July 28, 2011
Thursday, 9am-5pm
CES/AIA LU (HSW/SD) 7 units
The architectural skin is among the most important considerations in the building arts, affecting both performance and appearance like no other building system. Exciting new materials, processes, and design practices are forthcoming at an unprecedented rate, and the facade has become such a nexus of intersecting, increasingly demanding, and often conflicting objectives—transparency, geometric complexity, energy efficiency, sound mitigation, and retrofit—that the sustainability of current façade practices is being brought into serious question. Internationally recognized experts in façade design and engineering will explain core issues of the building skin in the context of sustainability, including economic, social and environmental impacts. The session will feature a rich mix of domestic and international case studies that illustrate and reveal the workability of current trends. Participants will gain a new perspective on the challenges presented by the building skin in high-performance architecture and enhanced insight as to how these challenges may be met in the future.
Coordinators: Click names for more info
The façade uniquely affects both the aesthetics and performance of a building. Mic Patterson is a designer, researcher, educator, and entrepreneur with a passion for the building skin. He has concentrated his professional and academic career on advanced façade technology and structural glass facades.
Working with leading architects and builders, he has participated in the design and construction of a remarkably diverse body of novel façades and enclosures, with many award-winning landmark projects among them. Patterson’s design process is informed by the demanding fabrication and installation challenges presented by these nearly 700 structural glass façade and enclosure projects spread widely throughout North America and Asia. This experience has encompassed considerations of material and structure bound to a creative problem-solving methodology, and has evolved into a performance-based design philosophy rooted in the study of innovative process and sustainable practice. As an innovator of progressive project delivery strategy, he was among the first to promote a design/build methodology as a vehicle for implementing innovation in the building skin. He was also an early promoter of prefabrication and modular building systems, particularly as they relate to building façades and enclosures.
Patterson founded ASI Advanced Structures Inc in 1991, the firm that pioneered the introduction of advanced façade technology in the US marketplace through the 1990s and into the new millennium. Enclos, a leading global curtain wall firm, acquired ASI in 2007. Patterson subsequently participated in the establishment of the Advanced Technology Studio of Enclos, a façade think-tank with a mission of advancing the state-of-the-art and shaping the future of the building skin. He is currently the Director of Strategic Development for Enclos, working from the Advanced Technology Studio, and dividing his time between Los Angeles and New York City.
As a proponent of sustainable building practice, he is an outspoken participant in the debate centering on the use of large areas of clear glass in the building envelope, and continuous to do pioneering work in the evaluation of glass as a sustainable façade material. His current research focuses on sustainable strategies for the facade retrofit of curtain wall buildings.
Patterson earned a Masters of Building Science from the University of Southern California School of Architecture, where he is currently a PhD candidate: the by-product of a commitment to lifelong learning. Recognizing weakness in façade education as endemic to architectural curricula, he is committed to bridging his professional work with academic pursuits. In addition to his ongoing research, he has developed and taught courses in glass and façade design, including a graduate façade program called Skin and Bones. He has written extensively and lectured internationally on diverse aspects of advanced façade technology. He is the author of Structural Glass Facades and Enclosures.
Jeffrey Vaglio offers a versatile skill set with experience in both structural engineering and architecture. His research is focused on the design and performance of advanced building enclosure technologies. He is currently the Design Engineer in the Advanced Technology Studio of Enclos Corp, the largest curtain wall firm in the United States. In this role, he has been integral in the design and engineering of numerous structural glass facades and skylights including double-skin facades, cable-net walls, point-supported glazing, and grid-shell systems. He is also a Ph.D. in Architecture candidate in the USC Chase L. Levitt Graduate Building Science Program, where he is an Oakley Fellow.
As a researcher Jeffrey has merged his interests of structures and sustainability by investigating the unique structural response and design practices associated with double-skin facades. This research has resulted in numerous articles for conferences and professional journals, as well as, presentations in the United States, Canada and Europe. While at the University of Southern California, his research has garnered him an Oakley Fellowship, a two-time recipient of the Jeld-Wen Project Integrity Research Fellowship, the 2010 ARCC King Student Medal for Excellence in Architectural and Environmental Design Research, and admission to the prestigious USC Diploma in Innovation Program.
In practice, he is dedicated to spanning the gaps between architecture and engineering by methods of creative problem solving. This often includes exploring transfer of technologies and solutions from other disciplines to compliment his competencies in design, 3D modeling, structural analysis, finite element analysis, complex geometry rationalization, visualization, animation and 3D information management. At the core of Jeffrey’s approach are a spirit for collaboration, research, and dedication to clarity in communication. This is most evident in his contributions to the lobby façade of Central Los Angeles High School #9 by Coop Himmelb(l)au, and the atrium at 51 Louisiana Avenue, Washington, D.C. for Richard Rogers Partnership.
Jeffrey previously worked for Advanced Structures Incorporated (ASI) as an engineer to design innovative structural glass facades and fabric enclosures. In 2007, ASI was acquired by Enclos Corp where he continues to act as Design Engineer.
Professor Noble teaches design and design computing. He is a practicing architect and has served as a consultant to a number of firms. He is chair of the Los Angeles AIA CAD Committee and the former president of the Association for Computer-Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA). He is the editor and author of a number of books on architectural computing and doctoral education in architecture. His interests are in the areas of computer-supported design, the sciences of design and graduate education in architecture. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture selected him for their New Faculty Teaching Award in 1995. He received the Ph.D. Committee Prize from U.C. Berkeley, and has won several design awards. He was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in 2003. He served as Director of the Graduate Building Science program at the school from 2002-2005 and was appointed Associate Dean in 2006. With Karen M. Kensek, Professor Noble received an NCARB Prize in 2007 for their project “DESIGN+TECHNOLOGY | Re-Expanding the Scope of Architectural Practice.” In 2010, he was named by his peers as one of America’s “10 Most Admired Educators.”
Noble is currently the Chair of the Ph.D. program in Architecture at USC. The doctoral program was re-established at USC in 2008, and is focused on issues related to the building envelope, including sustainability, daylighting, assembly, structures, and computing.
Invited Speakers: Click names for more info
A2 is currently leading a team including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Membrane Technology Research Inc. to develop a membrane-based, building wall-integrated heat and moisture exchanger. Modeled on principles of alveoli in the human lung, the technology will produce deep energy use reductions for buildings in humid climates. Conceived by Breshears with support from the Peter Rice Memorial Prize (given by Arup), the work is currently funded by the US DOE’s ARPA-E program intended to support cutting-edge energy technologies.
John’s research and design interests lie in more elegantly linking aesthetics with performance. Prior to founding A2, John led the engineering and design of the first array of small-scale wind turbines on an urban high rise in the United States and worked with the US EPA to pioneer the use of planted ‘green’ roofs on buildings in the arid Front Range climate of northern Colorado. He is currently lecturing on resource-efficient building design and technologies at Stanford and Penn State Universities.
John holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico State University and a Master of Architecture from Rice University.
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