Growth and conservation: designing the City of London's 2040 skyline

The Square Mile has to grow relentlessly and safeguard two thousand years of townscape at once. The City of London Corporation's Tom Nancoll…

Tom Nancollas · City of London

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India

The living façade: when a building’s skin becomes a threshold, not a boundary

In the keynote, James Tan, the Singapore practice behind the Mandai Rainforest Resort, argued that architecture is ecology, and that the faç…

James Tan · WOW Architects

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Americas

Preserving Wright's experiment: redesigning Taliesin West's roof for another generation

John Anderson treats preservation at Taliesin West as continuity of ideas rather than frozen material. A new roof system uses digital survey…

John Anderson · 180 Degrees Design + Build

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Middle East, Africa, Turkey & CIS

TeamLab Phenomena: an envelope asked to keep changing

Tony Abi Gebrayel walks through TeamLab Phenomena on Saadiyat, a building whose envelope was asked to do the one thing façades are not suppo…

Tony Abi Gebrayel · MZ Architects

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Europe

Oriente Green Campus: keep, edit, add, a concrete ruin turned into a campus

John Bushell, Tiago Sallas and Miguel Barbas showed how an unpromising concrete structure became a vital tech campus in Lisbon. By preservin…

John Bushell, Tiago Sallas & Miguel Barbas · Kohn Pedersen Fox · Saraiva + Associados · Norfin

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Asia-Pacific

‘Design a place, not a building’: Harborside’s low-carbon façade

Gumji Kang walks through Harborside in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, a competition-winning reimagining of a tired 1980s shopping centre. From th…

Gumji Kang · Snøhetta

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From the ZWOF stage

Topic

Edition

Country

City

Americas

ZWOF Dallas 2026 United States Value engineeringUSARetrofitShadingDaylighting

Additive is the word that gets a sun shade deleted

John Ivanoff, Tamara Higgins, Chris Davis & Jeremy Arianpour

ZWOF Dallas 2026 United States USAMock-upsCladdingDesignPowder coating

The hole is the pixel: putting a picture on a façade

Nathan Seaman

ZWOF Dallas 2026 United States Curtain wallBuilding enclosureUSASpecificationsField testing

A window every fifty feet: what field testing found at Tyler

Matthew Mittelstet & Trey Greer

ZWOF Dallas 2026 United States High-riseWind engineeringUSATerracottaMixed use

Springs District: Defining a New Heart for Uptown Dallas

Kevin Conway

ZWOF Vancouver 2026 Canada Embodied carbonAluminiumCanadaSustainabilityVancouver

Sustainability from every angle: why chasing recycled content is a zero-sum game

Jordi Marasse

ZWOF Los Angeles 2026 United States Embodied carbonUSATerracottaMaterial innovationRainscreen

Terracotta moves beyond decorative cladding

Andrew Pries

ZWOF Washington DC 2026 United States USAWashington DCHistoric preservationMuseum façadesDaylight control

Preserving an icon through envelope renewal

Colin MacKillop

ZWOF Calgary 2026 Canada Curtain wallCanadaProcurementSupply chainInsulating glass

Cold-climate net zero starts at the façade

Peter Dushenski

ZWOF Toronto 2025 Canada Curtain wallCanadaSteelPrefabricationCircularity

The grid outlives the glass: an argument against unitized

Eric Claeys

ZWOF Toronto 2025 Canada High-riseFaçade engineeringCurtain wallCanadaCost

Fifty to eight hundred: choosing a façade before you draw it

Brian Hubbs & David Stanton

ZWOF Los Angeles 2026 United States USAAdaptive reuseHistoric preservationOffice conversionHousing

The envelope decides conversion potential

Olivier Sommerhalder, D. Rocky Rockefeller, Ken Bernstein & Jeffrey A. Caldwell

ZWOF Calgary 2026 Canada Embodied carbonBuilding envelopeQuality controlCanadaDurability

Not a façade system: the building’s primary environmental control

Jeff Ker

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UK

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom HeritageProjectsUKSustainabilityCarbon

Reimagining Tate Liverpool: opening up a heritage warehouse without trapping moisture

