Main Events 171st Edition – Zak World of Façades Australia

171st Edition – Zak World of Façades Australia

edition

171

Date

20 February 2025

Venue

The Fullerton

City

Sydney

Official page Watch the Event

About this edition

This will be the 171st edition globally and the 4th edition in Sydney which will showcase sustainable innovations and challenges in the construction industry pertaining to the building envelope and will also display latest technological solutions.

Speakers & Panelists

Conference Agenda

Every speaker for the day, grouped by session. Select a topic to see who is presenting, the session focus and the talk points.

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

08:00 — 08:50

Topic

Delegate Registration & Networking

Claire Wu

Senior Consultant - Façades

BG&E Façades

Topic

Event Host & Convener

08:50 — 09:00

Topic

Welcome Address

09:00 — 09:30

William Sharples

Founding Principal

SHoP Architects

Topic

Past & Present: The Heritage of Façades

Talk points

Craft

Honest materiality

Wellness & sustainability

09:30 — 09:50

Robert Moisy

Engineer

Surface Design Consulting

Topic

How Façades are Fun

Talk points

Time flies and dopamine is released when you’re having fun. That leads to perpetual motivation and things get done. So, what makes us motivated to be in the façade industry? What will motivate future generations?

Insight on the the industry's approach to meet new requirements, whether to meet broad social expectations or under dogmatic legislation. Being tasked with prioritising new things, developing new skills, collaborating with other motivated geeks. The Dunning-Kruger Effect implies that we must keep overcoming the valley of despair, climb the slope of enlightenment. That is progress

Being cognisant of our strengths, weaknesses, while identifying blind spots and opportunities, then laying out the rational tasks to achieve the outcome. Are we prepared to be corrected while standing there on mount stupid?

As an industry we must share and collaborate to innovate and deliver safe, high-performance buildings, diligently. Joining the Society of Façade Engineering can let us have some fun as we get things done, together

09:50 — 10:05

Shane Hart

Director of Client Relations

Insol

Topic

Shadows in the Breeze; The Art and Science of Façade Testing

Talk points

What we don't know

Unseen trials of new façades

New standards and guidance for façade testing

10:05 — 10:20

Jess Lindsay

BDM - Architectural Design Solutions

Lysaght

Topic

AZURE®: The Steel Façade Panel

Talk points

Large format, custom made, ventilated rainscreen panels

Project panel design and installation support with ESI

Façade design and manufacturing considerations for a faster, more economical supply and installation process

10:20 — 11:00

Topic

Networking Tea / Coffee Break

11:00 — 11:25

Tristram Carfrae

Fellow

Arup

Topic

Completing the Main Towers at Gaudi’s Masterpiece, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Talk points

Loadbearing stone façades

Prefabricated, prestressed stone panels, manufactured offsite and assembled on site

Low carbon construction using latest technology as an “act of theatre"

11:25 — 11:40

Eric Claeys

Founding Partner

Fassada Steel

Topic

Hybrid Steel Curtain Walls

Talk points

Are hybrid steel curtain walls the long-waited disruption in the market?

Fire resistance, tower infernos belong to the past

Drastic reduction of CO2 emission

Redefined sustainability: Not just 0 energy, but also 0 finance cost!

11:40 — 12:10

Scott Duncan

Design Partner

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Topic

Explorations in Structural Skins and Carbon Reduction

Talk points

Looking at the history of high performance façade design, incorporating new technologies and techniques to achieve improved energy performance for our buildings. While, historically speaking, considerations like daylighting, solar shading and thermal transmission have been key drivers of the design, they primarily addressed operating energy, the amount of energy required to heat, cool and illuminate the spaces they contain. The other half of the energy equation is embodied energy, or the amount of energy (and therefore carbon) consumed in the process of material sourcing, fabrication, and installation

How can our façades be designed to respond to both performance considerations — operating energy and embodied energy? A careful an analysis of each façade component to understand its carbon footprint must be undertaken and cross referenced with its operating performance — how well it is insulating, shading, etc

Examples of recent projects where we explored the merging of structure and skin as a way of combining assemblies and getting “dual use” out of building components. In the process, the structure and skin become hybridized and introduce new possibilities for the overall reduction of carbon in our buildings

