty.
Some biologists refer to these adaptive organisms as “Hopeful Monsters”—organisms with significant mutations that can potentially establish new evolutionary lineages more resilient to future challenges. As we face the next wave of the Anthropocene, where climate change and environmental extremes threaten our existence, architecture must learn from plant intelligence. It needs to transform, becoming adaptive, resilient, and capable of having a positive impact on its environment.
Rather than simply adding vegetation to otherwise static structures, buildings themselves should incorporate nature’s intelligence, fostering symbiotic relationships with the environment and evolving into what can be described as ‘Synthetic Natures.’
Moderated by: Jack Murphy
3:00 – 3:45 PM
In this session, attendees will learn about the advanced building envelope technologies transforming the AEC industry. These advancements allow designers, engineers, and contractors to embrace renewable energy and sustainable building solutions.
Moderated by: Yake Wang
3:45-4:15 PM
4:15 – 5:10 PM
Join engineering, construction, owners, and material leaders as they discuss the international movement toward circularity in construction and design for the deconstruction and reuse of building materials through pilot projects of multiple scales. This wide ranging discussion will discuss the successes and challenges facing the AEC industries movement toward a more sustainable supply chain.
Moderated by: Stacey Hooper
5:10 – 5:15 PM
5:15 – 7:15 PM
Workshops
Times in PST
Workshop participants will engage with the industry’s leading design professionals in an intimate, classroom-style setting. Select between three thematic tracks including: sustainability, detailing, and technology. Choose the Tracks and Sessions that most interest you and dive-deep into project typologies, technologies, and techniques to grow your knowledge and practice. A light breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks provided throughout the day.
9:30 – 10:00 AM
TRACK A
Materiality, Energy, and Resiliency
Combined with growing expectations for high performance, building enclosure design is now required to satisfy a large number of performance parameters that were not given a great deal of consideration in the past. Building enclosures were always expected to be durable and address issues like energy efficiency, daylighting, indoor air quality, fire safety, thermal comfort, and carbon footprint. This track will feature discussions of materials with the latest research and best practices for glazing materials.
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Over the past few decades the use, quality and size of glass and glazing on high rise buildings has increased dramatically as has the use of glass products from offshore. More recently, as a result of increased industry recognition of the importance of energy efficiency, the trend is towards more energy efficient glazing systems. Common methods of improving thermal performance of Insulated Glass Units (IGUs) includes the application of high-performance coatings, use of triple glazing or warm edge spacer technology, using IGU’s in spandrel and shadow boxes, use of solar shading devices, use of structural glass, and installing solar selective films on or inside the units. While these solutions have all been effective at improving thermal performance, there have been cases where the implementation of this new technology has resulted in premature and costly failures.
1. In this workshop, 20 different case studies are presented to show and explain the variety of problems that can occur with glass and glazing after installation. The case studies examine each type of glazing failure and help to explain how different investigation techniques were used to find the failure mechanisms.
2. After the case studies, attendees will create a checklist that will address the most common risks summarized in the case studies and be easily incorporated in project specifications and quality assurance plans on their specific projects
3. Following the presentation, the workshop will shift to the “hands on phase” where attendees will cycle through a series of stations setup with the latest glazing and IGU testing and forensic equipment. Attendees will learn to use the equipment to check and diagnose common glass and glazing failures, and to check if the glass meets expected performance attributes.
The skills learned in this workshop will prove invaluable for Architects, Specifiers, Glazing Contractors, Manufacturers and consultants looking to manage risk and ensure that their glass and glazing meets the expected performance and durability requirements.
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Triple-pane insulated glass units (IGUs) with two low-emissivity (low-E) coatings have become popular in cold climates due to their increased thermal performance. While multiple low-E coatings reduce heat transfer through the glazed area, they also increase the IGU’s reflectance, which in combination with thermal loading poses the risk of unacceptable optical distortions.
We demonstrate a novel method for predicting the appearance of distorted reflections in triple-pane IGUs based on climatic conditions and propose criteria for determining acceptability of distorted images. Our method establishes the cavity temperatures using 2-D heat transfer modelling and then determines the deflected shape of each glazing layer using finite element analysis. We use ray tracing to visualize the distorted appearance of context objects reflected in a curtainwall arrayed with that deformed geometry. Finally, we compare the distorted image to an ideal, undistorted reflection using feature-based similarity (FSIM) and other image quality assessments. We correlate this quantitative approach with subjective 8095 assessments of façade appearance by 40 building professionals to identify a threshold for visually acceptable glazing deformation.
2:45 – 4:45 PM
TRACK B
Technologies & Techniques: Best Practices for Facade Optimization and Performance
From fundamental design principles and thoughtful detailing to computational modeling to achieve performance goals, This track will feature technique, technologies, and best practices to accelerate your facades design and engineering.
