Agenda
Symposium
Thursday, April 4
Times in EST
8:00 - 9:30 AM
9:30 - 9:35 AM
9:35 - 9:40 AM
9:40 - 9:45 AM
9:45 - 10:00 AM
NYC Chief Climate Officer, Rohit T. Aggarwala will highlight New York City’s ambitious and world-leading climate policies and plans (including PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, the first climate plan of the Adams administration, and Local Law 97); provide spotlights on New York City’s progress and plans to reduce GHGs, including climate budgeting; and outline the ways New York City is leading by example for other cities, states, and the private sector. He will discuss the state of Local Law 97 mobilization in New York City and challenges and opportunities for the buildings sector. He will also give examples of the way New York City is animating the decarbonization market, and growing jobs, with its world-leading climate legislation and action.
10:00 - 10:45 AM
One Milestone is a forward-thinking research hub that consists of two lab buildings, and a publicly accessible ground floor. As a part of the Enterprise Research Campus development, a Harvard University-owned land parcel in Allston, MA, One Milestone will significantly enhance the life sciences development in this region. Join the Henning Larsen, Studio Gang, and Tishman Speyer team as they dive into the project vision, and challenges, and how collaborative problem solving helped the team arrive at the unique yet cohesive aspects of the façade designs for each respective building. And finally, also learn from Front how the technical detailing was resolved to help realize the design.
10:45 - 11:15 AM
This roundtable with leading building materials manufacturers will discuss the advanced materials and systems newly available and just around the corner. Learn how architects can work together with manufacturers to build with the latest, most up-to-date technologies and projects, and hear what’s next for the industry.
11:15 - 11:45 AM
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM
BIG will share their process for designing and building The Spiral, a new commercial tower on Manhattan’s West Side and BIG’s first-ever completed supertall. The Spiral visually extends the landscape of the nearby High Line Park up and around the building’s exterior, allowing access to green outdoor terraces from each of its 66 stories and redefines the concept of vertical connectivity and sustainability.
Central to the development of the building’s enclosures – both vertical and horizontal – were waterproofing and cladding strategies, focused on functionality and accessibility. The design process evolved through a series of visual, performance, and benchmark mock-ups, leading to a solution that could be applied uniformly across all rooftops each with a unique terrace layout tailored to the requirements of the building orientation or the needs of individual tenant floors.
Join us as we delve into the innovative enclosure solutions that have established the Spiral as a landmark addition to Manhattan’s skyline.
Moderated by: Sebastian Hofmeister
12:15 - 12:45 PM
In this session, attendees will learn about the advanced building envelope technologies that are transforming the AEC industry. Through new advancements, designers, engineers, and contractors can embrace renewable energy and sustainable building solutions.
12:45 - 1:45 PM
1:45-1:50 PM
1:50 - 2:00 PM
2:00-3:00 PM
3:00-3:30 PM
In this session, attendees will learn about the advanced building envelope technologies that are transforming the AEC industry. Through new advancements, designers, engineers, and contractors can embrace renewable energy and sustainable building solutions.
3:30-4:00 PM
4:00-4:45 PM
In 2017 PAU was commissioned to design an adaptive-reuse of the Domino Sugar Refinery building in Williamsburg Brooklyn, intended to be the crown jewel of a new mixed-use neighborhood developed by Two Trees Management. The challenge: to create a modern, 21st-century office building within an idiosyncratic 19th-century production facility, in many ways more machine than building. Rather than navigating the misaligned floors and window sills across the combined masonry shell, PAU adopted a different approach: nesting a brand-new building into the existing envelope, with a 10 to 12-foot gap between the new and the old. This strategy required holistic thinking linking architectural design, structural and façade engineering, all working hand in hand to produce innovative details that are greater than the sum of their parts. Lead players from PAU, Silman, and Focchi will explain the process that made this building a reality.
4:45 - 5:25 PM
A building’s façade stands as its primary visual identity, but is also the cornerstone of functionality, innovation, sustainability and aesthetics – embodying a harmonious collaboration of architects, engineers, manufacturers, and contractors. Join us for an inspiring panel discussion that explores this exact intersection of art & science, as experts from Clark Pacific, Thornton Tomasetti and Henning Larsen discuss cutting-edge façade systems that are shaping the future of our cities. Discover how these innovative solutions are not only environmentally responsible but also transform urban landscapes into stunning works of art.
5:25 - 5:30 PM
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Stay after the conference to mix, mingle and enjoy drinks and light snacks to celebrate a wonderful day with the AEC community.
