This event will be a virtual event.
All content will be available through December 20, 2020.
The 2020 IIBEC Virtual Building Enclosure Symposium (BES+) offers cutting-edge information regarding design, construction, maintenance, and repair of modern and/or older building enclosures. The event’s open, inclusive environment encourages attendees to ask questions during the live Q and A and stimulates dialogue. Speakers offer relevant solutions by referencing real-world examples and specific case histories.
Continuing Educational Hours from IIBEC
Attendees earn up to 12 Continuing Educational Hours (CEHs) from IIBEC.
LU/HSW Units from American Institute of Architects.
Attendees earn up to 12 LU/HSW Units from American Institute of Architects.
Registration Fees – After Monday, November 2, 2020 Member ……………………… $229 USD Nonmember ………………. $279 USD
Students Member/Nonmember …..$99 USD
Trade Show Only Member/Nonmember …..FREE
Questions regarding registrations?
Please email Ashley Johnson, ajohnson@iibec.org, or call our office at 800-828-1902.
This event has pivoted to a virtual event.
This presentation will provide a case study of a medical research/office facility that, at nearly 35 years old, needed major exterior repairs. This mid-1980s building was constructed with thought given to energy conservation and durability by using continuous thermal insulation in the wall assembly and a durable masonry cladding system. Unfortunately, defects in the original design and construction created an exterior wall assembly that developed cracks in the exterior masonry and deterioration of the supporting steel members, and the building lacked an air barrier and leaked air badly, defeating the original energy conservation considerations. The lack of vertical masonry control joints led to widespread cracking and corrosion of supporting steel relief angles. The assessment of the masonry defects discovered that the wall assemblies lacked a weather barrier and an air barrier. Large air leaks were discovered during the cladding assessment, creating another challenge in developing restoration concepts.
The assessment resulted in three options. All steps—from the initial assessment of the building through the various design concepts and options—will review the construction challenges for the new lightweight metal panel over-cladding system, designed with a modern appearance to align with the owner’s corporate image and to coordinate with other research facilities.
TAM Consultants, Inc. | Newport News, VA
Timothy Mills graduated with a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1983. Prior to forming TAM Consultants in 2002, Mills worked at a number of multidiscipline design and inspection firms. He has published numerous articles, presented at conferences and symposia, and completed nearly 1,500 residential home and commercial building inspections and 300 energy audits. He is an instructor for ABAA training courses that educate and certify contractors in the proper installation of air barriers, and is a certified ABAA Auditor for their quality assurance program, as well as a Certified Level II Infrared Thermographer.
Precast concrete exterior wall panel systems are popular in many urban and suburban areas, largely due to efficiency in terms of installation/erection, cost, and simplicity. Lots of options are available to design and construction professionals in terms of panel sizes, layouts, and architectural finishes and features. Options for anchoring and flashing/sealing glazing systems are limited, and problems can result if details are not carefully developed. Other challenges can include reliably sealing panel-to-panel joints, transitioning to adjacent roofing, waterproofing and rainscreen cladding systems, and coordination among trades. This presentation will describe various challenges related to precast concrete exterior wall system design and construction and will include lessons learned and best practices developed from past projects.
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. | Waltham, MA
Derek McCowan has extensive experience in designing, investigating, and rehabilitating building enclosure systems of contemporary and historic structures, as well as providing construction-phase and performance testing services. He frequently consults on large and complex projects and specializes in exterior wall cladding and glazing systems, sealants, roofing, waterproofing, historic restoration, and enclosure commissioning. He writes and presents frequently on building enclosure topics, has been a guest lecturer and evaluator at various local universities, and is an officer of ASTM Committee C24, Building Seals and Sealants.
Holbrook Phelan is a project manager with national engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH). She has a background in civil engineering, construction management, and institutional construction. Phelan has consulted on dozens of old masonry building restoration and preservation projects for various architect and university clients, including working on multiple iconic buildings of great importance to the owners and surrounding communities. She frequently performs pre-design assessment and exploratory work, develops restoration design drawings and specifications, and provides construction inspection, administration, and testing services.