John Ross & Chiara Faliva

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom ProjectsUKPlacemakingRegeneration

Shaping everyday wonder: regrowing Manchester

Lucy Head & Daniel Onions

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom UKSustainabilityCarbonResilience

The power of ten: AHR's ten steps to a more resilient façade

Robert Hopkins

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom ProjectsTerracottaUKAcoustics

Heritage at height: engineering a terracotta tower on Whitworth Street

Paul Crowther & Elena Giraldi

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom MaintenanceUKTestingKinetic façadeAdaptive systems

Kinetic façades become a building system

Florian Ebner

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom ReuseAdaptive reuseUKTransformationPublic architecture

Turning a central bank back into a public building

Francine Houben

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom GlassCurved glassComplex geometryUKManufacturing

Curved glass moves beyond the mould

Joan Tarrús

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom Fire safetyBuilding safetyComplianceUK

Getting through the gateways: what the Building Safety Regulator actually wants

Sean Robinson & Craig Renton

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom Embodied carbonGlassUKEPDsBIPV

Glass data is becoming part of the design material

Moujehed Neffoussi

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom ReuseUKCircularityStone reuseUrban quarry

The city can become its own stone quarry

Lefteris Siamopoulos

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom Closed-cavity façadeWorkplaceUKUser experienceDaylighting

User experience can drive a lower-carbon façade

Frank Filskow & Jonathan Walker

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom UKDigital fabricationQuality assuranceFaçade coordinationSliding doors

Complex façades depend on one coordinated model

Roger Schaerer & Thang Vo

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Europe

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal Embodied carbonRetrofitAdaptive reusePortugalDecarbonisation

Transformar edifícios: porque a reabilitação, e não a demolição, é a chave da descarbonização

Liliana Soares, Cláudia Sousa Monteiro, André Caiado, Marcus Cerdeira & Rodrigo Félix

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal Closed-cavity façadeBuilding physicsSolar shadingGlassPortugal

Thermal behaviour in closed cavities: why a low g-value isn’t enough

Robert Weitlaner

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal ProjectsCladdingPortugalStructural engineeringStadiums

Engenharia da pele dos maiores estádios da Europa: Bernabéu, Everton e Camp Nou

Hugo Tavares

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal Fire safetyLightweight façadesCladdingLow-carbonPortugal

Reinventar a pele do edifício: da fachada pesada à envolvente leve em gesso

João Telmo Gabriel

ZWOF Barcelona 2026 Spain Green façadesHigh-riseBiophilic designMaintenanceBarcelona

Una torre vegetal necesita una ecología diseñada

Anna Lloret Papaseit

ZWOF Rome Italy Façade engineeringRefurbishmentReusePerformanceConstructability

Riqualificare senza ricominciare da zero: l’involucro come progetto di equilibrio

Alessandro Baldini

ZWOF Rotterdam 2026 Netherlands Embodied carbonNetherlandsLow-carbon glassArchitectural glassMaterial specification

Lower-carbon glass is a design variable

Hilal Ucar

ZWOF Barcelona 2026 Spain BarcelonaDurabilityWindowsSpainSteel façades

Los perfiles de acero pueden hacer más precisa la rehabilitación

Manuel Castro

ZWOF Rotterdam 2026 Netherlands Embodied carbonFaçade engineeringNetherlandsDigital fabricationTimber construction

Carbon-driven façade engineering needs to start early

Marc de Winter & Rouven Nieuwenburg

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal IdentityComplex geometryCompositePortugalStadiums

Arena Liga Portugal: uma bola, um campo verde, e uma fachada hexagonal difícil de fabricar

João Simões, João Jesus, Pedro Rodrigues, Pedro Pinhal & Jorge Gonçalves

ZWOF Tirana 2026 Albania AlbaniaFaçade fire safetyCladding systemsMaterial traceabilitySystem testing

Fire safety is multiparametric

Angelos Zografos

ZWOF Lisbon 2026 Portugal Fire safetyMaterialsAluminiumCladdingPortugal

Liberdade para criar: o painel compósito de alumínio como ferramenta de desenho de fachada

