Thrust 5: Materials, Designs & Lifecycle

A sustainable building must balance safety, energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and occupant productivity. This is tied directly to material selection and design, detailing and construction techniques, and lifecycle issues. We use an integrated design approach that spans from material to structure. We focus on developing and demonstrating optimal models and policies to represent the entire lifecycle of the building materials and structural systems, in both new and existing buildings in the tropics. 

In realizing these goals, the research activities of this thrust are organized in the following four focused work packages (WPs):

  1. Optimized Energy-efficient Multi-functional Building Envelope Design
  2. Innovative Building Envelope for Daylight Harvesting
  3. High Performance Green Concrete
  4. Energy-efficient and Photocatalytic Materials