9th Edition – Zak World of Façades India

The Shahjahan Ball Room at Hotel Taj Palace came alive when emerging frontiers and technological innovations were discussed amongst a 450 strong gathering in a dynamic professional environment at the 9th Zak World of Facades, New Delhi.

Cutting edge façades require all the stakeholders to strike the right balance between a host of parameters that pull the design in different directions – including structural, aesthetic, thermal, technological, acoustics, security and more. Delhi has always been the most demanding of the lot when it comes to price and performance. To address the gripping issues, the industry stalwarts got together and discussed the quality assurance guidelines and explored various design materials that enticed the imagination of architects and users alike.

The day began with the beautiful rendering of our National Anthem, in tune with the general mood of the approaching Independence Day. Mr. Syed Zakir Ahmed, Chairman, Zak Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd., set the tone of the day with his welcome address followed by the 1st key note presentation by Mr.TanmayTathagat, Director, EDS Globalon ‘Energy codes for high performance façades’. Mr. Charanjit Singh, Managing Director of GSC Glass then enlightened the audience on ‘Safe Railing Solutions’ through a highly technical yet simple to grasp presentation. Some key facts about ‘High rise complex geometrical façades integrated with BMU’ were put together by Mr. Mahesh Arumugam, Director of Meinhardt Façade Technology.

After a light high tea, the audience readily gathered again to hear Dr. Prashanth Reddy, MD & CEO of FunderMax on ‘Façades with a difference: design and functionality’ followed by a detailed account of ‘High performance laminated glass with SentryGlas® Interlayer’ by Mr. Malvinder Singh, GLS Consultant (Asia-Pacific), Kuraray India. The vast potential of alternative façade materials was deliberated by Mr. SasibhusanRaoItham, Head of Façades, when he explained the ‘Ceramic ventilated façade system’. The pre-lunch session got brighter with the panel discussion on ‘Façade guidelines: Inception, design checks and standards to be adopted during designing of façades’. Moderated by Mr. KR Suresh, Regional Director, Axis Façades, the distinguished panelists were Mr. SohrabDalal, Managing Director, Design Plus, Mr. JJS Bhalla, Vice President, ASF Infrastructure, Mr. Anil Pahwa, COO/Country Manager, Arabtec India, Mr. AvinashGehlot, Vice President, Glass Wall Systems and Mr. AnuragAgarwal, Regional Head, FunderMax.

After a sumptuous lunch, a gripping ‘Q&A round with the Industry Experts’ enthralled the audience. Moderated by Mr. Nitin Kumar, CEO and Director, Fairwood, the panelists Mr. Deepak Gupta, Director, Dema Consulting, Mr. VivekanandKundle, Associate Vice President, Kalpataru, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, Director, Design Forum of Architects, Mr. ArjunShamlal, Partner, Consolidated Engineering Company and Mr. SasibhusanRaoItham, addressed some of the key issues related to safety, quality assurance, cladding materials, windows and more. The panel discussion was followed by an interesting account on ‘The hits and misses in a lifecycle of a façade project’ by Mr. Nitin Bhatia, Managing Director, FACET. ‘Complications that a façade project faces’ were explained by Mr. Praveen Chaubey, Project Manager, Priedemann. The importance and purpose of ‘Fire rated cladding solutions for façades” was brought to the table by Mr. PV Somasundaram, Vice President – Sales Operations, 3A Composites after which the audience broke for tea.

Refreshed and charged up, the audience again were ready for the final session that started with an eclectic presentation on “Façades for healthcare” by very talented SiddharthPuri, who is the Senior Architect at HKS followed by a short update by the Indian Façade & Fenestration Association on its activities. The show ended with a panel discussion on ‘Quality Assurance: Enforcing quality standards for façade and fenestration industry in India’. Moderated by Selvam R, CEO, Geotrix Building Envelope, the panelists – AnojTevatia, Director, Design Forum International, Deepak Gahlot, Director, Xebec Design, Kalyan Kanji, SVP – Projects, Lotus Greens, Vijay Dahiya, Partner, Team3, Nitin Bhatia, Rajesh Kejriwal, Vice President Projects at Glass Wall Systems and Shailendra Kumar Gupta, Associate Director, Ernst & Young, went through a conclusive discussion on the need of quality guidelines and labeling to ensure high standard façades for India.

There was an exclusive exhibition area at the Mumtaz Hall, just outside the conference area, which showcased 14 exclusive engineering components for façades, which included aluminium composite panels from Alucobond, hardware from Kinlong&Lavaal, sealants from McCoy Soudal and high performance glass from Modiguard. Terracotta cladding from Terreal, Ventilated ceramic façade systems from Faveton and High pressure laminates from FunderMax shone bright as the architects and users sought for the high-end façade alternatives. Glass Wall Systems displayed their solutions for façade engineering, while Ozone was present with their wide range of glass hardware solutions and Sisa Engineering showcased their solutions for BMU & façade maintenance.

This edition of Zak World of Façades will be a significant day to remember as many key deliberations on critical subjects that have never been examined before in public were confidently addressed by one