Performance-Based
Façade Design
2026

Seminar on
Durable Façades

Workshop on
Façade Serviceability: Failures and Lessons Learned

Off-site Activities & Grand Finale

Venice, Italy

16-18 Sept. 2026

PBFD 2026 Overview

PBFD is a curated international platform bringing together leaders in façade design, engineering, and innovation. The initiative aims to connect all stakeholders involved in building envelope development—from real estate developers and general contractors to façade and material suppliers, façade engineers, architects, specialized consultants, and academic excellence—creating a shared space to identify where boundaries must be pushed at a global scale.

Across two days of high-level seminars and workshop sessions, the program addresses durability, serviceability, and performance through real-world case studies and advanced research.

Beyond the conference, curated off-site experiences and the Grand Finale create unique opportunities for networking, collaboration, and industry visibility.

The Full Story

This is your About page. This space is a great opportunity to give a full background on who you are, what you do and what your site has to offer. Your users are genuinely interested in learning more about you, so don’t be afraid to share personal anecdotes to create a more friendly quality. Every website has a story, and your visitors want to hear yours. This space is a great opportunity to provide any personal details you want to share with your followers. Include interesting anecdotes and facts to keep readers engaged. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want site visitors to know. If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery or video for even more engagement.

2026 Keynote Speakers

Silvia Prandelli | Senior Principal, Populous

Director of the Milan office of Populous, the global architecture and design studio specializing in sports and entertainment venues, Silvia Prandelli leads the practice’s business in Italy and Southern Europe. Her portfolio includes award-winning projects in the USA, UK, Middle East and Far East – ranging from sporting and cultural to civic and public-use buildings. With an engineering background, she leads teams on complex, large-scale projects from early feasibility through delivery and lifecycle monitoring. She is the author of several scientific publications, serves on Technical Committees in the ESG field, and has worked in Academia where she has contributed in Adjunct Professor roles.

Astrid Piber | Partner, UNS

Astrid Piber is Partner and Senior Architect at UNStudio, and a member of the studio’s Global Management Team. She brings strategic architectural and development expertise to large-scale, complex projects, aligning design solutions with business objectives and broader urban and social contexts. Educated at Columbia University, she joined UNStudio in 1998 and has played a key role in the firm’s international growth. Her portfolio spans major transport hubs and mixed-use developments, with a strong focus on inclusive, sustainable and high-density environments. She regularly contributes to international professional forums, including the Council on Vertical Urbanism.

Balázs Bognár | Partner and Executive Vice President, Kengo Kuma & Associates

Partner and Executive Vice President at Kengo Kuma & Associates, and President of the Japan chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Based in Tokyo, he has worked alongside Kengo Kuma since 2007, leading international projects and contributing to the studio’s design direction and mentorship. His work explores the relationships between architecture, place, culture, and nature across diverse contexts. His portfolio includes projects such as Alberni in Vancouver, the Portland Japanese Garden Cultural Village, and the Amanpuri Retail Pavilion in Phuket. Bognár lectures internationally and writes on architecture, with publications addressing materiality, cultural context, and contemporary practice. He holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis.

The Full Story

2026 Speakers

Greg Simmons | CEO, Insol

Greg Simmons is the CEO of Insol Ltd, a New Zealand company specialising in porous architectural façade systems for commercial construction, and leads the company's research and development work. He has presented papers on façade testing at the 21st and 23rd Australasian Wind Engineering Society Workshops and contributed to the authoring of AWES-QAM-2-2024. Greg built and now operates WindLab, Insol's full-scale wind testing facility in Invercargill, where façade prototypes are tested under controlled wind loading. His current research addresses long-term façade durability — an area not adequately covered by existing static design codes.