Workshops
Friday, April 5
Times in EST
Held in person at the New York Law School, participants will engage with the industry's leading design professionals in an intimate, classroom-style setting. Select between four thematic tracks including: sustainability, detailing, materiality, and technology.
Choose the Tracks that most interest you and dive-deep into project typologies, technologies, and techniques to grow your knowledge and practice.
9:30 - 10:00 AM
TRACK A Energy, Sustainability, 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, but now with aggressive changes in code and the climate crisis the urgency to decarbonize our building envelopes and radically reduce operational carbon is every designers responsibility.
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
In response to the need to decarbonize the built environment, more stringent energy codes and new climate legislation have been introduced in many cities and states around the country. New York City is no exception.
Local Law 97 was enacted in 2019 as part of the Climate Mobilization Act. This law seeks to eventually reduce emissions in buildings by 80% by the year 2050 through moderate carbon caps that are initially introduced in 2024 but which become more stringent over time. Fines are levied to buildings which exceed the current cap each year, incentivizing owners to make performance upgrades.
The 2020 New York City Energy Code is about 5% more restrictive than the state code. Furthermore, it requires the facades to not exceed the code prescribed values by 7% for most buildings (15% for multifamily and hotels), limiting the amount of tradeoffs that can be achieved with lighting and HVAC to meet code.
These developments require architects to be ever more intentional about informing their designs though a building performance lens. The workshop will provide a brief overview of some of the emerging climate legislation nationally before diving into a practical, hands on analysis of building performance simulation in the context of NYC requirements. The exercises will demonstrate the connection of passive performance to the achievement of performance based requirements, and provide a template for how iterative, investigative parametric analysis can empower designers to enhance building performance.
Requirements for the course are to bring a laptop with the following software installed:
- Rhino
Ladybug Tools
12:30 - 2:30 PM
The increased airtightness and field verification requirements needed to successfully complete Passive House projects take facade design to a new level. In this workshop, we will explore practical applications of Passive House design
principles to support project certification. We will explore detailing methods during the design phase and both quantitative and qualitative performance verification techniques used during construction.
In the first half of this workshop, we will review detailing techniques to maintain continuity of the water, air, thermal, and vapor control layers within facade systems. The audience will participate in hands-on exercise of typical
enclosure systems and troubleshoot common transition details.
In the second half, we will share tips for planning and executing field verification tests on facade components. We will demonstrate how we use field enclosure performance test equipment (infrared camera and blower door) necessary
for Passive House projects and participants will get a chance to interact directly with the equipment.
Join us for an engaging and hands-on workshop designed to enhance your practical industry knowledge and provide valuable insights into the realm of Passive House design and construction.
Audience:
Architects, engineers, contractors, developers and any other professionals involved in the design, construction, testing and performance verification of facades.
TRACK B In the Details: Facade Design, Engineering + Project Delivery
Clients demand attractive and high-performing buildings and as designers, you need to zoom in on fundamental design principles to achieve performance goals. This track will feature the opportunity to detail and collaborate on high-design, and high performance facades.
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
This two-hour workshop will provide an overview of load paths, jointing, and tolerances in exterior enclosures. The workshop will begin with a lecture on the basics of load paths, including how loads are transferred through a building structure. The lecture will also discuss the different types of joints used in exterior enclosures, as well as the factors, such as tolerances, that need to be considered when designing and detailing joints.
The second half of the workshop will be an interactive whiteboard exercise in which participants will work with the presenters to develop solutions to a handful of specific details. This exercise will give participants the opportunity to apply the concepts they learned in the lecture and to gain experience in working with tolerances and building movements.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the basics of load paths in exterior enclosures
Identify the different types of joints used in exterior enclosures
Understand the factors that need to be considered when designing and detailing joints
Develop solutions to specific details that take into account load paths, tolerances, and building movements.
Audience: This workshop is intended for architects, engineers, contractors, and other professionals who are involved in the design, construction, or maintenance of exterior enclosures.
Materials: Whiteboard and markers, AV equipment
12:30 - 2:30 PM
In this workshop, we will cover the essential aspects of Performance Mock-Up and Field Testing required to benchmark performance and ensure consistency in quality of construction for building enclosure systems. Geared principally towards Architects and Owners, this course will provide attendees with a deeper understanding of the rationale behind the importance of visual and performance mock-ups, trial installations and field QAQC testing as well as strategies to navigate the testing process.
