Looking Back at the 2022 World Congress

The 2022 World Congress was special in many ways, but first on everyone’s list was the opportunity to be together on October 12 and 13 in Los Angeles. Our previous World Congress in 2020 was held online due to the global pandemic. For the 2022 World Congress, we wanted to give our members and attendees an opportunity to meet in person, attend inspirational keynotes and peer-reviewed paper presentations, participate in special sessions, network, and meet new and old friends.

Before the Congress, the FTI Board was contemplating a virtual World Congress in 2024, but it would be hard to proceed in that direction after receiving all the positive comments in favor of another face-to-face conference. The Magic Box space exuded the warm, happy feelings of so many attendees, finally seeing friends and colleagues that have only been visible on a computer screen for a while.

Our theme for this year’s Congress was “Counting Carbon: Leveraging the Facade System for Carbon Emission Reductions.” This issue of SKINS is designed to give you an overview of the peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the 2022 World Congress. All the papers are available on the FTI website—free of charge to our members. The search feature will allow you to access papers topically. While some of you could not travel to Los Angeles this year, you will still be able to benefit from the wide array of papers that were presented.

We had two renowned keynote presenters, Gabrielle Bullock and Lisa Heschong. Gabrielle’s presentation focused on equity, inclusion, and diversity in our profession, while Lisa’s presentation discussed daylight and views in relation to occupants’ well-being. For the first time, we also featured a “Book Nook,” where our members and attendees could review recently published books on facades, research trajectories, facade technologies and innovations.

The College of Fellows inducted twenty-two new Fellows. The celebratory ceremony was led by Mic Patterson, and every Fellow was recognized for their contributions to the field. It was especially touching to greet Denise Lee, who had traveled from St. Louis to receive the posthumous College of Fellows award for her father Phil Bonzon, and Kitty Gibney who traveled from Toronto to receive her brother’s, engineer Peter Rice’s, posthumous award. The College of Fellows hosted a lunch for students attending the World Congress. Most of the students have now been assigned mentors from the College of Fellows.

The World Congress featured special sessions given by the Passive House Network, FTI’s Codes & Advocacy Committee, and the European Façade Network. These sessions will be re-aired virtually in 2023. In addition to these virtual events, four regional FTI hubs in New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Los Angeles will host live events on the campuses of Columbia University, University of Illinois Chicago, University of Toronto, and the University of Southern California.

I invite you to browse through the photo gallery and get a glimpse of the atmosphere that made the 2022 World Congress so special. We will be announcing a call for papers for the 2024 World Congress next year and look forward to your participation.

FTI wishes you a wonderful Holiday Season!

Ajla Akšamija, PhD
FTI President

The SKINS Team:

Mic Patterson, Facade Tectonics Institute
Executive Editor

Val Block, Facade Tectonics Institute
Associate Editor

Brienna Rust, SGH
Christopher Payne, Gensler
Content Editors

Nick Carrillo, WWCCA
Event Calendar Editor

Alberto Alarcon, Kuraray
Event Calendar Editor