Between Indoors and Outdoors - Climate Design for the Dry and Humid Zones

You are cordially invited to attend the guest lecture by Wolfgang Kessling:

Date: Tuesday, September 17th 2024

Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Venue: SDE3 Level 4 LT427

CPD points: To Be Confirmed

Please register your interest to attend the lecture here: https://nus.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VDPZ1xOs0o147I

Between Indoors and Outdoors – Climate Design for the Dry and Humid Zones

In modern generic architecture there is a strong disconnect between the building and the local climate and culture. With the advent of air conditioning and energy efficient technologies, architectural form and performance of a building became for the most part an independent discussion. Buildings became unspecific to a location and performance became delegated to technology. Are architects missing the opportunity to take (back) ownership of the design and performance of their buildings and projects? How can advanced understanding of outdoor comfort inform landscape design and integration of the projects into the urban context to reduce Urban Heat Island effect? How can projects become more people centric and move beyond form making?

Climate Engineering is enabling architecture creating inspiring spaces, well connected with their environment while striving to reduce carbon emissions and creating holistic healthy, low energy or net positive projects. To raise a strong argument for a tropical architecture, well rooted in the local culture and lifestyle, the professional community needs to revisit the way how comfort and spaces for wellbeing are delivered. The presentation will explore innovations in design for comfort in the tropics: outdoors, mid-doors and indoors and showcasing design thinking with some of the Transsolar projects in Singapore and the region.

Wolfgang Kessling holds a doctorate in physics and is a partner at Transsolar Energietechnik, Germany. He is an expert in climate-friendly building design and adaptive comfort concepts. The focus of his work is the development of innovative comfort concepts for, indoor, mid-door and outdoor spaces. He lectures regularly at universities and international conferences on sustainable design, thermal comfort and zero-energy projects. For the academic year 2024/2025 he is joining the faculty at the DoA at NUS, teaching about tropical Climate Engineering.

In Asia he worked on the first zero-energy office building in Malaysia, the BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the innovative comfort and energy concept of the giant cooled conservatories at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The environmental concept of the School of Design Buildings 4 and 1&3 at NUS, Singapore became a highly recognized example for a tropical high comfort net positive energy design. For the Singaporean pavilion at the World EXPO 2021 in Dubai, his team developed the net zero water and energy concept. In 2021 the sustainable strategy for the Atlassian high rise in Sydney has been awarded by the Holcim Foundation with Bronze in the Asia Pacific Bronze region.