Wellcome to Building Science I course!

Instructor(s): Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülsu Ulukavak Harputlugil

Level: Undergraduate

Building science is a field of knowledge and experience that focuses on the analysis and control of the physical phenomena affecting buildings and architecture. Building science provides the language, framework, and systems thinking to understand the physical behavior of the building as a system and how this impacts energy efficiency, durability, comfort and indoor air quality.

Szokolay claimed in his book “Introduction to architectural Science”(2004) that “Many projects in recent times are claimed to constitute sustainable development, to be sustainable architecture. But are they really green or sustainable? Some new terms started appearing in the literature, such as ‘green wash’ – meaning that a conventional building isdesigned and then claimed to be‘green’. Or ‘pure rhetoric – no substance’, with the same meaning.”

I hope this course will help your understanding on sustainability, energy efficiency,  green building , etc. and shed light on complicated definitions and fuzzy concepts.

Course Content:

Thermal Aspects of a Building: heat flow and movements due to heat in building elements, rules that will be taken into consideration during the design in terms of fuel economy, factors of thermal comfort

Constructions against energy flow: precautions to be taken against water and moisture on building, insulation systems and their details. standards and regulations on the subject,

Climate & Building: evaluation of factors that create the climatic environment, precautions regarding to climatic environment and solar control methods,