home | SinBerBEST

Latest Press

LinkedIn Article: Ceiling fans can increase thermal comfort
June 2018

In May 2018, SinBerBEST 2 Theme Lead, Professor Stefano Schiavon, published a LinkedIn article sharing recent research findings of using ceiling fans in a Singapore office building. In this study, SinBerBEST researcher, Aleksandra Lipczynska, Prof. Schiavon, and Center for Built Environment Research Specialist, Lindsay Graham, evaluated how increased room temperatures and air movement impacted the white-collar workers’ thermal comfort and their self-reported productivity.
SVInsight Article: Nelumbo
April 2018

SVInsight recently covered Nelumbo, the hydrophobic/ ice-phobic coatings company that was founded by SinBerBEST researchers led by Prof. Hayden Taylor, in Chinese. The article discussed how the company uses chemical engineering techniques to improve heat transfer research, advance current refrigeration technology, and impact the refrigeration, air conditioning, central heating, and electrical car industries.
Berkeley Engineering Article: Building-in-Briefcase
October 2017

In October 2017, Berkeley Engineering highlighted an easy-to-use, cost-effective, building condition and usage monitoring tool that was developed by SinBerBEST researchers working with Professor Costas Spanos. Kevin Weekly, Ming Jin, and Ruoxi Jia, co-developed this device, the Building-in-Briefcase (BiB) system. Each BiB set can measure the detailed environmental conditions of a sizable residence, a medium-sized office suite, or any other similarly sized space in the built environment.

Latest News

2018 Building and Environment Best Paper Awards
January 2019

Research collaboration between SinBerBEST 2 and UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment (CBE) resulted in three Building and Environment Best Paper Awards in 2018.
The Building and Environment Journal is a global publication that shares novel building science and human interaction with the building environment study findings. It established these awards in 2007 to recognize authors for their papers’ originality, industry contributions, presentation quality, and science validity. Building and Environment selects three Best Paper Awards every year.
Octet-Truss Engineered Concrete for Lightweight Structures
October 2018

Six SinBerBEST and non-SinBerBEST researchers from UC Berkeley recently authored an article discussing innovative uses of Octet-Truss Engineered Concrete (OTEC.) It is a lightweight structure created in the empty spaces of the ultra-high performance, fiber-reinforced concrete with very-high compressive capability. OTEC leverages porous concrete’s thermal-insulating properties while sustaining strength and rigidity. Please click here to access the article.
Design Automation for Smart Building Systems
October 2018

14 researchers from SinBerBEST, UC Berkeley, Nanyang Technological University, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Florida State University, and University of Southern California recently published a paper on a platform-specific design process for smart buildings. In this case, a platform is a library, or a collection of components and their associated configurations that can be leveraged to create a design.