Speakers

Yupeng (Jack) Wu, Professor in Building Physics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK

Professor Yupeng (Jack) Wu is a Chair in Building Physics at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, the University of Nottingham, UK. Jack has been working on building energy simulation and integration of renewable energy systems into buildings and built environment over the past 20 years. He has supervised over 20 PhD students and managed over 10 postdoctoral researchers. Jack has secured and led funded research projects with a total value in excess of £10m, exploring energy efficient technologies, solar energy, and advanced solar building facades. Currently Jack is leading a £1.6m EPSRC research project ‘Advanced building façade design for optimal delivery of end use energy demand’. In addition to his research, Jack serves as subject Editor in Low Energy Architecture and Buildings for the journal of 'Renewable Energy'. He is a full member of the EPSRC peer reviewer college and is also reviewer for European, Canadian and US funding agencies. 

Susanne Gosztonyi is professor and research group leader for sustainable building envelopes at the Department of Civil Engineering at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. 

She works in the field of sustainable building envelopes with focus on climate-sensitive architecture, circular constructions and adaptive functionality. She combines knowledge from architectural and facade engineering, building physics and biomimetics to develop sustainable solutions for buildings. Previously, she worked as scientist at Lund University, Energy and Building Design, in Sweden and at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Energy Department, in Vienna. Before her research career, she worked as architect for several international architectural firms in Europe, Australia and South America.

Susanne holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, a Master degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in Architecture and Urban Planning from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria and has completed post-gradual studies in Climate Engineering at the Danube University Krems in Austria. 

Manuel J. Mendes is Associate Professor with Habilitation at NOVA School of Science and Technology. He holds an Engineering degree in Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico (2005), a Master of Science in Applied Physics from Rice University (2008), and a Ph.D. in Photovoltaic Solar Energy from Instituto de Energía Solar, Madrid (2012), where he focused on Nanophotonics for Multi-Band Photovoltaics.

He has participated in over 50 R&D projects in the field of Energy, working in the USA, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. At CENIMAT-i3N, his research spans Photonic-enhanced Solar Cells, Quantum-structured Semiconductors, Building-integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), and Solar Fuels. In 2023, he was awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for the project X-STREAM, focused on hydrogen generation from advanced solar cells.

Prof. Mendes is author of more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and co-inventor of two U.S. patents—one recognized by NASA's Inventions and Contributions Board. He has also received two Marie Curie Fellowships and ten scientific distinctions related to solar energy and photonic technologies.

Manuel Cristina Alves Pereira - Advisor to the Lisbon City Councillor for Municipal Construction and Housing

Maria Cristina Alves Pereira is an architect with a degree from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon ( 2000) and a postgraduate qualification in Rehabilitation of Architectural and Landscape Heritage 2004 (University of Évora). She has over 20 years' experience in architecture, urban planning and public project management. She currently works as Advisor to the Councillor for Housing and Municipal Works at Lisbon City Council. Cristina leads the municipal informal working group on digital innovation in AEC, focusing on the integration of BIM and GIS (GEO BIM). She coordinated the Valmor Architecture Prize (2010-2012). In addition, she has experience in AEC training, digital modelling and photorealistic visualisation. Cristina is also co-author of technical papers on historical heritage and urban regeneration and has participated in major architectural competitions,

Dr. Ing. Ulrich Knaack, Professor for Design of Construction at the Delft University of Technology/Netherlands and Professor for Façade Technology at the TU Darmstadt / Faculty of Civil engineering/ Germany

Professor Dr. Ing. Ulrich Knaack (1964) was trained as an architect at the RWTH Aachen / Germany. After earning his degree he worked at the university as researcher in the field of structural use of glass and completed his studies with a PhD.

In his professional career Knaack worked as architect and general planner in Düsseldorf / Germany, succeeding in national and international competitions. His projects include high-rise and offices buildings, commercial buildings and stadiums. In his academic career Knaack was professor for Design and Construction at the Hochschule OWL / Germany. He also was and still is appointed professor for Design of Construction at the Delft University of Technology / Faculty of Architecture, Netherlands where he developed the Façade Research Group. In parallel he is professor for Façade Technology at the TU Darmstadt / Faculty of Civil engineering/ Germany where he participates in the Institute of Structural Mechanics + Design.

