John Straube

Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo

Dr. Straube has been deeply involved in the areas of building enclosure design, moisture physics, and whole building performance as a consultant, researcher, and educator. He is a faculty member in the Department of Civil Engineering and the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo where he teaches courses in structural design and building science to both disciplines.

Research interests include driving rain measurement and control, pressure moderation, ventilation drying, energy, and full-scale natural exposure performance monitoring of wall systems. Energy-efficient, healthy, durable and sustainable building designs are a general interest. He has broad experience in the building industry, having been involved in the design, construction, repair and restoration of buildings in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, United States and Canada.

Smart Buildings

Buildings and the infrastructure that connects them is the largest industry in the world, consume more of the worlds resources than any other activity, and has profound impacts on the quality of human lives. Despite this overwhelming significance, building technology and building design attracts less attention and fewer human resources that many other technical endeavors. This talk will describe and critique the built environment, expose the failures of current buildings, explore the incredible opportunities for good design and appropriate technology, present examples of successes, and challenge the audience to get involved in creating better places to live—beautiful, healthy, sustainable, productive, and economical.