Victor Fortanete

View all Europe

Middle East, Africa, Turkey & CIS

ZWOF Dubai 2026 United Arab Emirates Façade engineeringProjectsArchitectureDubaiUAE

TeamLab Phenomena: an envelope asked to keep changing

Tony Abi Gebrayel

ZWOF Dubai 2026 United Arab Emirates MaterialsDubaiDurabilityCoatingsUAE

Where surfaces shape skylines: building a coating to beat the benchmark

Prathush Sreedharan

ZWOF Dubai 2026 United Arab Emirates GlassWell-beingDubaiResearchUAE

Solar control glass and wellbeing: optimised for energy, not for us

Benjamin Beer, Arwa Alzaabi, Jasmin Hodzic, Renato Cilento & Subraya Kalkura

ZWOF Dubai 2026 United Arab Emirates DubaiEngineeringComputationAccessUAE

Smart façades, smarter access: panel families and a worker’s reach

Gizelle Javidan & Shyam Chand

ZWOF Tashkent 2025 Uzbekistan Fire safetyBuilding codesUzbekistanSeismic glazingConformity assessment

Один пункт на весь фасад

Olga Kudrevich, Botir Dusatov, Dmitry Shcherbitsky & Ekaterina Urizchenko

ZWOF Tashkent 2025 Uzbekistan UzbekistanLow-iron glassSelective coatingsReflective glassOversize insulating units

Стекло, которое выбирают, чтобы здание исчезло

Aigana Tashmatova

ZWOF Istanbul 2026 Turkey Building envelopeTurkeyEngineeringMaterial scienceHigh-performance façades

Malzemeden kabuğa: yüksek performanslı cepheyi yaşam döngüsüyle düşünmek

Esra Aydınoğlu, Buğrahan Şirin, İlayda Öner Mermerbaş & Demet Sürücü

ZWOF Riyadh 2025 Saudi Arabia Façade integrationDesign coordinationValue engineeringBuilding envelopeSaudi Arabia

Decided before it is drawn: the case for early façade integration

Ahmad Fuad Marrwa

ZWOF Tbilisi 25 Georgia GeorgiaMock-upsRenderingGlass appearanceSpectral simulation

Render versus reality: predicting a glass façade before it is built

Karim Amrouche & Ahmet Mumcuoğlu

ZWOF Tbilisi 25 Georgia GeorgiaHigh-riseGlass balustradesLife safetyHeat-strengthened glass

A railing is a safety system: designing glass balustrades for high-rises

Necdet Bahadır Buluk

ZWOF Tbilisi 25 Georgia GeorgiaCladdingRainscreen claddingAluminium substructureWind load calculation

Что скрывается за облицовкой навесного фасада

Евгений Чернышёв

ZWOF Riyadh 2025 Saudi Arabia Saudi ArabiaMiddle EastKinetic façadeMoving architectureGlass structures

kinetIQ: engineering façades that move

Oliver Rohde

View all Middle East, Africa, Turkey & CIS

Asia-Pacific

ZWOF Manila 2026 Philippines Façade consultancyBuilding codesPhilippinesTyphoon loadingSpecifications

Half the wall operable, in a city where nobody opens a window

Desiree Manlapaz, Theodore Khoury, Daniel C. Go, Adam Lee & Myra Zamora

ZWOF Manila 2026 Philippines Unitised curtain wallPhilippinesAluminium extrusionsStructural optimisationEmbodied energy

Two numbers in a specification that cost a quarter of the metal

Adam Lee

ZWOF Manila 2026 Philippines Curtain wallStructural siliconePhilippinesDurability testingLife cycle cost

Eighteen years on a 440 metre tower: what the joint still does

Michael Zhang

ZWOF Manila 2026 Philippines Embodied carbonParametric designDigital fabricationUnitised curtain wallPhilippines

From three panels to thirteen hundred, without an Excel sheet

Jack Cruzado

ZWOF Brisbane 2026 Australia Air barriersAustraliaRainscreenWeatherproofingPressure equalisation

Behind the rainscreen: the layers that actually shed the water

Jesse Clarke

ZWOF Sydney 2025 Australia Wind engineeringAustraliaFaçade screeningAeroacousticsTesting standards

