Facade Tectonics Hosts Inaugural Regional Forum at The University of Miami School of Architecture

The Facade Tectonics Institute (FTI) is a premier member organization for building industry professionals, academic, government, and nonprofit organizations and institutions focusing on healthy and livable communities. FTI is pleased to announce that the organization hosted the first of its 2019 Regional Forum Series Material Matters at the University of Miami School of Architecture on Friday, March 22, 2019 from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. The program consisted of a full-day of expert-led panel discussions featuring leading building industry professionals and academics.

FTI is widely recognized for producing the leading technical events focused on buildings and urban habitat through the lens of the building skin. FTI’s celebrated Forum series focuses on industry issues, trends, and emerging technologies as they relate to building facade systems and more specifically the community in which they take place. Facade Tectonics Forum: MIAMI brought leaders together to explore the amplified threats of climate change in the unique urban context that is Miami.

About the Program and Speakers

The Forum included four panel sessions followed by moderated Q&A on topics ranging from building resilience attributes to the threat of climate change, carbon-neutral designs, and facade systems considerations for hot and humid climates.

Ron Hull of Kuraray America moderated the discussion Bouncing Back: Building Resilience Attributes of HVHZ Projects which featured speakers Allan Shulman of Shulman + Associates, Jalal Farooq of Al-Farooq Corporation, and Ray Crawford of Crawford-Tracey Corporation.

Jalal Farooq of Al-Farooq Corporation moderated the discussion Resilience Thinking: The Building Threat of Climate Change and Sea Level Risewhich featured speakers Zach Nord of Vidaris, Wesley Kean of KoDA Miami, and Marilys Nepomechie of Florida International University.

Thomas Spiegelhalter of Studio Thomas Spiegelhalter + Associates moderated the discussion Breaking Even: Carbon-Neutral High-Rise Envelope Design and Engineering for Extreme Tropical Climate Impacts which featured speakers Thomas Spiegelhalter of Spiegelhalter + Associates, Angel Suarez of Perkins + Will, and Kevin Greiner of UrbanCentric Analytics.

The Institute’s Mic Pattersonmoderated the discussion Sweat Equity: Facade System Considerations for Hot and Humid Climates which featured speakers Helen Sanders of Technoform, Erik Olsen of Transsolar, and Karol Kaźmierczak of the Building Enclosure Institute.

Special presentations were given by DeanRodolphe el-Khoury of the University of Miami School of Architecture and Mayor Philip Stoddard of South Miami.

“It was just great to bring our Forum to Miami for the first time,” said Mic Patterson, Ambassador of Innovation & Collaboration for the Facade Tectonics Institute. “We addressed head on the challenging issues of resilience and climate change posing an existential threat to Miami. The dialogue was both hopeful and invigorating.”