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Department of Architecture

 

Professor Andre Potvin (Professor, Laval University, School of Architecture Quebec City, Canada)

Urban microclimates are complex phenomenons that are seldomly tackled at architecture level since they are falsely thought to belong to the urban realm. However, early decisions in the building morphology can have major impacts on thermal and dynamic comfort of the pedestrians at street level. I will draw a portrait of my early interest in urban microclimates prediction methodologies from a purely thermal comfort perspective leading to our current interdisciplinary research project on Urban Heat Island mitigation in Nordic cities. This project has highlighted the complexity for building professionals to understand the time dependent UHI effect and the lack in effective tools to tackle the interrelated microclimatic dimension in early design stages.

André Potvin graduated at the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies. He is actively involved in research and teaching in environmental design at graduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Potvin cofounded the Group de Recherché en Ambiences Physiques (GRAP) dedicated in passive environmental control strategies at the urban, architectural and detail scales. His most recent research and consultant works include bioclimatic architecture, urban microclimatology and environmental adaptability. He is currently cosupervising two important funded research projects on Nordic Cities Adaptation to Climate Change and Adaptive Architecture. Dr Potvin is also a keen collaborator with private practice through Integrated Design Process (IDP) design charettes in several institutional and academic built projects, He is member of the Canadian green Building Council (CaGBC), associate member of the Centre de Recherche en Aménagement et Développement (CRAD) and the Institut Environnement, Développement et Société (FDS) as well as a member of the steering committee for the newly launched Centre de Formation en Développement Durable (CFDD) at Laval University.

Date: 
Wednesday, 22 May, 2013 - 13:15 to 14:15
Event location: 
Classroom, Department of Architecture