The 62nd global edition of the Zak World of Façades was held successfully at Park Hyatt, Hyderabad on 21st June 2019. Being one of the leading international facade design and engineering industry conference, it attracted over 300 delegates this time. In this 2nd edition in Hyderabad, the experts shared their thoughts on the recent trends in the facade design industry.
The focus of the conference was on ‘Advanced Facade Design through Innovation and Technological Evolution’. Zak World of Façade conference is currently being organised in 25 countries, which include the Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Kuwait & Saudi Arabia), South Asia (India & Sri Lanka), South East Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam & Indonesia), East Asia (Hong Kong, South Korea & China), Africa (Kenya, Egypt, Morocco & South Africa), Europe (United Kingdom, France, Germany & Sweden), Australasia (Australia & New Zealand) and the United States of America.
The event took off with a warm welcome note by Syed Ahad Ahmed, Director, Zak Group. Addressing the august audience, he said, “I am proud that Zak World of Façades is conceptualised in India and that we could take it globally as well. We started on 27th July 2012 in Bangalore with a very small networking event in the evening and the event has just grown from strength to strength. We are currently in 25 countries, which speaks about the interest in facade design and façade engineering globally”.
Ashish Kapoor, Sales Director, Schüco India, who was the convener of the event, initiated the conference proceeding on an optimistic note. Kapoor said, “This is our 5th year together and we are proud to announce that we have a global partnership with Zak Group and Zak World of Façades present in 25 countries. Schüco is the presenting partner for all the Zak conferences in each of these 25 countries”.
Michael Chin, Principal – Façade Engineering Leader, Arup spoke on “Cities Alive: Designing Green & Sustainable Façades for the Tropics”. He also discussed the ‘Need for sustainable cities’, ‘Challenges incorporating “green”façades and how they can influence the environment’, and examples of sustainable façades design in the tropics and other parts of the world.
Prameena Karunairaj, Business Development Manager, FunderMax India spoke on “Cladding high-rise buildings, a high-pressure laminate (Hpl) perspective”. She also discussed the benefits of cladding a high-rise, and how to design cladding for a high-rise and presented a few case studies.
Ahmed Sumair, Director, of Sahvia Façade, discussed the NBC guidelines for façades. He also spoke about curtain walls, glass, structural & safety.
Loriane Parisot, Global Technical Service & Development Manager – High, Performance Building, Dow Chemical spoke on “Possibilities with silicone for high-performance buildings”. She also spoke about a journey through high performance in modern façade designs, service for management of project timing & quality, and latest innovations in the high-performance segment. After the tea/coffee break,
Manjunath Shetty, Managing Director, Envelope Technik started the second session and talked about BIM (Building Information Modeling).
Ashish Kapoor, Sales Director, Schüco India spoke about Schueco Troptec Aluminium Systems for emerging markets, and also on the international façade systems. Kapoor discussed the ways to meet customer expectations with international systems, keeping façades performance objectives in mind.
Simón NAF, Country Head – Indian Subcontinent, Aedas spoke about Pragati Maidan Convention Center in Delhi, SAS iTower mixed-use development in Hyderabad. He was followed by a panel discussion on “Trends and innovations in building façade designs”.
KR Suresh, Regional Director, Axis Façades moderated the first-panel discussion on ‘Trends and Innovations in Building Façade Designs’ and gave the chance to the dignitaries to ask their questions. The panellists included George Verghese, Associate Director, RSP; Swati Puchalapalli, Founding Partner & Director, Terra Viridis; Sameer Chaturvedi, Head – Architectural Design, GMR Hyderabad; Madhusudhan Karatgi, Senior Associate Director, CBRE South Asia; Asadullah Khan, Design Director, Genesis Planners and Aditya Thota, Head – Sales, FunderMax India.
The third session began with a presentation by Sridhar Gopisetti, Managing Director, Team OneIndia. He gave his presentation on “Emerging trends in façade design and technology for high-rise buildings”.
Sridhar Gopisetti (MD, Team One India) | Micha Pawelka (MD, Priedemann Facade Experts) | KR Suresh (RD, Axis Facades)
He was followed by Micha Pawelka, Managing Director, Priedemann Façade Experts, who spoke on “The misconception about value engineering – if this headache be avoided?” He also discussed “The value of engineering and process integration vs. belated value diminution”.
Sreenivas Narayanan (GM, Siderise Group) | Sourabh Kankar (MM, Gujrat Guardian) | Malvinder Singh Rooprai (Tech. Cons. , Kuraray)
The next topic of discussion was ‘Correct application and facade design considerations for fire compartmentation in façade’, which was presented by KR Suresh, Regional Director, Axis Façades and Sreenivas Narayanan, GeneralManager – UAE, India & Oceania, Siderise Group.
Sourabh Kankar, Marketing Manager – India, Gujarat Guardian spoke about “GGL go-to solution provider and innovations in glass”. He also presented his case study on one of the most exclusive, demanding, risky, creative and efficient projects executed by Guardian SunGuard.
Malvinder Singh Rooprai, Technical Consultant – Asia Pacific Region, Kuraray discussed on the topics including ‘What’s inside the laminated glass’, explaining the types of interlayers, how to select the right interlayer and evolving standards on laminated glass.
The Second Panel Discussion on Facade Value Engineering Managing the Process and Limiting the Risk Moderated by Suhal Kanchwala
The last session of the conference saw a presentation by Dhurgai Kumaran, Director – Architecture, FHD Group. He delivered his presentation on Negotiating boundaries with climate, function & structure.
Rahul Miskeen, VP – of Design & Engineering, Glass Wall Systems spoke about Changing the approach of emerging India towards enveloping of buildings. The conference ended with a panel discussion on “Façade Value Engineering: Managing the Process and Limiting the Risk” moderated by Suhel Kachwala, Managing Director, FG Glass. The panellists included Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Managing Director, Design Haaus; Arul Prakash, Project Head, K Raheja; Kalyan Khetana, Design Director, Phoenix PMC; N Venkatesh, Design Head – Architectural, Aurobindo Realty; Anandkumar Patil, GM – Projects, Synergy Property Development Services and PSLN Rao, Director, Active Green Windows.
The sponsors included: Schüco, Glass Wall Systems, Allarch, Siderise, Dow, Fundermax, Global Aluminium, Kinlong, McCoy, Trosifol, Serge Ferrari, etc. Novum was the agenda partner and Window & Façade magazine was the media partner of the Zak World of Façade conference.
Zak World of Façades – a one-day conference, that brings all the professionals with architectural, construction and engineering backgrounds together to discuss the latest trends in the façade industry. The conference gives a platform to the companies in the façade and fenestration industry to network with other professionals and learns new technologies. In its last 62 editions, Zak World of Façades has attracted over 25000 delegates.
The conference was complemented by the exhibition of many newly launched products by various brands.
