Skip to main content
Welsh School of Architecture

Projects

Below is a selection of Welsh School of Architecture research projects from the last few years.

Air quality in primary schools

Indoor Air Quality toolkit for Primary Schools

This EPSRC IAA project is an interdisciplinary impact project that will support schools to maintain healthy well-ventilated classrooms and indoor spaces.

Swansea Councils new build housing

Long term evaluation of Swansea Councils new build housing

Building and systems monitoring work being carried out by WSA will provide Swansea Council with evidence regarding the benefits of incorporating low carbon solutions into their new homes and will help to identify challenges that will need to be overcome in future developments.

Press front page survey

Developing a practical retrofit early-stage survey tool to inform the decision-making process for existing homes

A practical retrofit early-stage survey tool - PRESS 1 - has been developed for the domestic sector following a review of existing survey tools. The tool has been developed and then tested and improved in practice.

Topologic toolkit

Topologic: enhancing the representation of space in 3D modelling environments

Using computational topology to support the creation and analysis of the lightest, most understandable conceptual building information models.

Embodied pedagogies

Embodied pedagogies: introducing ‘otherness’ in architectural education

The research examines the educational and ethical value that embodied pedagogies and pedagogies of alterity hold for architectural education.

Sustainability and design quality

The central role of architectural precedent in sustainable architectural design

Promoting critical evolution through an integration of the language of sustainability and design quality.

Decision making in regenerative design

Decision-making in regenerative design and development

Focusing on pushing the built environment beyond net-zero towards regenerating and restoring it.

Oratory of the Partal Palace, Alhambra, Spain

The 2013-2017 restoration of the oratory of the Partal Palace

This research focuses on the innovative outcomes of the latest restoration of the Oratory of the Partal Palace (2013-2017).

Care for Detroit, Grand Circus Detroit, 2012. Wes Aelbrecht

Constructing the Urban Imaginary: Photography, Decline and Renaissance

Discussing the construction of three distinct “urban imaginaries” during two cycles of urban redevelopment.

In-home device

Social housing research on energy from Welsh data (SHREWD)

An energy database for social housing in Wales to inform housing and energy efficiency policies.

Terrestrial Laser Scan of Port Eynon, April 2021

Harbourview

Raising awareness of the importance of harbours as coastal heritage.

Outdoor air quality sensor

South Wales indoor and outdoor air quality

Comparing outdoor and indoor air quality in Bridgend, South Wales.

Anaheim chillies

Urban food growing – what are our options?

How can people reduce the impact of their food?

Hassett 2020 case study house

Use of storage and renewable electricity generation to reduce domestic and transport carbon emissions

This project investigates the whole life energy, carbon and cost of an integrated renewable energy generation system.

PV installation, Swansea

Low Carbon Built Environment (LCBE) SPECIFIC 2 Programme

The SPECIFIC 2 LCBE research team aim to optimise a ‘whole systems-based approach’ to create a replicable and affordable low-carbon built environment.

EneryREV

Energy Revolution Research Consortium: EnergyREV

The EnergyREV Consortium will demonstrate how to deliver an equitable move to a zero-carbon future whilst enhancing the UK economy.

Practicing engagement: The value of the Architect in Community Asset Transfer

Practicing engagement: the value of an architect in a community asset transfer

The redevelopment of the Grange Pavilion by Grangetown communities, partners and Cardiff University’s Community Gateway.

Tamil Temple Towns: Conservation and Contestation

The project aims to provide an authoritative body of research to inform inclusive and sustainable guidelines for heritage conservation and management in the temple cities.

Eco hammam

Eco-hammam: Low carbon technologies for lighting, heating and water recycling

Engaging key stakeholders with bespoke low-carbon technologies for lighting, heating and water recycling to sustain a Moroccan heritage

Circubed

CircuBED - Applying the circular economy to the design of social housing

Investigating the implementation of a circular economy in cities.

Circular Families game

The project explored the ability of playful practices to engage urban communities like social housing, support collaborative discovery and promote bottom-up knowledge on how they can contribute to a circular economy.

An archtectural drawing of the Temple of Ashapuri, India.

Temples of Ashapuri

Feasibility studies for the recovery, conservation and presentation of about twenty-six ruined medieval temples at Ashapuri.

Solcer house, Wales’ first low cost ‘energy positive’ house.

Solcer House

The Welsh School of Architecture has designed and built Wales’ first low cost ‘energy positive’ house.

SOLCER

Smart Operation for a Low Carbon Energy Region (SOLCER)

The aim of the Smart Operations for a Low Carbon Energy Region (SOLCER) project was to implement combinations of existing and emerging low carbon technologies through a systems based approach to optimise the use of energy at the point of generation.

SBED

The Sustainable Building Envelope Demonstration (SBED)

The Sustainable Building Envelope Demonstration (SBED) project is led by the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, in partnership with Tata Steel.

Smart energy regions

Smart Energy Regions - COST Action

The COST Action TU1104 “Smart Energy Regions” began in March 2012 and will take place over four years, involving numerous European researchers with different expertise and backgrounds.

The Principality Stadium

The Low Carbon Built Environment (LCBE)

The Low Carbon Built Environment (LCBE) project brings Welsh academics and industry together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with the built environment.

ISERV

iSERV CMB

The iSERVcmb project has provided a unique approach to understanding and reducing operational energy use in building services across Europe.

Harmonac

harmonAC

harmonAC addresses the practical issues arising from the need for regular inspections of air-conditioning systems of over 12kW cooling capacity as required by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

Photograph of research posters on display

Euro-Mediterranean Urban Voids Ecology (EMUVE)

A Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship project looking at the existing voids produced by current shrinking cities along the Euro‐Mediterranean coastline.

Developing better outputs from building thermal simulation tools to improve decision making in the design of low energy buildings (EPSRC)

The research focused on the gap that exists between the output information from building performance simulation (BPS) tools and what is actually needed for building designers to undertake informed design decisions when designing energy-efficient low carbon buildings.

A damp interior

Correlating maintenance, energy efficiency and fuel poverty for traditional buildings in the UK

The study seeks pathways to demonstrate that better maintenance of traditional buildings could reduce energy costs in the context of climate change.

City skyline

Care for the City: Rethinking urbanism and ethics

Care for the City explores the role of care in the development and management of cities and urban communities.

Exterior of an old library

AHRC funded project: Shelf-Life; Re-imagining the future of Carnegie Public Libraries

Shelf-Life asks if the uniquely controlled procurement of over 2600 public buildings across Britain and America around 100 years ago by the Carnegie Library Programme could benefit from some systematic thinking for their re-vitalisation at a time of crisis.

The Nagara Tradition of Temple Architecture: Continuity, Transformation, Renewal

An examination of the transformations and renewals of an architectural tradition across a millennium and a half in India to see how past and present can be studied both for their own sakes and for their mutual illumination.

The making and remaking of Onllwyn: development and transformation of a former mining settlement through time

This project began in March 2022 as a piece of research to understand the development history of a former coal mining settlement, Onllwyn in the Dulais Valley.

AoA

Architectures of Alterity: Body/Media/Space

We support the interdisciplinary exploration of historical and contemporary architectures of alterity and initiate discussions on how design may defy cultural orders and support more diverse and inclusive forms of dwelling from past to present.

The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Research Methods

The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Research Methods

It is now a decisive moment for urban design to reflect on its rigour and relevance. This handbook is an attempt to seize this moment for urban design to further develop its theoretical and methodological knowledge base.