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Facades+AM Austin Conference

Facades+AM Austin includes three sessions covering issues unique to the region, including innovative collaborations between architects and engineers, high performance envelopes, and the changing face of Austin's skyline. These well-rounded, expert dialogues will inform and inspire.

The Facades+ conference series sponsored by The Architect's Newspaper is a robust dialogue encompassing all things building skin—bridging the profession, industry, academia, operations, and ownership. We’ve distilled the best of the Facades+ 2-day event into a quick-take morning forum with a strong local flair. Facades+AM is coming to Austin for the first time this July.

Advanced Building Skins Conference

International platform for architects, engineers, scientists and the building industry.

When Biology Inspires Architecture: An Interview with Doris Kim Sung

When Biology Inspires Architecture: An Interview with Doris Kim Sung  - Image 3 of 4

Material Minds, presented by ArchDaily Materials, is our new series of short interviews with architects, designers, scientists, and others who use architectural materials in innovative ways. Enjoy!

Before attending Columbia University for her Masters in Architecture, Los Angeles-based architect Doris Kim Sung took a fairly non-traditional approach to becoming an architect: she was a biologist. Naturally then, Sung’s architectural work tends to take inspiration from the biological world, particularly in the way she experiments and innovates with materials. Much of her work involves thermal bimetals, a material that expands and contracts with temperature swings; it can even act as a sun shade and ventilation system, without the need for electricity.

So where does a biologist-turned-architect draw inspiration from? We interviewed Ms. Sung to find out for ourselves -- the responses, like her work at dO|Su Architecture, are simply fascinating.