Shaping Our Skylines

Top experts unveil the future of buildings’ facades in the region

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Facades are what we first see in any building. More than just shaping our city’s look, building envelops have a tremendous impact on the livability of our homes and offices, as well as on their energy consumption.

With technology developing faster than ever, facades are undergoing an unprecedented transformation today.

Ahead of their participation to the Future of Facades Summit in Dubai, Benjamin Piper, the Partner and Design Principal at Killa Design, Micha Pawelka, the Managing Director of Priedemann, and Benjamin Beer, the Head of Façades at Ramboll, discuss current trends and promising technologies that are going to revolutionize our buildings.

Materials’ science and mechanical systems drive the change In the facades sector, Piper points out, there’s usually a subtle conflict between architects, who look for the clearest glass, the largest openings, and the best color rendition, and the engineers, who are more concerned with the reduction of the energy load on the building.

Today, thanks to advancements in the materials’ science, the industry is able to meet both the visual performance and the energy performance requirements simultaneously.

“We can finally have incredibly clear glass with quality visual rendering color that also meets the energy performance standards mandated by the authorities,” Piper says.

Pawelka agrees: “Material-wise, we see things getting smart. We have electrochromic glass, the performance of the glass is getting switchable, and prices of these materials are also getting more affordable.”

Probably the most eye-catching change, however, comes from the facades’ architectural design, which is becoming more and more complex.