Window wall assemblies are a popular exterior wall assembly for high-rise residential apartment buildings. These systems are economical because of efficiencies of factory assembly and rapid installation on site. With the exception of components deemed “minor”—including thermal breaks in the aluminum frames, sealants, etc.—window wall assemblies are considered non-combustible and, therefore, compliant with building code requirements to limit the vertical spread of fire. The thermal performance of window wall systems is relatively weak, limited by thermal bridging through the frames. Thermal performance can be increased with two-component, closed-cell polyurethane foam insulation spray-applied directly to the spandrels. However, the insulation is combustible and too large to be considered a minor component; so, the entire assembly is often considered to be combustible. This presentation describes full-scale fire exposure tests under CAN/ULC-S134, the equivalent to NFPA 285. The outcomes are used to assess if such walls are combustible. The paper will also consider if the test results can be applied to other window wall assemblies and to assess compliance with building codes in the United States, where Canadian window wall systems are often used.
Morrison Hershfield Corporation | Seattle, WA
With a master’s-degree-level education that combines structural engineering, building science, and architecture, Stéphane Hoffman brings a well-balanced consulting approach to the building envelope, blending scientific analysis with an understanding of aesthetics considerations. He is particularly adept at providing innovative design concepts and construction alternatives that provide value by improving durability and increasing energy efficiency. As a key technical leader at Morrison Hershfield, Hoffman has worked on projects throughout North America. He leads the company’s Building Science Analytics Group, combining façade engineering, energy modeling, and enclosure component modeling to assist teams in designing high-performance buildings.
An enclosure that is appropriately responsive to its environmental loading conditions is one of the most fundamental measures of satisfactory performance for the built environment. Some loads are directly experienced by enclosure components and materials themselves, while other loads are experienced because material deformations or deflections influence those components and materials. While the relationship between structural movement and a structure’s usefulness to its intended purpose has been well understood throughout the history of design and construction, that understanding has not always translated well into satisfactory enclosure performance. Drawing on experiences in post-construction forensic investigations, troubleshooting during construction, and efforts to influence design detailing, this presentation will discuss key factors in applying engineering mechanics for the benefit (or detriment) of enclosure performance. Specific aspects to be shared will include the cross-party dynamics in design and construction that give rise to current challenges, case studies of failures as a result of insufficient consideration, and areas for improvement across the design and construction industry.
Kraus-Anderson Construction Company | Minneapolis, MN
Jon Porter is the director of building science for Kraus-Anderson Construction (KA). In his role at KA, Porter focuses on building performance, particularly the exterior enclosure and interior finishes. He serves as a technical resource to project teams in relation to means and methods, constructability, building materials technology, workflow and sequencing, proper installation techniques, and testing and acceptance protocols. A licensed professional engineer in the state on MN, Porter has more than 24 years of design and construction experience, including roles in forensic investigation of design and construction failures and as an owner’s representative.
Weather events are trending to be more destructive. Sustainability focuses on roofing products’ effects on the future; resilience focuses on roofing assemblies’ ability to endure. But how do we adapt roof system designs for an unpredictable climate and energy future in the US and globally?
Long-term building performance necessitates an inherent and essential capacity to design for resilience in the face of vulnerability, and buildings that can adapt to the changing environments in which they were built. What do resilient and adaptive buildings look like, how do they behave, and how do we design for this belt-and-suspenders approach that requires such elasticity? And what role does roof selection and design play?
Learning Objectives:
GAF | Parsippany, NJ
Jennifer Keegan is the director of building and roofing science for GAF, focusing on overall roof system design and performance. She has over 20 years of experience as a building enclosure consultant specializing in assessment, design, and remediation of building enclosure systems. Keegan provides technical leadership within the industry as the chair of the ASTM D08.22 Roofing and Waterproofing Subcommittee, and the education chair for IIBEC; and as an advocate for women within the industry as an executive board member of National Women in Roofing and a board member of Women in Construction.
