Facade Consultants

Facade consulting or facade engineering is still an evolving discipline, in many areas merely a start-up among building consulting activities. As one of those chaps - being part of Arup Facade Engineering - I have always found it difficult to know about the existing firms, new teams, core knowledge, size and geographical location of each of our colleagues.

This page has the intention of keeping track of this information:
  • facade consultant name and location(s), 
  • what you do - your core knowledge and range of consulting expertise 
  • how big you are (in manning only) 
  • where you usually operate (country, regional or global). 
This effort will not be successful unless you guys provide most of that information related to your companies. I can imagine this would be a sensitive information sometimes, but you should see it as an opportunity to speak about yourselves and make your team more knowledgeable.

In the meanwhile, the info that can be found on each group's webpage will be a good starting point. if you want, another option is to wait until your company appears on this page and then you refine the info or correct my mistakes - sorry in advance for those!

You can add your comments at the bottom of this post or e-mail them in a more private manner through my LinkedIn page here if you prefer.

Adaptative Building Initiative
Pola Ginza facade
  1. Type: Joint venture between Buro Happold and Hoberman Associates for the design and production of adaptative facades and building envelopes.
  2. Main location & branches: New York
  3. Started in: 2008
  4. Principal(s): Chuck Hoberman and Craig Schwitter
  5. Size: n/a
  6. Geography: Worldwide
  7. Range of consulting services:
    Original concept generation for adaptive building technologies
    Design and engineering services
    Prototyping and mock-ups
    Engineering analysis (structural, environmental/energy, lighting, mechanical)
    Control-system and interface design and programming
    Project management
    Manufacturing and installation
    On-site testing, inspection, maintenance and warranty of own systems
  8. Core knowledge(s): Adaptive Building Initiative is a single source in the delivery of adaptive building envelopes. They join their client's team at any stage in the design process, from the concept phase through detailed design, to provide complete solutions.
  9. Best known projects: Aldar Central Market shading roofs in Abu Dhabi, with Foster + Partners (2010) / POLA Ginza building facade in Tokyo, with Nikken Sekkei + Yasuda Atelier (2009)
  10. My comments: Not exactly facade consultants, although their clients are architects and developers. They specialize in developing and building moveable facades, prototypes first and the real thing later. Their elements move to adapt to light, air and shading requirements. They have patented their own systems: Tesselate, Strata, Permea, etc. 
Aecom
2 Victoria Avenue
  1. Type:  Facade engineers, a specialism within building engineering, part of a 51,000 strong multidisciplinary global engineering group.
  2. Main location & branches:  Los Angeles. Branches in London, Middle East, Australia, Asia.
  3. Started in:  The firm, 1990. The facade engineering team, n/a
  4. Principal(s):  Graham Fairley (UK), Patrick Cody (Australia), ?
  5. Size: n/a
  6. Geography: Worldwide
  7. Range of consulting services:  curtain walling, retrofit, ?
  8. Core knowledge(s):  facade engineering for new commercial buildings
  9. Best known projects:  Etisalat regional HQ in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, 2 Victoria Avenue in Western Australia, with Woodhead Architects (image).
  10. My comments:  Aecom has had an impressive growth via acquisitions worldwide: Faber Maunsell in UK, Inocsa in Spain, etc. I don't have any tips about their facade engineering activities though. They seem to be active in UK and Australia mainly.
Alan Brookes Consultants
Singapore Lyceum Theatre
  1. Type: Building technology and facade consultants
  2. Main location & branches: Warwick, UK
  3. Started in: n/a
  4. Principal(s): Allan Brookes & David Hebblethwaite
  5. Size: n/a, but a small practice in any case
  6. Geography: UK clients, with buildings worldwide
  7. Range of consulting services: facade consultancy, expert witness, specialist advice, design for manufacturers.
  8. Core knowledge(s): cladding theory, curtain walling, composite panels design, books and articles on facade and cladding.
  9. Best known projects: Singapore Arts Centre with MWP/DPA architects (image); Sainsbury Arts Centre with Foster + Partners, 1977.
  10. My comments: Allan Brookes is one of the founding fathers of our guild. His book 'Cladding of buildings' has passed the test of time, and his last edition in 2008 still has the same interest of the first one in 1983. Mr Brookes seems to be now focused on teaching and writing.

Amtech Building Sciences
  1. Type: Waterproofing consultants for roofs, walls, glass, foundation and plaza decks. Formerly known as Amtech Roofing Consultants.
  2. Main location and branches: Richardson, Texas. Branches in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Seattle.
  3. Started: 1982
  4. Principal(s): Bob Alford + Mike Blanchette
  5. Size: 16
  6. Geography: US, Canada and Mexico.
  7. Range of consulting services: Roof evaluations, construction documents, non-destructive testing, a web-based roof management program, roof failure investigations and litigation, construction contract administration and expert witness testimony.
  8. Core knowledge(s): Roof and facade waterproofing / quality control. They have developed a web tool, called Roof Asset Data And Reporter (RADAR)
  9. Best known projects: They work more for building owners and developers. No relevant projects quoted.
  10. My comments: Interesting monoproduct consultants. They seem to be focused on roofs, in spite of their new name. Their clients are mostly corporation and administration departments.
  11. Type: 
Arup Facade Engineering
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Axis Facades
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Bollinger und Grohmann
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Buro Happold
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Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners
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Eckersley O'Callaghan
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Emmer Pfenninger
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Front Inc.
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Heintges Consultants
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Hyder Consulting
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Israel Berger and Associates
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Lerch Bates Facade Access
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Malishev Wilson Engineers
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Meinhardt Facade Technology
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Mott MacDonald Facade Consulting
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Newtecnic
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Ramboll Facade Engineering
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Reef Associates
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RFR
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Schlaich Bergemann und Partner
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Society of Facade Engineering
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Transsolar
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Van Santen & Associates
  1. Type: Facade engineers, shared company with 8 associates
  2. Main location and branches: Lille, France. Branch in HK and JV in India
  3. Started in: 1989
  4. Principal(s): Robert-Jan Van Santen and Gontran Dufour
  5. Size: 30 persons, including 2 senior and 6 junior associates
  6. Geography: Europe, Asia, Africa
  7. Range of consulting services: Conception, design and engineering services, including thermal 2D, thermal 3D, energy, natural light, glass calculations (light and energy performances, maximum temperatures, thermal stresses, tension in sealants, ...), mechanical, 3D images, complex and parametric geometry, ...
  8. Core knowledge(s):  Facade design and building physics services for facades
  9. Best known projects: with OMA (Maison Floirac, Le Grand Palais, Casa da Musica (with Arup), Educatorium, Tencent ...), with Zaha Hadid (CMA-CGM (with Arup), London Aquatic Center), with Coop Himmelb(l)au (Musée des Confluences), with Christian de Portzamparc (Hotel Renaissance), with Jean Nouvel (Palais des Congrès)
  10. My comments: independent, trustworthy, used to work with big names and in a multidisciplinary mode, global view from concept design till the end of installation. Their main office in Lille looks great!
Viskotech

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Werner Sobek
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Wheaton Sprague Engineering
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WSP Group Facade Engineering
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