EBD Lectures // Fall 2026

Adam Rysanek
(At Least) 3 Truths about the Future of Cooling:
Lessons from a Mild Climate that’s Getting Hot

EBD Lab Talk
Wednesday, September 30, 9 AM
Meyerson 3N

Dr. Adam Rysanek is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, an affiliate faculty member in UBC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of the UBC Master’s of Engineering Leadership in High Performance Buildings. As an architectural scientist, Dr. Rysanek contributes teaching & research at the inflection point between the fundamental sciences and the practices of building design, construction, and operation. In 2018, he founded the Building Decisions Research Group (BDRG) at UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability.

Anne Beim
Biogenic Construction:
Explorative Research into Thatched Architecture 

EBD/ARCH 6310
Wednesday, October 7, 10:15 AM
Fagin Hall 118

Anne Beim is Professor of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Art and Head of CINARK – Center for Industrial Architecture. Beim studies ‘absolute sustainability’ of construction focusing on biogenic materials, construction and architectural quality. As a creator of theories in architectural tectonics and pioneer in the development of ecological architecture, she has won several awards and exhibited at the Venice Biennale.

Ariane Middel
Urban Heat Sensing & Modeling 

EBD/IBPSA–UPenn Lecture
Monday, October 12, 4:00 PM

Ariane Middel’s research interests lie in the interdisciplinary field of urban climate with focus on climate-sensitive urban form, design, landscapes, and infrastructure in the face of extreme heat and climatic uncertainty. For the past decade, Middel has advanced the field of urban climate science through applied and solutions-oriented research employing quantitative and qualitative field observations, local and microscale climate modeling, and geo-visualization to investigate sustainability challenges related to heat, thermal comfort, Urban Heat Islands, water use, energy use, and human-climate interactions in cities.

Felix Heisel
Circular Construction, A Multi-Scalar Opportunity 

EBD/ARCH 6310
Wednesday, October 28, 10:15 AM
Fagin Hall 118

Felix Heisel is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Heisel’s scholarship focuses on a systemic redesign of the built environment as a material depot of endless use and reconfiguration. He has received various awards for his work and published several books and articles on the topic, including Building Better – Less – Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy (Birkhäuser, 2022); Urban Mining und kreislaufgerechtes Bauen (Urban Mining and Circular Construction, Fraunhofer IRB, 2021); Cultivated Building Materials (Birkhäuser, 2017); and Building from Waste (Birkhäuser, 2014).

Shanta Tucker
Energy Modeling at Two Scales:
Moynihan Train Hall and the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center

EBD/ARCH 6310
Wednesday, November 4, 10:15 AM
Fagin Hall 118

Shanta is the Director in charge of Atelier Ten’s Energy Analysis Practice. Her deep experience in engineering and HVAC design, expanded Atelier Ten’s energy analysis practice to include building simulation and analysis techniques to optimize high-performance building envelopes, mechanical, and renewable energy systems.