Inaugural Lecture - Prof. Andrew Sonta
Date: 17 May 2023
Time: 17:30 - 18:45
Introductions by the Dean, lectures by Prof. David Ruggiero and Prof. Andrew Sonta. Followed by an Apero.
Place: CO2
Zoom link
Title:
Integrating social and environmental perspectives for a sustainable built environment
Abstract
The built environment has a dual set of responsibilities. On one hand, given buildings’ outsized impact on the environment, it is imperative to improve sustainability of construction and efficiency of operation. On the other hand, our buildings serve a fundamentally human purpose: they should support our human-centric goals such as well-being and productivity. To advance our understanding of holistic building performance and potential, we must take a research perspective that integrates these two sets of responsibilities. The research at the newly formed ETHOS Lab at EPFL seeks to work toward this integration. We use sensors and open data sources to computationally analyze human-building interactions and improve built environment design and operation. In this talk, we will investigate specific examples of human-building interactions on the building and urban scales. The research presented works toward a vision where explicit modeling and analysis of human systems can help us transform the way we design and manage our built environment to support our social and environmental goals.
About the speaker
Andrew Sonta was appointed Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EPFL ENAC in September 2022. He directs the ETHOS Lab: Civil Engineering and Technology for Human Oriented Sustainability. Prior to joining EPFL, he received his PhD from Stanford University’s Sustainable Design and Construction program, studying human-building interaction in commercial buildings. He was then a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute, working in the smart cities focus area. He has also taught in the architecture program at the University of San Francisco. His work spans engineering, design, social science, and data science and aims to address urban sustainability challenges through a multidisciplinary lens. At EPFL, the mission of the ETHOS Lab is to use data, engineering, and design to create interventions in the built environment that integrate our social and environmental goals.
Time: 17:30 - 18:45
Introductions by the Dean, lectures by Prof. David Ruggiero and Prof. Andrew Sonta. Followed by an Apero.
Place: CO2
Zoom link
Title:
Integrating social and environmental perspectives for a sustainable built environment
Abstract
The built environment has a dual set of responsibilities. On one hand, given buildings’ outsized impact on the environment, it is imperative to improve sustainability of construction and efficiency of operation. On the other hand, our buildings serve a fundamentally human purpose: they should support our human-centric goals such as well-being and productivity. To advance our understanding of holistic building performance and potential, we must take a research perspective that integrates these two sets of responsibilities. The research at the newly formed ETHOS Lab at EPFL seeks to work toward this integration. We use sensors and open data sources to computationally analyze human-building interactions and improve built environment design and operation. In this talk, we will investigate specific examples of human-building interactions on the building and urban scales. The research presented works toward a vision where explicit modeling and analysis of human systems can help us transform the way we design and manage our built environment to support our social and environmental goals.
About the speaker
Andrew Sonta was appointed Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EPFL ENAC in September 2022. He directs the ETHOS Lab: Civil Engineering and Technology for Human Oriented Sustainability. Prior to joining EPFL, he received his PhD from Stanford University’s Sustainable Design and Construction program, studying human-building interaction in commercial buildings. He was then a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute, working in the smart cities focus area. He has also taught in the architecture program at the University of San Francisco. His work spans engineering, design, social science, and data science and aims to address urban sustainability challenges through a multidisciplinary lens. At EPFL, the mission of the ETHOS Lab is to use data, engineering, and design to create interventions in the built environment that integrate our social and environmental goals.
Links
Practical information
- Informed public
- Registration required
Organizer
- SGC - Céline Dupuy