School well-represented at sustainable architecture conference

Research by over 25 staff and PhD students from the Welsh School of Architecture was presented at the Passive Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) network’s 2017 conference, which took place in Edinburgh from 3^rd-5^th July.

PLEA has a membership of thousands of professionals, academics, students and industry members from over 40 countries and has led a worldwide discourse on sustainable architecture and urban design through its conferences since 1982.

The theme of the conference was “Design to Thrive”, which was attended by over 500 delegates from academic, government and industry. For detailed conference proceedings, please visit the PLEA 2017 conference website.

The broad range of topics covered by WSA staff and PhD students included:

Science and technology

Skycourt as a ventilated buffer zone in office buildings: assessing energy performance and thermal comfort – Saba Alnusairat, Phil Jones and Shan Shan Hou

A parametric sensitivity analysis of the impact of built environment geometrical variables on building energy consumption – Anas M.Hosney Lila and Simon Lannon

Vertical Farms: Historic Development, Current State and Future Directions – Diana Waldron

People and community

Empowering local people through the planning process: The emerging practice of ‘Place Planning’ and its contribution to community well-being in Wales – Matthew Jones, Amanda Spence

Comfort as a strategic design ingredient to support pro-environmental behaviour in sustainable student accommodations – Adrienn Rokosni and Wouter Poortinga

Connecting householders with their homes using low-cost technological interventions – Gloria Vargas, Christopher Tweed and Gabriela Zapata-Lancaster

Users in context: actions and practices in low energy buildings – Gabriela Zapata-Lancaster and Chris Tweed

Design and practice

An additive approach to the building envelope using Welsh-grown timber – Steven Coombs, Prof Wayne Forster

MORE VERSUS BETTER: exploring the tension between quality and quantity in housing, and the opportunities offered by alternative approaches – Ed Green

Energy Performance Plan Analysis in a New Ecological City – Wenjing He, Philip Jones Xiaojun Li and Shanshan Hou

Domestic thermal insulation in Wales, UK: future demand scenarios, embodied impact and regional capacity to match demand – Fabrizio Varriale and Jo Patterson

A novel approach to predict real-time urban heat island effect and indoor overheating – Hu Du, Phillip Jones and Chao Long

Improving the Energy Performance of Historic Timber-Framed Buildings in the UK – Christopher J. Whitman, Oriel Prizeman, Julie Gwilliam and Pete Walker

Education and training

Bridging the gap: A framework for a robust sustainable design process – Sarah O’Dwyer