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 Vancouver 2026 Canada RetrofitCanadaGFRCBuilding scienceCommissioning

Unlocking value in a Brutalist box: whole-envelope thinking and commissioning at the Glenbow

Dale Wannamaker & Timothy Wong

ZWOF Vancouver 2026 Canada Curtain wallArchitectureCanadaDesignVancouver

Ten façades, one question: how do you protect an idea all the way to completion?

Venelin Kokalov

ZWOF Vancouver 2026 Canada Embodied carbonAluminiumCanadaSustainabilityVancouver

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

Jordi Marasse

ZWOF Vancouver 2026 Canada Fire safetyCanadaCladdingBuilding scienceCombustibility

Playing with fire: why fire safety has to shape the façade from the first sketch

Peter Senez, David Goyne, Claire Yuan, Graham Finch & James Johnson

ZWOF Toronto 2025 Canada Curtain wallQuality controlCanadaPrefabricationStainless steel

Hand-bent, 7,500 times: the stainless façade at Forma

Kamilah Bannister, Abel Gill, Dan Francis & Richard Orser

ZWOF New York 2025 United States High-riseCurtain wallUSAFaçade expressionNatural ventilation

Making the curtain wall breathe: hiding, and showing, the window

Hugh Trumbull

ZWOF New York 2025 United States Curtain wallUSAQuality controlCladdingTesting

A ceramic look in cast concrete: the GFRC façade at 600 West 125th

Joseph Madaghiele & Melissa Wong

ZWOF Calgary 2026 Canada Building physicsCanadaBuilding codesTestingAirtightness

Twenty-two milk jugs a minute: what the code lets a wall leak

Mira Saba

ZWOF Calgary 2026 Canada Design assistMock-upsFaçade procurementDesign-buildCanada

Eight drawing sheets, then hundreds: procurement and the BMO Centre

Anine Eschberger Wortmann, Léo Lejeune, Kelly Coles & Joel Schwartz

ZWOF Vancouver 2026 Canada CanadaDurabilityFenestrationBuilding scienceStep Code

Kicking the can: why fenestration durability has to be a day-one conversation

Anton VanDyk

ZWOF New York 2025 United States USAStructural glassAdaptive reuseGlass fabricationNatural ventilation

Poetic intent, physical reality: a life in structural glass

Hugh Dutton

ZWOF Phoenix 2026 United States USAColourResidential façadesGridSolar depth

Extreme consistency: making grid, depth and colour do the work at Ray Phoenix

Nicholas Hofstede

View all Americas

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 Quality controlUKDurabilityPowder coatingSpecifications

A coating specification is a durability system

Coby Armar

ZWOF Manchester 2026 United Kingdom Façade engineeringFire safetyComplianceUKUnitised curtain wall

Engineering fire safety into a complex façade: the NESST case study

Camille Destres & Iain Gray

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom Embodied carbonWorkplaceAdaptive reuseUKFuture fit

Future-fit buildings begin with transformation, not replacement

Harry Cliffe-Roberts

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom UKCollaborationWeatherproofingInterfacesQuality

Façade literacy is a risk-control tool

Rui Monteiro

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom UKEngineeringLow-carbonSystems thinkingKPF

When component innovation plateaus, systems thinking takes over

Shawn Duffy

ZWOF London 2025 United Kingdom ReuseRetrofitAdaptive reuseUKCarbon

Value-up starts with what a building already has

Dan Gleeson & Stephen Tanno

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 UKDurabilityColourPowder coatingBio-based materials

Powder coatings are starting to carry their own carbon strategy

Jimi Ogunsola

View all UK

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 GlassAISpainDigital designPerformance modelling

Las herramientas digitales deben afinar las decisiones sobre vidrio

Eva Muñoz & Juan Imaz

ZWOF Rome Italy Curtain wallRetrofitCeramicsItalyRome Office Complex

Rome Office Complex: due edifici, due strategie di involucro, un solo obiettivo di rigenerazione

Marlice Anisia Imparato & Alessio Pierdomenico

ZWOF Limassol 2026 Cyprus Façade engineeringFire safetyCyprusComplianceFaçade consultancy

Where vision meets reality: the first Cypriot façade consultancy

George Sergiou

ZWOF Rome Italy Solar shadingRetrofitSteelItalyFiumicino

Molo D di Fiumicino: rinnovare l’involucro mentre l’aeroporto continua a funzionare

Alberto Ferrari, Alessandro Ferreri, Vittorio Banella, Luca Mastropierro & Elisa Faretina

ZWOF Barcelona 2026 Spain RetrofitNatural ventilationSpainConcrete repairBio-based insulation

Ligereza y masa pueden convivir en una rehabilitación

Miquel Rodriguez

ZWOF Rotterdam 2026 Netherlands Façade engineeringNetherlandsProcurementComplianceCircularity

Dutch façades are engineered through constraints

Leonie van Ginkel & Joep Hovels

ZWOF Barcelona 2026 Spain HeritageUrban identityCircularitySpainBarcelona architecture

Las fachadas de Barcelona deben equilibrar memoria y cambio

Jordi Torres Quintana, Albert Sagrera Cuscó, Jordi Vilà Alsina, Luis Delgado, Maria Cedó & Pablo Garrido

ZWOF Rotterdam 2026 Netherlands NetherlandsNatural ventilationTimber façadesBuilding identityIntegrated design

Architecture can make innovation legible

Ron Bakker

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 Unitised façadesAluminium systemsFaçade testingUzbekistanEngineering centre

Типовых проектов почти не осталось

Pavel Baltsevich

ZWOF Istanbul 2026 Turkey DurabilityColourTurkeyPowder coatingFinishes

Günde dört yüz ton su: toz boya eloksalın yerini nasıl aldı?