The presenters will outline the process of establishing the appropriate scope, scale and requirements for visual and performance mock-ups as well as field testing protocols and developing the metrics evaluating and demonstrating compliance. We will also discuss the process for defining performance criteria in the project specifications, selecting the appropriate testing requirements for specific building enclosure systems, reviewing engineering documentation required to evaluate performance, and identifying what to look out for during the testing process and how to address and document deficiencies. The workshop will also include a discussion of the certification process in South Florida, how to select and specify façade systems in accordance with the Florida Product Approval program and specific performance testing requirements for high velocity hurricane zones.
During the workshop, participants will engage in collaborative discussions on how to develop and apply best practice approaches derived from specific case studies as well as to how avoid and troubleshoot potential challenges that may arise during the mock-up and testing process.
2:45 - 4:45 PM
Attendees of the workshop will work in teams of 4 or 5, guided by instructors from Pelli Clarke & Partners and Walter P Moore, to recalibrate key components of an iconic 20th Century building in New York. To facilitate the activity, printed drawings, tracing paper, and individual Rhino models for the structures will be available during the workshop. The teams will identify and adjust key facade elements of the original designs to accommodate contemporary energy standards and reduce embodied carbon, increase natural ventilation, while easing assembly and installation, amongst other topics.
TRACK CMateriality: Multi-Material Enclosure Case Studies
Material selection not only impacts aesthetics but the delivery and performance of a building. These deep-diving case studies will discuss working with materials such as terra-cotta, mass timber, and more with lessons learned through real world case studies in both ground up and adaptive reuse scenarios.
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The increasing need to prepare historic theaters for a new era of productions and patron needs benefits from the design team’s understanding of preservation, technical stage requirements, zoning regulations, and programming.
A case study of two recently completed expansions to historic theaters in New York City spotlights the challenges, solutions and results of adding to and creating new.
James Earl Jones Theatre Annex. The Shubert Organization completes a $47 million major restoration and expansion project at the newly named James Earl Jones Theatre (formerly Cort Theatre). In addition to historic refurbishments to the interior and rehabilitation of the historic landmark’s façade, the Broadway venue now includes an Annex, which is a much-needed 20,000 sqft expansion on its western side.
The Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater. A 25,000 sqft performance venue, as part of a mixed-use development, to fit into the space left from the demolition of the Victoria Theater (two buildings away from the famed Apollo Theater), is the legendary Apollo’s first physical expansion in its 90-year history. The new performing arts component contains cultural performing arts spaces with two state-of-the-art studio theaters, a central lobby, gallery space and administrative offices.
12:30 - 2:30 PM
In this dynamic workshop, architects Scott Barnholt and Walker Shanklin of SGA will conduct a deep dive into the intricacies behind the strategic material selection process for three highly innovative facades at The Arsenal on the Charles: a new 1 million+ square-foot Life Sciences campus that is poised to become the largest architectural contribution to Watertown, MA in nearly a century. Narrowing in on case studies for ground-up and adaptive reuse buildings within this history-rich, former military production site, the duo will be joined by integral envelope consultant Joshua Kivela, Principal at national engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, and Charles Moniz, Director of Sales at glass and metal panel manufacturer Ipswich Bay Glass, to discuss how their strategic material selection – ranging from copper fins to brick, aluminum and reclaimed wood – not only impacts and elevates campus aesthetics, but can be leveraged to achieve high performance, energy-efficient facades that exceed code-required energy reduction targets.
Encompassing a four-story office and research lab, the building at 500 North Beacon Street is clad in vertical, three-dimensional copper fins and a lower glass volume, while the office-lab space at 4 Kingsbury Avenue features a glass front facade with brick detailing that harkens back to the historical structures on campus. Meanwhile the third structure, West Garage, utilizes complex metal panel geometry boasting a perforated aluminum mesh canopy exterior that doubles as an open rain screen. It’s supported by a visible, reclaimed wood-clad steel structure that nods to the site’s industrial history. As a result of these specific material selections, each building achieves LEED Gold and Fitwel certifications, and the project’s high-performance design resulted in a 32% improvement in Annual Energy Use Intensity over the state’s stringent Stretch Code Baseline. Additionally, 4 Kingsbury Avenue features triple glazing and targets LEED v4 Core and Shell Gold certification, and West Garage targets net zero status.
By delving into these complex systems and strategies, this group of experts will illustrate how to strike balance between elevated aesthetics, functionality, and energy-efficiency across different building types, resulting in unique, high-performance structures that can leverage renewable electricity for low carbon operation.
2:45- 4:45 PM
This session will cover the following topics:
- Overview of storefront glass and glazing concepts including a case study on very large IGUs for Aston Martin’s Q New York
- Retail architecture trends
- Benefits of indoor-outdoor connection, views to interiors
- Appropriateness of applying larger glass in its “time and place for it.”