He organizes interdisciplinary design workshops and symposiums in the field of facades and is author of several well-known reference books, articles and lectures.

Enrico S. Mazzucchelli, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering, School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Department of Architecture Built environment and Construction engineering, Politecnico di Milano, where is lecturer of “Integrated Sustainable Building Design” and “Building Services Design Studio”. 

He works in the field of design and performance analysis of innovative building envelope components and systems, resilient buildings design, integration of building services and renewable energy systems in Zero Energy and Zero Carbon Buildings. 

He was guest researcher at Högskolan i Gävle (Sweden), Academy for Technology and Environment and he has been guest lecturer at TU Graz, University of Nottingham (UK) and Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain).

He is author of books, international conference papers, journal articles in the field of building façades and he is member of editorial board of the “Journal of Facade Design and Engineering” (JFDE). He is member of “European Façade Network” (EFN) and "CIBW098 - Intelligent and responsive buildings" - International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction. 

Dr. Ing Thaleia Konstantinou is an Associate professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology of the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology. Her academic journey began with a degree in Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens, followed by a Master of Science in Environmental Design and Engineering from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, where she graduated with distinction. In September 2014, she completed her PhD at TU Delft, focusing on façade refurbishment strategies as part of the "Green Building Innovation" research program. Her research and teaching focus on energy efficiency, sustainability, circularity, and innovation in façade design and construction. She has led and participated in several international R&D projects on façade refurbishment, industrialisation, and regenerative design strategies.

She is the editor-in-chied of the Journal on Façade Design and Engineering, and a member of the European Façade Network (EFN) and her faculty's cross-over research Themes "Circular Built Environment" Hub. 

Daniel Arztmann has a diploma in architecture and a Master of Engineering in Facade Construction. He has been working for Schüco in Bielefeld since 2003, where he started as a project engineer for major international projects. In the further course of his activities at Schüco, he was in the lead of product management and technical development of a product range especially developed for emerging markets. Today, he is the head of custom engineering department for international projects at Schüco.

In addition to his work in business, Daniel Arztmann has been teaching as a professor of façade construction at the Detmold University of Applied Sciences since 2017. Here he is leading the international Master of Integrated Facade Design (MID) degree program. He is a board member of the Institute for Design Strategies at TH-OWL and an active member of the European Façade Network and the Façade Tectonics Institute. 

Pedro Gomes dos Santos - Technical Director, Reynaers Aluminium

Born in Lisbon in 1979, he holds a degree in Equipment Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (2003). He also holds master's degrees in Design Engineering from IST of the Technical University of Lisbon (2010) and in Façade Technology from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Nova University of Lisbon (2022). In 2020, he completed the Business Management Programme at AESE Lisbon.

Beyond his academic background, since 2003, Pedro Gomes dos Santos stands out for his involvement in various professional associations, such as the Portuguese Association of Designers, the National Association of Designers, the National Association of Efficient Window Manufacturers, and the Portuguese Institute for Quality. With extensive experience in the development of aluminium systems for buildings, he has been serving as Technical Director at Reynaers Aluminium since 2013, leading developments for innovative and landmark projects worldwide, while promoting the sustainable use of aluminium in transparent building envelopes.

Paula Moço Viana - Head of Engineering, Effisus

Graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Coimbra with a Master’s degree in Structural Mechanics (2015), Paula began her career as a structural engineer, contributing to a wide range of national and international construction projects. This experience allowed her to develop in-depth knowledge and a strong understanding of the construction industry.

In 2021, she joined the technical team at Effisus, initially focusing on façade projects and later expanding her role to include the management of Effisus solutions for the entire building envelope. She currently serves as Head of Engineering, leading the team responsible for providing technical project support, with a strong emphasis on optimising solutions tailored to the specific needs of each project.

At Effisus, she is also involved in the research and development of innovative building envelope solutions, addressing current industry challenges and contributing to the creation of sustainable, high-performance systems for buildings.

Jorge Rosário - Senior Project Manager - MARTIFER 

Jorge Rosário is a highly skilled Civil Engineer with a vast experience in façade Project Management, which spans from conception to construction. His extensive portfolio includes projects across diverse geographies, mostly in the United Kingdom market. 