Why porous façade screening needs its own wind test regime

Shane Hart

ZWOF Hong Kong 2025 Greater China BIMUnitised curtain wallTolerancesHong KongCold bending

What a double curved unit will not forgive: the aluminium, not the glass

Simon Chan

ZWOF Bangkok 2026 Thailand Façade designHospitalityThailandHeritage reinterpretationGFRC precast

Recognition before novelty: how the rebuilt Dusit Thani Bangkok carries its identity in the façade

Somkiat Lo-chindapong

ZWOF Bangkok 2026 Thailand Value engineeringFaçade maintenanceAluminium compositeThailandTotal cost of ownership

Cheaper panels cut the budget, not the cost of owning a façade

Andrew Lu

ZWOF Brisbane 2026 Australia AluminiumAustraliaSurface finishesTimber-look façadesNon-combustible materials

Timber appearance, aluminium behaviour: the case for sublimation

Allan Ramsay

ZWOF Bangkok 2026 Thailand Quality controlThailandOptical distortionGlass defectsHeat treatment

The gap between allowable and acceptable in architectural glass

Andrew Snalune

ZWOF Melbourne 2026 Australia Fire safetyAustraliaSustainabilitySteelWindows

The master of materials: steel façades, windows and doors

Philippe Juliard

View all Asia-Pacific

India

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Artificial intelligenceIndiaDesign for disassemblyHospitalityBrand identity

Designed to come off: the hotel façade with a twenty-year life

Vibhakar Jha, Shubham Solanki, Sushant Verma & Harsh Thapar

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Value engineeringClimate-responsive designIndiaGlazingAir quality

What a city hands a façade when it hands it every variable at once

Gautam Bhasin, Harsh Varshneya, Bhavin Mehta, Nazia Iqbal & Rakesh Thakur

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India High-riseFire safetyIndiaRainscreenSintered stone

Sintered, not tiled: what a high-rise asks of a ceramic panel

TS Aditya

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Laminated glassIndiaInterlayersStructural glazingMaterial authentication

Coupling, not thickness: what actually sets a laminate's deflection

Allan Gibson

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Green façadesBiophilic designIndiaHigh-rise residentialRegenerative architecture

Buildings that behave like a forest rather than look like one

Vishal Sharma

ZWOF Chennai 2026 India IndiaSustainabilityFenestrationThermal breakEnergy efficiency

Where the heat gets in: the thermal break, now required by code

Abhishek Shukla

ZWOF Ahmedabad 2026 India IndiaMaterial craftCast metalPerforated screensOpen-joint façades

Timeless façades through organic surfaces, crafted patterns and open-joint detailing

KR Suresh

ZWOF Chennai 2026 India Façade engineeringFire safetyCurtain wallIndiaBuilding codes

Beyond compliance: what a fire really asks of a high-rise façade

KR Suresh

ZWOF Ahmedabad 2026 India High-rise façadesIndiaUnitised curtain wallGIFT CityForm development

Designing high-rise façades across a portfolio from 45 to 153 metres

Brijesh Shah & Nitesh Shah

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Fire safetySolar shadingIndiaCladdingRainscreen

What Delhi's temperature swing asks of a laminate cladding panel

Ashwanii Khanna

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Solar shadingIndiaMixed useCurtain wallingRetail design

Where a Noida block keeps its rectangle and spends its curves

Nisar Ahmed Shaikh

ZWOF Ahmedabad 2026 India BIMIndiaTensile membrane shadingPerformance glazingStone cladding

Treating the façade as a collaborative, detail-driven layer at ONE42

Raman Aras

View all India

Games Daily façade puzzles

Clad·5Guess the five-letter façade word. GroupsSort sixteen terms into four groups. Build-UpOrder the wall layers, outside in.

Editorials

All editorials ›

Editorial

Key Themes from the 2026 Zak World of Façades Conference in London

On 4 November 2026, around one thousand delegates, including architects, engineers, façade manufacturers, contractors, consultants and developers, convened at Old Billingsgate in the City of London fo…

Read the editorial ›