- Working with existing architectural context and new buildings / storefronts
- Clients AZA has worked with and assessing needs and visibility approach
- Addressing Energy, daylighting and glare
- Developing an IGU for the challenge
- Typical glass specifications, coatings
- Existing conditions / technical requirements
- Client design brief and goals
- Maximize views to exterior/Park Ave & 57th
- Overview of Q design
- Facade and storefront considerations
- Structural approach (Silman)
- Design development and solutions
- Champagne chamfered metal panels
- Custom mosaic tiles within each column bay
- IGU resists structural deflection / wind and moisture ingress
- Selection of fabricators, installers
- Collaboration and coordination
- The install: Video and photos
TRACK DTechnology: Research, Development and Design Tools
Innovation is driving architecture and Advances in facade design, especially in the realm of digital design and advanced fabrication, are fundamentally changing how architects work. Notably, firms across the country are increasingly relying on in-house teams to develop custom software and play an integral role in the design-assist of facade components. Each team will presenting their methodologies and tools that are being implemented in real world projects.
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
It’s hard to build large-scale buildings, and nearly all are delivered over budget and behind schedule.
Capital projects require the coordination and assembly of thousands of physical parts, driven by Building Information Models [BIM]. Whether parts are prefabricated, stick-built, or 3d printed is of little consequence — the reality is that they all need to be combined by field crews on-site.
However, as buildings are erected, accumulation of part and assembly tolerances, thermal movement, deflection, creep, error, etc. mean that physical as-builts structures geometrically diverge from digital models (often in significant ways). As construction continues, these deviations often create multi-trade coordination problems and confusion about what is being built. Pre-planned documentation (BIM) doesn’t properly inform installation activity because it only represents the nominal/theoretical condition, not real life. This leaves field installation crews the difficult job of interpolating part positions from partial ad hoc as-built measurements. Construction sites are dynamic —construction planning must be reactive and recursive!
3D modelling is often considered a task that takes place exclusively during the planning phases of a project. This is a missed opportunity and misconception. We argue that 3D modelling is even more critical during execution phases when used as a feedback loop from job sites and leveraged to understand onsite conditions and direct on-site activities. Utilizing survey data and as-built point clouds, we deploy iterative solvers to digitally “test fit” and “best fit” parts in a process we’ve deemed Reconciliation Modelling. Using the specified adjustability (tolerance) of anchor points as parameters, a design space of all potential install positions can be constructed and evaluated. This design space provides both optimal install positions based on as-built conditions and flags areas where field installers cannot be successful, long before crews arrive at the job site.
Real-time, reactive decision making, rather than pre-planning, is transformative to the construction market as it allows the construction process to be resilient to changing site conditions and tolerant of inevitable perturbations during building construction.
Agenda:
- Discuss Tolerance Types and connection details
- Review how tolerance is currently captured in drawing sets
- Demonstrate how tolerance and parametric modelling can describe a projects “Design Space”
- Site data capture and Point Cloud review methods
- Best fit solving using Grasshopper + Galapogos
- Discussion: “Who’s job is this?!”
Tools: Rhino, Grasshopper
12:30 - 2:30 PM
Atelier Ten will present an overview of projects with unique design visions and discuss the analysis to solve complex architectural challenges. This workshop will cover a step-by-step overview of façade analytics that can be used to study metrics such as: visual comfort, thermal comfort, annual/peak loads, and daylight. The workshop will focus on several case studies to explore how the façade analytics were used to make informed decisions to balance occupant comfort, energy, and indoor environmental quality.
2:45-4:45 PM
Join the founders of OLI Architects
- How design tools and fabrication techniques and project affordance for customization of each building volume and envelope module allowed for distinctive façade expression on each of the buildings within a coherent campus design.
- How UHSC Panels, and large IG units and anodized aluminum extrusion were purposefully softened by the careful composition of building geometry, scale, height, and faced pattern diversity.
- How using adaptive BIM families and digital fabrication techniques were utilized to allow for parametrically controlled expressions optimizing balance of visual transparency and privacy.
- How the use of high-performance IG Units with low SHGC, blocking a good amount of infrared and UV light, while preserving high VLT was met with the varying sizes and shapes of the façade design.
- How the double layer curtainwall was designed to accommodate varying manufacturing and displacement tolerances of the main structure and the UHSC panels.
- How successive design iterations were made to avoid excessive coverage of the IG units to avoid large heat stress differentials and acute IG unit angles while allowing tolerance for large, prefab components with double curvatures to be assembled.
