The PowerSKIN Conference aims to address the role of building skins to accomplish a carbon neutral building stock. Topics such as building operation, embodied energy, energy generation and storage in context of envelope, energy and environment are considered.The focus of the PowerSKIN issue 2021 deals with the question of whether simplicity and robustness stay in contradiction to good performance of buildings skins or whether they even complement each other: simplicity vs. performance?As an international scientific event - usually held at the BAU trade fair in Munich - the PowerSKIN Conference builds a bridge between science and practice, between research and construction, and between the latest developments and innovations for the façade of the future.