(Re)meeting of "Transsolarians" in Rome

Re-meeting former colleagues or Academy fellows is always interesting, especially when all are active in a field important to us: sustainable building design. Meeting place was the 16th IBPSA Rome. The International Building Performance Simulation Association is a non-profit international society of building performance simulation researchers, software developers, and practitioners. IBPSA is dedicated to improving the built environment via education, research, convening conferences, and fostering communication. With 29 regional affiliates and more than 4,000 members, IBPSA is the world’s leading organization dedicated to advancing the methods and applications of building performance modeling.

Four current and previous Transsolarians came together at this important international event in the field of building performance simulation. They are all people who have either worked or are currently working for Transsolar. Alpha Yacob Arsano was part of our first Transsolar Academy in 2013/2014 and has been in research for many years now at MIT. Jean-Baptiste Bouvenot was part of our first French group at Transsolar and is now a Professor at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Strasbourg. Marion Hiller has been with Transsolar for more than 20 years and is the head of our software developer team. Pamela Cabrera is our new colleague in New York; she presented her GSD research work in Rome.

All four gave a talk at the conference: Alpha talked about “Early-Design Optimization Potential of Natural Ventilation Using Energy Modeling.” Marion shared the “CFS Model Improvement based on Measured Data of a 1:1 Scale Test Mock-up.” Jean-Baptiste presented “Numerical and Experimental Thermal Inertia Characterization Of An Integrated Insulation Clay Hollow Block For Buildings Thermal Comfort Applications” and Pamela explained her research results on “Quantifying Resilience of Building Facades: Moisture and Mold Risks under Future Climate Stresses.”

They not only enjoyed catching up with each other, but also the exceptional opportunity to share information about simulation tools and applications as well as to get updates about recent achievements and new research developments. program >