Beyza Sarıeyyupoğlu

ZWOF Riyadh 2025 Saudi Arabia Fire safetySaudi ArabiaForensic engineeringCondensationFaçade defects

Forensic lessons from façades that failed

Austen Smith

ZWOF Tbilisi 25 Georgia GeorgiaPublic realmAdaptive reuseUrban regenerationPlacemaking

Design for good: giving more back to place

Jan Dijkema

ZWOF Tbilisi 25 Georgia GeorgiaBuilding physicsPerformance mock-upFaçade consultancyResponsibility

Mind the gap: carrying façade responsibility from design to site

Thomas Eschenbach

ZWOF Istanbul 2026 Turkey RefurbishmentTurkeyAsset repositioningRiskFaçade strategy

Façade renovation from risk assessment to asset repositioning

Necdet Bahadır Buluk & Hearan Kim

ZWOF Tashkent 2025 Uzbekistan Laminated glassStructural interlayersUzbekistanSafety glazingThermal loads

После тридцати градусов плёнка перестаёт держать

Anton Novozhilov

ZWOF Istanbul 2026 Turkey Urban designHeritageRefurbishmentPublic spaceTurkey

Working with heritage by making the waterfront public again

Nicola Scaranaro

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 AluminiumAustraliaSurface finishesTimber-look façadesNon-combustible materials

Timber appearance, aluminium behaviour: the case for sublimation

Allan Ramsay

ZWOF Melbourne 2026 Australia Façade engineeringFabricationAustraliaStructural glassComplex geometry

The world’s most complex façades: hanging glass and structural trusses

Andreas Geyer

ZWOF Hong Kong 2025 Greater China Curved glassStructural glassCoatingsHong KongTempering

What the oven decides about a curved pane

Joan Tarrús

ZWOF Bangkok 2026 Thailand Solar shadingComputational designFaçade designThailandParametric workflows

When geometry is described rather than drawn, the cost of change collapses

Jak Drinnan

ZWOF Brisbane 2026 Australia HeritageAustraliaPublic realmPlacemakingSubtropical design

Queen’s Wharf Brisbane: the envelope as civic infrastructure

Naveen Dath

ZWOF Hong Kong 2025 Greater China AluminiumSurface finishesDigital fabricationUnitised curtain wallHong Kong

Leaving the aluminium bare, and holding one model all the way to the factory

Michael Min Ra

ZWOF Sydney 2025 Australia Embodied carbonSolar shadingAustraliaSteel façadesCurtain walling

Cold-formed steel and the case against the unitised curtain wall

Eric Claeys

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

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 Mumbai 2025 India Façade engineeringIndiaAirportsDaylightingRoof systems

Simple systems, concentrated complexity: the envelope logic behind the Navi Mumbai terminal

Ashwin Shah

ZWOF Mumbai 2025 India Façade maintenanceQuality controlIndiaUnitised curtain wallingFire regulations

How a fire-brigade rule and an airport height limit shaped one Mumbai façade

KR Suresh, Shekhar Patki, Pratik Doshi & Prashant Pant

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India IndiaMixed useContextBrickworkArchitectural expression

Brickwork stitched into the wall rather than hung on it as cladding

Swati Agarwal

ZWOF Chennai 2026 India PerformanceIndiaDesignClimateChennai

When design decides performance: orientation, climate and the façade as a first move

Subbiah Sivasubramaniam, Suraksha Acharya, Gurunathan Ramakrishnan, Prasana Kesavan, Kosalraman CJ & Shripal Munshi

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India Structural glassIndiaRetail designStaircasesGlass engineering

Glass asked to carry the load rather than fill the opening in it

Sushant Goel

ZWOF Chennai 2026 India ResidentialMaterialsValue engineeringArchitectureIndia

The face of the building: visual impact and climate, on a realistic budget

Prashanth S Kharche

ZWOF Chennai 2026 India WorkplaceArchitectureIndiaHuman experienceGCC

Experience is everything: designing the workplace from the inside out

Naseera Razak & Aditya Goel

ZWOF New Delhi 2026 India RefurbishmentIndiaDurabilityStructural siliconeCold bending

Ninety per cent at twenty-five years: what an old seal is worth

Ravishankar Subramanian

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.

Interviews

All interviews ›

Interview · The Faces of Façades

The hidden people behind every building

Ahad Ahmed built Zak World of Façades from a single event in a Delhi coffee shop into a platform that now runs in more than 50 countries, yet he calls himself a reluctant speaker, an accidental founde…

Read the interview ›