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Facades+ wraps up its 2022 schedule in Seattle on December 2

Welcome to Washington

Facades+ wraps up its 2022 schedule in Seattle on December 2

Rainier Square Tower was delivered at a particularly fast pace for a building of its size. (Courtesy NBBJ)

Facades+ returns to the Pacific Northwest for its last conference of 2022. Co-chaired by NBBJ, Facades+ Seattle’s full-day program will cover the full gamut of facades, from the newest building codes, to material innovations, daylighting research, and thermal comfort. As Facades+ wraps up a fall schedule with high attendance and an outstanding range of projects, the conferences will return in 2023 in San Francisco on January 26.

New Lease on Life: Facade Renewal & Reuse as a Winning Strategy

The morning begins with a presentation from Perkins&Will’s Seattle office on a reuse project under construction in Anchorage, Alaska. Senior associate Bill Xu and design director Erik Mott will provide a comprehensive look at 601 West 5th Avenue. Formerly Key Bank Plaza, the office building was damaged by a 2018, magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the city. The design team will present their approach in preserving part of the initial structure, which is being seismically reinforced, and wrapping it in a state-of-the-art curtain wall. Inspired by the state’s glaciers, the facade of 601 West 5th Avenue will cut in at street level, sloping up to a point at its peak. The presentation will cover details of the project’s reuse aspects in addition to embodied carbon calculations—a key component of the building envelope design. The panel will be moderated by NBBJ project architect Andrew Molchany.

Rendering of an office building entrance
The cut-out of the building’s entrance begins the slope of the Perkins&Will’s angular curtain wall design. (Courtesy Perkins&Will)

High Performance Facades and the Energy Question

The day continues with its most academic panel, a presentation by University of Washington professor of architecture Christopher Meek and post-doctoral scholar Teresa Moroseos. Highlighting work from the university’s Integrated Design Lab, Meek and Moroseos will cover research on excessive heat events, daylighting, and glazing as they relate to facade performance. Their work is in a unique position as it combines academic research with built and in-progress design projects in the region, offering the audience a perspective on how to incorporate leading building science research into their projects.

Rendering of an office building
The design for 601 West 5th Avenue was inspired by Alaska’s glaciers. (Courtesy Perkins&Will)

Light and Air: Daylighting and Optimization

The theme of high-performance continues into the day’s third session. Tanvi Dhar, a lead building performance analyst at McKinstry, Clair McConnell, an associate at Mithun, and Kyle Silliker, a principal building science specialist at RDH will present a series of case studies that integrate advanced modeling tools into building envelope design. McConnell will emphasize the importance of daylighting and thermal comfort in facade design, highlighting tools that can be integrated through Grasshopper to assist designers in optimizing their envelopes. Dhar will present work on two case studies, 840 Spokane and Catalyst, a low-carbon mass timber building. Dhar’s presentation will look at how to incorporate envelope and fenestration studies in early stages of the design process, and how radiant heating and cooling works in relation to a variety of facade systems. Silliker will round out the panel providing an engineer’s perspective on facades, focusing on overheating in relation to the building envelope, and how strategies for thermal comfort and daylighting can be approached together. The panel will be moderated by NBBJ project architect Anne Yong.

Community, Collaboration, and Connection: Three Towers in the Puget Sound Region that are Redefining the High-Rise

Facades+ Seattle co-chairs NBBJ will present three projects to highlight the firm’s recent advances in facades. Partner and firm-wide design leader Mindy Levine-Archer will begin the panel with a case study on Rainier Square Tower, a recently-completed, mixed-use building that tops out as the second tallest in Seattle. Mindy will be followed by partner and global cultural and civic practice leader Matthew Somerton, who will present Bellevue 600. Focusing on the project’s facade logic, which includes operable windows and specialty glazing, the audience will learn about product- and carbon-based decision making. The panel will finish with a feature of the Net, presented by senior associate Justin Cochran. Designed inside-out, the Net’s unique structural system will be wrapped with an envelope that includes unique fins, and an exposed terrace at the top of the building. The panel will be moderated by NBBJ principal Bob Sheh.

Rendering of a rooftop terrace
The open-air rooftop terraces of the Net reflect the building’s inside-out design approach. (Courtesy NBBJ)

Code Forward: Next Generation Envelope’s for Seattle’s Future

The program ends with a presentation from Duane Jonlin, energy code and energy conservation advisor at the City of Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections. Recognized as a local leader in building codes, Jonlin will discuss code advances that impact thermal bridging, glazing, and daylighting, offering a look at how the city’s codes will encourage more energy efficient design. The conversation will be moderated by NBBJ senior associate and lead designer Nick McDaniel.

See the full agenda here, and save your seat today!

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