GAF | Wilmette, IL
James R. Kirby is a GAF building and roofing science architect with a masters of architecture (structures option) degree. He has over 25 years of experience in the roofing industry covering low-slope, steep-slope, metal, SPF, vegetative, and rooftop photovoltaics. He understands the effects of heat, air, and moisture on a roof system. Kirby presents building and roofing science information to architects, consultants, and building owners, and writes articles and blogs for building owners, facility managers, and the roofing industry at large. Kirby is a member of AIA, ASTM, ICC, IIBEC, NRCA, and WSRCA.
Building enclosure commissioning (BECx) is more frequently being required for new construction, and as BECx becomes more common, the gray areas and requirements of BECx are being more heavily scrutinized and questioned. One of the more frequent questions with respect to the building enclosure is related to performance testing; more specifically, how much water testing is required for a new building? While testing procedures and criteria are thoroughly developed and can be readily understood, there currently is no industry-wide agreement or consensus for the extent or quantity of field water performance testing. This presentation will attempt to address the field-testing quantity question through an analysis of existing, yet vague, industry guidelines. Typical buildings and assumptions will be used to show example calculations for determining a sample testing size—specifically for ASTM E1105 testing. The calculated sample testing size will be compared against typical testing requirements, and conclusions will be presented that summarize the results and other factors that should be accounted for when determining field testing quantities.
Pie Consulting & Engineering | Arvada, CO
Jeff Crowe has been with Pie Consulting & Engineering since 2010. As a member of and technical director for Pie’s Building Science Group, he is part of a team that regularly reviews building enclosure drawings and details and frequently performs building enclosure field testing. He has provided consultation for architects, contractors, and owners for appropriate testing and has also presented on several technical topics with respect to building enclosure testing. He was a contributing author to the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ Air Leakage Test Protocol for Building Envelopes.
The author has been involved as an expert witness in multiple litigations where confusion, poor language, and competing demands have led to million-dollar lawsuits. The negative domino effect starts with specification language, may be affected by value engineering, continues through contract language, develops further in shop drawings, and culminates in a train wreck in the field. The train wreck later falls off a cliff when the slabs deflect over the long term in unanticipated ways. Often multiple parties share blame, including owners, architects, structural engineers, general contractors, façade manufacturers, and façade contractors. Presenting such a complex case to a judge or jury is challenging. After all, if the construction professionals can’t figure it out, how can non-construction judges and juries get it right? In this presentation, the author will focus on what went wrong in the construction process, and will offer solutions that can bring about positive shared expectations of all parties and ultimate project success.
Façade Consultants | Northbrook, IL
Mark Meshulam has over 40 years of construction experience. Starting as a sales engineer, he eventually became an owner of one of the top commercial window companies in Chicago. He oversaw engineering, shop drawings, laboratory and field testing, and project management for hundreds of buildings. In the recent decade, he has offered clients the benefit of his experience as a consultant and expert witness. He works nationally and internationally—sometimes in high-profile legal cases, including crimes where glass is important evidence. His websites attract thousands of viewers who educate themselves by reading his 80 original articles.
Structural engineers consider movement joints as a separator or physical break between adjacent buildings (or portions of buildings), while building enclosure designers require movement joints to connect the thermal, moisture, air, and water control layers. Often architectural drawings include a premanufactured movement joint sized to accommodate the anticipated structural movement of the joint. A common challenge is understanding how the movement joint system, which often includes complex geometry, interfaces with the adjacent building enclosure systems that are being connected. The speakers will address how to detail, develop, and construct movement joint systems to maintain enclosure continuity and prevent leakage. The presented approach is based on the speakers’ combined experience investigating failed movement joints, and applying lessons learned to the design and construction of movement joints in new design projects. In this presentation, the speakers will review how movement joints fail from a building enclosure perspective and identify key details and requirements for movement joint systems that are required to maintain a continuous envelope across multiple enclosure systems.