12:10 — 12:55

Moderator

John Perry

Associate Principal

fjcstudio

Panelist

James Perry

Director

Koichi Takada Architects

Panelist

Jonathan Lynch

Manager DBP Audits

Building Commission NSW

Panelist

Simon Gray

Practice Leader

Bellrock

Panelist

Vera Tchikina

Associate

Rickard Engineering

Topic

Design and Building Practitioners Act - Impact & Opportunities

Talk points

Building Components – A building can be simplified into four key components: structure (supports the building), skin (separates and connects inside to outside), services (modify internal environment), and fit-out (supports the building’s purpose)

Complexity of Façade Design – While structure and services fall under specific engineers, the façade involves multiple disciplines, including structural, thermal, solar, daylighting, acoustic, fire safety, water resistance, and durability, requiring careful coordination

Integration Challenges – Coordination is critical, especially with multiple trades involved in façade construction, such as windows in brick walls versus single-source curtain walls, making integration a major concern for the Building Commission

Discussion Focus – The panel will explore the complexities of façade responsibilities, questioning what details should be provided, when, by whom, and where accountability lies

Session summary

John Perry

12:55 — 13:45

Topic

Networking Lunch Break

13:45 — 14:05

Marko Damic

Principal

Architectus

Topic

Future Facing - New Directions in Façade Design

Talk points

Overtly environmental expression: Emerging trends and increasing requirement for aesthetic expression of façade environmental response

Computational analysis and parametric façade design: Showcased through recently completed Array, 1 Eden Park Drive, Macquarie Park

Balancing solidity and openness: Showcased through recently approved 153 Walker Street, North Sydney

Self-shading building form: Showcased through recently approved 17 Flinders Street, Melbourne

14:05 — 14:30

Neil Kendrick

Regional Manager - NSW

Inhabit Group

Topic

Challenges in Façade Designs in Adaptive Re-use of Buildings

Talk points

Structural compatibility & energy efficiency

Aesthetic and heritage considerations

Material selection

Regulatory compliance

14:30 — 14:45

Bernat Miñana

Managing Director

Frontek Australia

David Mahon

Principal

Warren and Mahoney

Topic

Porcelain Cladding in Unitized Systems and Complex Geometries

Talk points

33 Alfred Street - Horizontal configuration on unitized system

Bondi Archibald - Vertical configuration on unitized system

Macquarie University - Complex geometry cladding

Case study: The New Dunedin Hospital Outpatient Building - Transforming healthcare through patient-centred design and care at scale

14:45 — 15:00

Anthony Breach

National Sales Manager

George Fethers & Co.

Topic

Glass Innovations and Solar Glass Façades

Talk points

Zero carbon or low carbon buildings

How façade solutions drive sustainablity by reducing energy use or generating energy on site

15:00 — 15:15

Marc Nakhle

Business Development Manager

Alspec

Topic

The Future of Solar Façades

Talk points

Achieving net zero with Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)

Maximising building façades for solar energy production

BIPV façade solutions

15:15 — 15:30

Will Wigfield

Group Product Manager - Fire Protection

Rockwool

Topic

Futureproof Fire-Resilience with the Right Choice of Façade Insulation

Talk points

Fire safety and ventilated façade constructions

Learnings from the Grenfell Tower disaster

The solution

15:30 — 16:00

Topic

Networking Tea / Coffee Break

16:00 — 16:20

Dwayne Van Halewijn

Associate Director - Façade

TTW

Topic

Atlassian Central – Advanced Façade Motion Analysis

Talk points

Atlassian Central which is co-owned by Dexus and Atlassian, encompasses a range of complex structural systems and materials, including an eccentric concrete core, composite mega floors, timber structures, steel exo-skeleton, atriums, curved geometry and inclined aluminium and glass façade and how the diversity of these systems and structural behavior presented significant challenges for assessing the movement in the façade joints, which would have been impractical to assess with traditional analysis

How a cross-disciplinary team of façade, structural and digital engineers collaborated to analyse the façade joint movements, throughout all stages of construction and completion of the building

Software developed and used to automate the analysis and precisely map the movement of each individual façade joint and the innovative processes and key insights that informed the design of the façade

16:20 — 17:05

Panelist

Giuseppe Michael Schmidt

Senior Engineering Director

BM Windows

Panelist

Michael O'Reilly

Façade Specialist

Hutchinson Builders

Panelist

Tran Van Tien

CEO