BEST5 Conference Hosts Record Crowd in Philadelphia
Building Enclosure Enthusiasts Exchange Knowledge, Network,
Honor Life of Anis

Host Chapter Building Enclosure Council-Philadelphia (“BEC Philly”) and the National Institute of Building Sciences Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) joined forces April 16-18 in Philadelphia at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel to present the fifth BEST Conference Building Enclosure Science and Technology® (BEST5) to some 340 architects, engineers, contractors, educators, students, researchers and others passionate about the building enclosure. The more than 50 papers and presentations delivered by industry experts to showcase state-of-the-art work in research, design and construction of high-performance buildings proved to be the highlight of the Conference.

As the host of BEST5, BEC-Philly augmented these traditionally detailed offerings each day with more holistically oriented presentations that focused on the enclosure work in the City of Brotherly Love. Former Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, FAIA, kicked off the series with a rousing welcome address, followed by Prema Katari Gupta, senior vice president of Navy Yard Planning and Development, and Jillian Burgess, building enclosure consultant with the Façade Group. Daily topics also included rehab of educational and medical facilities, green and blue roofs and rehabbing Philadelphia’s historic past.

Paul Sehnert, director of real estate development at the University of Pennsylvania inspired the BEST5 dinner crowd as he described the programs of the Pennovation Center, University of Pennsylvania’s innovative business and technology incubator. In a bittersweet moment, Institute President Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA led a dinner toast to building enclosure legend Wagdy Anis, who passed away in March. Wagdy’s life partner, Margaretha “Greta” Eckhardt, AIA, senior spec writer with Payette Associates, shared a tribute. “Wagdy was a modest man and a man of integrity. He put his efforts into seeking what is true and right, not his own fame,” she said. “Every time we too pursue the appropriate application of true scientific principles in our work, and advocate for these principles in the design and construction industry, we will honor his memory.”

New to the BEST Conferences this time was a pilot program of workshops that will be part of the Building Enclosure Commissioning certificate program offered by the Institute and ASTM. William Babbington, AIA, PE, Studio NYL; David Bates, AIA, OAC Services; Elizabeth Cassin, WJE; Andrea Delguidice, PE, WJE; and Brian Neely, AIA, Gale Associates, Inc. served as the workshop developers and teachers. This expert team, handpicked by Wagdy Anis, the developer of the source material for the workshop program, will benefit from the candid feedback of the 40 workshop attendees as further workshop modules are developed.

Leading efforts for BEST5 were BEC-Philly Conference Co-chairs Cheryl Smith, Cope Linder Architects, and Joseph DeAngelis, AIA, TBS Services, working with Technical Program Chairs Jan Kosny, PhD, Fraunhofer CSE, and David Yarbrough, PE, PhD, RD Services. Presentations from BEST5 will be available on the BRIK Building Research Information Knowledgebase website near the end of May. At that same time, the status of BEST6 will be announced.