He is currently project director in the facades business area at Martifer for the UK and Portugal projects supervising and coordinating project management teams for each project. He started in Martifer facades team in 2009, with a break from 2014 to 2019 where he joined Permasteelisa UK as Project Manager in London, then in 2019 rejoins Martifer in Portugal HQ.

In his past professional activity in facades since 2009, he has worked closely in the project management and supervision of project management teams across 18 projects, in 6 different countries, with an average value of around 10M€ in façade, from conception development to installation and final delivery to clients. 

Franceso Isaia- Senior Researcher at Eurac Research, Energy Efficient Buildings

Graduated in Building Engineering at Politecnico di Torino in October 2014, after an experience in the field of Project and Construction Management in Milan, he starts a PhD in Energetics at Politecnico di Torino. He obtains the PhD degree in July 2020 with a thesis is entitled "Exploiting the potential of adaptive building components by means of innovative control strategies”. As part of the PhD path, he also spends a visiting research period at the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) of the University of Wollogong (Australia).

Francesco is now Senior Researcher within the Energy Efficient Buildings group of Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy). His research topics focus on the implementation of advanced control strategies for adaptive building components, with research interests in the application of methods such as Model Predictive Control and artificial intelligence techniques to improve the energy performance and comfort conditions in buildings.

Radu Godina - Assistant Professor at NOVA University of Lisbon, where he serves as Vice-director of the UNIDEMI research center in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. His research contributions have earned recognition in Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings for three consecutive years, and they rank 1st in Europe for Field Weighted Citation Impact in "Lean Production; Case Study; Industry." As an author of numerous academic publications, he actively contribute to multiple national and international research projects while teaching courses in Lean Six Sigma, Quality Planning and Control, and Research Methodologies. His expertise extends to industry collaboration, including specialized consulting services for organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA), and they currently supervise a diverse group of postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates, and master's students. He has authored or co-authored more than 180 indexed international journals, book chapters and conference proceedings papers in such topics as industrial symbiosis, sustainability, lean manufacturing, circular economy, life cycle assessment and quality control. He has published with 25 international universities and 13 distinct enterprises and/or corporations. He is a full member of the European Operations Management Association - EurOMA and of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society - IEOM.

Henriqueta Teixeira - Post Doctoral researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal

Henriqueta Teixeira is a post-doctoral researcher on urban sustainability, currently under an international project that aims to promote carbon neutrality in urban environments in Portugal. She holds a PhD in Civil Engineering (2024) and a MSc in Environmental Engineering (2019), both from Instituto Superior Técnico. Her research focuses on the thermal, luminous and energy performance assessment of buildings, with a particular emphasis on glazed façades and the integration of sustainable construction solutions. She has experience in both experimental testing and numerical simulation, particularly EnergyPlus. She has been involved in several research projects and has authored 10 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 18 communications in conferences.

Ricardo Braz - General Manager of Rothoblaas Portugal Unip. Lda

Ricardo is a Civil Engineer from the University of Minho, with part of his academic training completed at the Università degli Studi di Trento under the Erasmus programme. Early in his career, he gained experience in urban rehabilitation before joining Rothoblaas in 2008, where he worked in technical-sales for nearly a decade. Since 2017, he has been the General Manager of Rothoblaas Portugal Unip. Lda. He is also the founder of the Portuguese Association for Timber Construction and Derivatives (APCMD), established in 2014. With over 17 years of experience, Ricardo has been dedicated to promoting best practices in timber construction, advising project teams and supporting builders, while also engaging in knowledge dissemination through seminars, training sessions, and workshops for future engineers and architects.

João Monteiro - Head of Acrhitecture at Broadway Malyan, Lisbon, Portugal

João Monteiro is an architect and Director of Architecture at Broadway Malyan Lisbon. He holds an Architecture degree from the Technical University of Lisbon and a Master’s degree in Façade Technology from NOVA University Lisbon. With nearly two decades of experience, João has led the design and delivery of award-winning office, residential, and mixed-use developments across Portugal, Angola, Brazil, and India. His recent work has focused on the integration of sustainability and façade performance in office buildings, supported by advanced simulation tools. Notable projects include the Porto Office Park, HOP (Heart of Porto) and Viva Offices in Porto, and the Av. de Berlim Office Building in Lisbon. His research interests include building envelopes and the optimization of thermal and visual comfort through architectural design.