Shorena Gudzhabidze | Digital Product Manager, Staticus

Shorena Gudzhabidze is a Civil Engineer by background, holding a Bachelor's degree, who spent three years as a 3D Design Engineer before making a move into digital product development. She is now Digital Product Manager at Staticus, leading the XD platform - a digital intelligence layer for building envelopes spanning early-stage façade configuration, project delivery, and operational lifecycle management. Her work sits at the intersection of engineering rigour and digital innovation and her goal is threefold: making engineering teams more efficient, bringing genuine transparency to clients, and ensuring that knowledge about a building envelope survives long after the project ends. She is currently developing the concept of Information Half-Life and a Digital Durability strategy as a new lens for understanding façade longevity.

Nebojsa Jakica | Associate Professor, the University of Southern Denmark

Nebojsa Jakica is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). He holds a Ph.D. in Technology and Design for the Environment and Buildings from Politecnico di Milano, where he developed and tested building-integrated photovoltaic façade systems. His career bridges academia and professional practice, with experience as an architect, computational designer, and façade consultant at leading firms including HENN in Berlin and Vittorio Grassi Architetto and Partners in Milan. Nebojsa leads FACETS Lab, an interdisciplinary research group focused on digital technologies for façade design. The lab developed FacadeGenius, an AI-powered, no-code computational design platform enabling real-time collaboration across devices and integrating design and engineering workflows.

PBFD 2026 Co-chairs

For PBFD 2026, the technical leadership of the program is structured through two dedicated track co-chairs: Mikkel K. Kragh serves as Co-Chair of the Seminar on Durable Façades, and is also a member of the Editorial Board of the first Performance-Based Façade Design book Performance-Based Façade Design: Façade Challenges, Reflections, and Sustainability, published by Springer Nature, and presented at PBFD 2026.

Daniel J. Lemieux serves as Co-Chair of the Workshop on Façade Serviceability: Failures and Lessons Learned and is a member of the Editorial Board of the ASTM Selected Technical Papers (STP) publication associated with the PBFD 2026 workshop publication.

Mikkel K. Kragh | Associate Director, Arup

Mikkel K. Kragh is an Associate Director at Arup, where he leads the Building Design and Advisory Practice and the Technical Specialist Services Team in Denmark. With extensive experience spanning consultancy, academia, and specialist façade engineering, he plays a key role in advancing high-performance building envelope solutions.
Prior to returning to Arup, Mikkel served as Head of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Aarhus University, where he led the department following its establishment in 2021 as part of a major institutional restructuring. He previously held the role of Head of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Southern Denmark and was appointed Full Professor in 2017.
Mikkel has worked internationally as a façade specialist on numerous high-profile projects with organizations including Arup, Dow Corning, and the Permasteelisa Group, leading collaborative R&D initiatives focused on advanced façade performance and building physics.

Daniel J. Lemieux | Director and Principal, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

Daniel J. Lemieux, FAIA, is Principal and Director of International Development at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., and Managing Director of its UK subsidiary. With over 30 years of global experience in building enclosure investigation, repair, and performance testing, he has led award-winning projects and contributed significantly to building science education. He chairs ASTM Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings and previously led the development of key BECx standards (ASTM E2813, E2947). In 2021, he was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows, and in 2024 to the ASTM International Fellows, recognizing his leadership in performance-based standards. He teaches graduate courses on “Failures & Forensics” at Georgia Tech and Purdue, and serves on advisory boards at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. He is licensed, listed, and/or chartered in 10 U.S. states, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

Immerse yourself in the cutting-edge world of façade technology at this exclusive initiative.

This is not just an event; it's a catalyst for the transformation of the industry.

Save the dates and be part of this experience that redefines the landscape of façade design.

Performance-Based Façade Design 2026

Seminar on Durable Façades Workshop on Façade Serviceability: Failures and Lessons Learned Off-site Activities & Grand Finale

PBFD 2026 Overview

The Full Story

2026 Keynote Speakers

The Full Story

2026 Speakers

PBFD 2026 Co-chairs

Performance-Based
Façade Design
2026

Seminar on
Durable Façades

Workshop on
Façade Serviceability: Failures and Lessons Learned

Off-site Activities & Grand Finale