Professor C. Alan Short
- The Professor of Architecture (1970)
- President of Clare Hall
- Director of Studies for Peterhouse
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About
Alan Short was educated at Trinity College (senior scholar) and as Exchange Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He has been the Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge since 2001, Head of Dept. 2001-04. His work focuses on the design of sustainable buildings. He won the RIBA President’s Award for ‘Outstanding Professional Practice-located Research’ 2007 for the project ‘Design for the Warming Environment’ and the 2009 RIBA President’s Commendation for Outstanding University-located Research for his work on the resilience of the NHS Estate. He is a PR China Ministry of Education Distinguished Professor, a Guest Professor at Zhejiang University and was the 2014 George Collins Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians and 2013-14 Geddes Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He also designs buildings, one of very few architects in the UK deeply involved in Higher Education and Research, maintaining Short & Associates Architects as a vehicle for putting research concepts into practice, winning the first 'High Architecture, Low Energy Award' 1995; 'Green Building of the Year' 1995; the Society of College, National and University Librarians (SCONUL) 'Best Academic Library Award' 1998-2003 and ‘Commendation’ 2008; CIBSE 'Project of the Year' in 2003 & 2004; ‘CIBSE Environmental Initiative of the Year’ 2006; BDA ‘Building of the Year 2001’ and ‘Best Public Building 2006’; RIBA Awards in 1995, 2000, 2003 and 2006. He is the Principle Investigator for the UK-China EPSRC/NSFC funded ‘Low carbon climate-responsive heating and cooling of cities’ (LoHCool) £800K, focussing on carbon reduction opportunities in mega-cities in China. He was the Principal Investigator for the EPSRC Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change project ‘Design and Delivery of Robust Hospital Environments in a Changing Climate’ DeDeRHECC (2009-13) £800K, and the NIHR funded ‘Design Strategy for Low Energy Ventilation and Cooling of Health Buildings’ (2006-09) £265K. His research group has produced a film of its work on the NHS Estate, ‘Robust Hospitals in a Changing Climate’ at http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1559781 which won the tv/e Global Sustainability Film Award 2013 at BAFTA. He was appointed to administer and monitor the NHS Energy Efficiency Fund 2013-14 with the Professor of Sustainable Engineering Peter Guthrie, reporting to the Under Secretary of State for Health. The Executive Summary was published in February 2015 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/407160/EEF.pdf. His team has redrafted the guidance on energy efficiency for the NHS, HTM 07-02, published in March 2015 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-energy-work-in-healthcare-htm-07-02
He has an interest in the design of theatres and was PI for the AHRC funded (£350K) ‘Designing Dynamic Environments for the Performing Arts’ (DeDepa), an investigation into the design of contemporary Arts Council funded arts buildings. There is a book and a film of the findings, both titled ‘Geometry and Atmosphere’. The film is available at:
He authored the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) Guidance for Capital Arts Projects, “Building Excellence for the Arts” and designed the Contact Theatre in Manchester, the Garrick at Lichfield and the Lighthouse at Poole.
Research
Short’s research group investigates and develops passive and hybrid resilient, low-energy design strategies for new-build and perhaps more importantly for interventions in non-domestic buildings in different climates, projecting their future performance against current climate change predictions. More recently the work has concentrated on hospital buildings, the group has assessed the resilience of the entire NHS Estate, its adaptation potential and the likely cost, reported to Ministers. Short is appointed to administer and report on the UK Dept of Health's NHS Energy Efficiency Fund 2013-14.
Professor Short is the PI for the EPSRC-NSFC funded project LoHCool, 'Low Carbon environmentally responsive Heating and Cooling of Cities' 2015-19, an investigation into the adaptation opportunities within the mega cities of the Hot Summer-Cold Winter zone in China with the Departments of Engineering, Geography and Mathematics at Cambridge; Reading, Chongqing and Zhejiang Universities and Imperial College London.
Professor Short is also the PI for the AHRC Antimicrobial Resistance project ExISE, Excising Infection in the Surgical Environment 2017-2020 with the BP Institute, Infectious Diseases and History of Art in Cambridge, History at Kings College London, Leeds University's Engineering Department and the Royal College of Surgeons.