Luke Niezelski joined the building technology division of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH) in 2014. He is licensed in Massachusetts as a professional engineer and is experienced in the investigation/assessment, design, construction administration, monitoring/inspection, and field-testing of historical and contemporary building enclosure systems. Niezelski has been involved in various Boston high-rise construction projects and is routinely collaborating with architects, owners, and contractors on complex building enclosure designs.
Sophia Salah is a professional engineer licensed in Massachusetts and California and has practiced building enclosure engineering for over ten years with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. Through her work, ranging from hospitals and health care facilities to commercial and residential buildings, Salah has extensive experience in both the investigation and design of complex enclosure systems, including below-grade waterproofing, plaza waterproofing, roofing, opaque cladding, curtainwall, and fenestration systems. As more buildings are being constructed in complex geometries and adjacent to existing buildings, Salah works with architects and contractors to provide a continuous building enclosure across movement joints.
In the 1950s, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright developed a building system using concrete block components that could be assembled into a home, which he described as “Usonian Automatic.” In 1955, Wright designed such a home for Dr. Toufic Kalil and his wife, who built their home in Manchester, NH, with the assistance of a local contractor.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) was selected by the heirs of the Toufic Kalil House to assess the existing conditions in preparation for selling the home. After WJE’s initial meeting, a landscape contractor demolished a site wall with his truck.
Based on our observations of existing conditions and research of historic documents, WJE developed repair documents to replicate the severely damaged site wall. The company also developed roofing repair and replacement documents to replace the leaking roofing system installed in 2003. Documents from the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives housed at the Avery Library of Columbia University supplemented the Kalil family’s personal papers.
The personal family records revealed names of products used for the original roofing system which differed from those in the project specifications. Little information was found about these products. The challenges of the existing conditions of the concrete roof deck and low flashing heights demanded creative approaches to the roofing replacement material and assembly.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. | Nelson, NH
William Waterston is a recently retired associate principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts. He continues to work as an affiliated consultant. He is both a registered architect and a Registered Roof Consultant focused on solving waterproofing and roofing challenges in new and existing buildings. Waterston is the author of several articles on roofing material choices and roofing practices. He has presented at various venues, including IIBEC and Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) meetings, conventions, and symposia. He is an Emeritus Member of IIBEC, AIA, and CSI.
Visual assessment of building enclosures can be repetitive and time-consuming. The industry has also faced numerous challenges in recent years due to shortages in skilled labor, inefficiencies in process, and an increasing focus on worker safety. AI on drone-captured imagery is emerging as an answer for these problems. Although this seems like a straightforward process (capture drone imagery, train machine-learning models, and predict objects and deficiencies), we have discovered, through extensive research and onsite tests, this generic approach often fails to provide reliable outcome in a practical setting. This presentation explores in detail several factors which significantly affect the results—including distance and angle of drone camera to each surface, practicality of a capture plan in terms of time, accessibility, obstacle avoidance, differences in surface materials, large number of assets and deficiencies, and necessity for large training datasets—especially for less-common inventory and conditions. Case studies will be presented showing significant achievements in automation and efficiency when these challenges are overcome. For example, a drone-based data capture of a large hospital facility, coupled with a novel 3-D AI solution, led to more than 84% savings in worker hours compared to the manual assessment scenario.
SeekNow | Atlanta, GA
Bill Wilkins’ current role is vice president of innovation at Pointivo (PV). At PV, he is responsible for sales and business development to propel PV’s unique drone-enabled 3-D artificial intelligence (AI) services across the roofing and facility management industries. He has experience running a drone startup company that capitalized on powerful analytics using drone-based imagery and has worked with advanced computer vision and AI analytics in roofing for over 10 years. Wilkins has a passion for changing industries for the better and regularly speaks at trade shows across the country, including IRE, GARCA, RT3, IIBEC, AIA, SRWA, and Metalcon.