10:00 – 12:00 PM
Building codes and standards have long acknowledged that wind tunnel testing is the most accurate way to determine the wind loads and pressures on structures. Typically, these tests are conducted at a much smaller scale, on the order of 1:200 to 1:400, where complex architectural details may be difficult to model at scale. The data from these tests are most effective at addressing overall design pressures for envelope design. However, when considering individual elements, additional testing at larger scales, and even at full scale mockups, may be beneficial to the design team. CPP has performed multi-scale tests on several recent projects and plans to present some case studies, indicating the motivation, relative timing and value of these additional studies.
Consider a porous façade, the typical wind tunnel test would yield design pressures for the envelope due to the massing, surrounds and climate, but may not be able to capture the pressure equalization across the porous facade – perhaps more of a performance consideration. Testing the components, a screen in this case, at a larger scale, on the order of 1:5 to 1:15, can yield crucial data to support design. In this case, the primary consideration was to quantify the performance characteristics of the façade, specifically looking at the pressure equalization across the porous elements and refining the design pressures from the primary study as appropriate. Other recent studies have focused on horizontal projections. Many of these designs or features are complex in nature, often comprising of multiple components in an assembly. Guidance on applying code-prescribed pressures to these features is often lacking or ambiguous, even determining the porosity of assemblies and then predicting how it will act under wind flow, can be difficult. These design challenges, especially when compounding over multiple elements or layers, can potentially lead to designs that are (punitively) overly conservative, or more concerning, under conservative. With each additional test, risk and uncertainties can be targeted and addressed – all the way up to considering performance on full-scale mockups.
Focusing on specific loading conditions on elements can provide data to assist in optimizing design, potentially yielding savings from a material, cost and embodied carbon perspectives. Additional refinement can be achieved when considering other environmental loads such as ice and snow, as well as the combination of multiple environmental loads.
These studies are examples of how multifaceted wind, and wind-adjacent, studies are increasingly being combined to provide holistic consulting support to design teams on projects with the goal of delivering safe, efficient, economical and resilient projects that perform well. Wind tunnel studies at various scales go beyond design pressures, the data can be interrogated to also provide insight into outdoor wind comfort, thermal comfort, structural snow loading, snow drifting, falling ice and snow, aeroacoustics, door operability, stack effect, paver or green roof uplift, and more. While not every project warrants this multi-layered approach, it may be time to consider a conversation with a wind consultant on how some of these scopes can provide insight into how your development is interacting with the natural environment and bring value to the project.
12:30 – 2:30 PM
In this workshop, we will cover the essential aspects of Performance Test Requirements for façade systems, providing an understanding of the rationale behind testing and optimal timing to initiate the process.
The presenters will walk you through the process of formulating performance requirements tailored to individual façade systems, selecting suitable tests for each specific façade type. Additionally, clarify the process of defining wall type specifications/dimensions and test procedures.
During the workshop, participants will engage in collaborative discussions to interpret the data from test results, facilitating its practical application in the facade design.
Key Takeaways:
- Be able to review typical tests for building envelope performance.
- Learn to identify reasons for testing facades systems.
- Understand performance requirements.
- Familiarity with testing procedure and sequence according to data desired.
- Insights from Performance Mock-up Testing results.
2:45-4:45 PM
This project investigates a solar-responsive kinetic façade for hot climates (ASHRAE Zones 1–3, 4B, 5B), where adaptive strategies are critical. The system integrates PV into shading panels that dynamically reorient to reduce energy curtailment, minimize peak heat gain, cut cooling loads, and enhance daylight. By addressing gaps in BIPV and adaptive façade innovation, the project explores how PV-integrated modular assemblies, embedded controls, and performance monitoring can advance building skin design.
TRACK C
Creative Collaborations: Experimental Facades, Materials and Approaches
These deep-diving case studies will provide strong foundations and more with lessons learned through real world case studies in both ground up and adaptive reuse scenarios.
10:00 AM -12:00 PM
Current Interests is a small LA-based architecture office dedicated to material craft. Over the past five years, the office has worked with manufacturers to realize facades in extruded terracotta, aggregate fiber concrete panels, and three-dimensional cast porcelain. In each case, the studio relied heavily on in-house mock-ups to develop technical and aesthetic knowledge base, enabling effective collaboration with specialized fabricators and contractors. The workshop will share three case study projects with small footprints but big ambition that explore the process and journey of scaling handcraft. The workshop will explore themes of tactility, physical composition, slowness, material tolerance, and the persistence and resourcefulness necessary to bring an uncharted idea into being.
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Join us for a hands-on workshop centered on the Kaiser Permanente Watts Medical Offices and Counseling and Learning Center, a project that expands equitable access to healthcare while celebrating the rich culture of Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood. We will share how Perkins&Will created a vibrant mural as a part of their multi-material facade strategy. The mosaic tile mural, which wraps the CLC preschool, celebrates a local farmers’ market that originated at this site. The original artwork created for the mural was translated to facade scale, while maintaining accurate tile dimensions, using Rhino3D and a custom Grasshopper script. This session will start with an introduction to the project followed by a detailed walkthrough of the mural design process and computational tools used to create it. Participants will have the opportunity to follow along with the provided exercise files, exploring how community identity and design empathy came together in this wonderfully colorful project.
2:45 – 4:45 PM
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