This discussion focuses on using common industry testing practices to identify potential detrimental conditions related to the installation of waterproof coatings on concrete and masonry surfaces. While showing techniques associated with assessment tools and protocols, the presentation will cover a range of topics related to the installation of various waterproofing materials. Topics will range from evaluating concrete and masonry surfaces prior to coating applications to proper adhesion/bond testing of a range of waterproofing materials. Case studies will be used to illustrate the importance of these tests in preventing issues on projects. While the presentation is product-generic, multiple industry standards, protocols, and accepted practices will be discussed and applied.
The discussion will be broken into two parts. It will begin with substrate evaluation and will show the use of the ICRI 310.2R guideline in evaluating surface preparation methods, exploring the use of various moisture tests available and the conducting of Rilem tube and pH testing. The second half of the discussion will cover material installation. Adhesion testing will be discussed in accordance with ASTM standards for coatings, repair materials, and sealants. Finally, the presenter will describe various methods to determine thickness of wet and dry coatings. These tests, combined with project mock-ups, can assist in avoiding costly issues on projects.
BASF Construction Systems | Shakopee, MN
Dave Fuller has been in the construction materials industry for 30 years—mainly in technical capacities working for PPG, ICI, Degussa, and BASF. As a subject matter expert in coatings, sealants, flooring systems, and concrete repair materials, he has designed, developed, and delivered in-person and virtual technical training programs throughout his career for customers and internal employees. Fuller holds a master’s degree in adult education and training and is responsible for the development and delivery of technical product training for BASF Construction Systems.
This presentation will review three building enclosure assemblies that met the building code yet failed in operation. The reasons for the failures will be explained, and live hygrothermal analyses will be run to show the causes of the failures. One of the projects in design development had an exterior wall assembly that met the building code yet was destined to fail. A live hygrothermal analysis will be run to show why the failure would have occurred. Changes were made to the exterior wall design so that it would not fail. These will be reviewed and a live hygrothermal analysis will be run to prove that it will not fail.
EXO-TEC Consulting, Inc. | Avon, MA
Len Anastasi has worked in masonry, waterproofing, and restoration work for over 40 years. He is a member of ASTM’s E06 Committee on Building Performance, a member of the Boston Society of Architects’ Building Enclosure Council, and has presented at various industry conferences. Anastasi is a founding member, Fellow, past president, and past director of the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA). He is the chair of the ABAA Conference Committee, a member of the Marketing Committee, the Technical Committee, and the Research Committee, and chairs the Ad Hoc Committee for Technical Notes. He is also a member of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), as well as its Northeast region president and director for its Boston Chapter.
The auditorium will be closed during designated trade show hours.
In addition to the educational presentations, the IIBEC Virtual Building Enclosure Symposium provides an excellent opportunity for attendees to discover and discuss the latest technological innovations with representatives from leading building enclosure material manufacturers. [wpanchor id=”ex-spon”]Industry representatives from over 30 companies will be present to answer your questions regarding their materials characteristics and applications.
Become a Sponsor/Exhibitor:
IIBEC Virtual Building Enclosure Symposium – Exhibitor Form. IIBEC Building Enclosure Symposium – Sponsorship Form.
Sponsoring Companies Sponsor Benefits: Reference on the IIBEC website, on event sponsors signs, and in IIBEC Interface.
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See the list of notable industry media sources providing coverage of the IIBEC Virtual Building Enclosure Symposium.
Join presenter Samir Ibrahim, F-IIBEC, AIA, CSI, and moderator Brandon Gemma on Wednesday, October 16 at 2:00 p.m. ET for a live webinar, Leak Investigation: Methods, Assessment, and Strategies. This activity has been approved for 1.0 IIBEC CEH. This activity has been approved for 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
This educational program focuses on the evolution of methods and practices used to detect moisture intrusion, primarily in roofing and waterproofing. Different methods of testing will be discussed, and appropriate selection criteria, depending on each project’s conditions, will be explored. The need for stricter quality control will be discussed and suitable testing methods identified. Participants will be able to generate a forward-thinking strategy when performing field assessments of designing a new project. This webinar will focus on a review of the methods available and is not specific to any one leak detection system.
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