Architecture is an applied discipline, thus architectural research – difficult as it may be to define it – needs to be able to translate research results and conclusions to actual tools: guidelines, rules of thumb, specific technologies, techniques and details. Furthermore, one of the major challenges of architectural research is the creation of a comprehensive, complete picture of the builtup environment, identifying lacunae and problems on the different scales, and proposing concrete solutions. Within this general context, desert architecture is an even harder to define and broader domain, as it is not “yet another” environment people are building and living in, but rather one which is characterized by climatic and environmental extremes, usually sparsely populated and remote from supply centers and infrastructures, lacking appropriately developed local know-how and resources sources.
It is exactly this comprehensive picture of what desert architecture is that I have been working on putting together in my academic research and implementation/education/outreach work. My academic and professional activities deal with human habitation and shelter in drylands, and can be subdivided into four rough categories, albeit all interrelated and mostly undertaken in, and referring to deserts and drylands in general: desert architecture and urban planning research, green construction and green technologies integration, information transfer (including education and professional re-education), and community involvement/outreach.
What has been achieved so far includes research on architecture adaptation to drylands conditions in the past, present constraints and future needs; the promotion of sustainable architecture by bringing research results to realization through the promotion of Israel Standard 5281; implementation of sustainable principles and practices within new master plans for urban settlements, existing and new ones; and a better understanding of appropriate construction technologies and strategies in drylands vis-à-vis relations between building and user in terms of building usability, culminating into partnership in the Horizon 2020 Net-Zero Settlements research and an ambitious PhD research aimed at lowering the energy needs – and environmental footprint - of high rise buildings. Current and future activities aim at deepening knowledge in these fields, and bringing it to a comprehensive body of publications, including papers in preparation and a book on sustainable architecture for hot climates.
Within this domain I can sum my activities so far as follows:
It is exactly this comprehensive picture of what desert architecture is that I have been working on putting together in my academic research and implementation/education/outreach work. My academic and professional activities deal with human habitation and shelter in drylands, and can be subdivided into four rough categories, albeit all interrelated and mostly undertaken in, and referring to deserts and drylands in general: desert architecture and urban planning research, green construction and green technologies integration, information transfer (including education and professional re-education), and community involvement/outreach.
What has been achieved so far includes research on architecture adaptation to drylands conditions in the past, present constraints and future needs; the promotion of sustainable architecture by bringing research results to realization through the promotion of Israel Standard 5281; implementation of sustainable principles and practices within new master plans for urban settlements, existing and new ones; and a better understanding of appropriate construction technologies and strategies in drylands vis-à-vis relations between building and user in terms of building usability, culminating into partnership in the Horizon 2020 Net-Zero Settlements research and an ambitious PhD research aimed at lowering the energy needs – and environmental footprint - of high rise buildings. Current and future activities aim at deepening knowledge in these fields, and bringing it to a comprehensive body of publications, including papers in preparation and a book on sustainable architecture for hot climates.
Within this domain I can sum my activities so far as follows:
- Teaching – 30 graduate and undergraduate courses (most of them since 2000) in Israel and abroad, incl. the Green Sustainable Building module within an edX MOOC course on Environmental Protection and Sustainability.
- Supervision – 56 research students (3 post-doc, 17 PhD, 32 MSc/MA, 2 BArch, 2 final projects) in Israel and overseas.
- Publications (overall) – over 200 papers, chapters in collective volumes, technical reports and books, of which 70 refereed.
- 160 Conferences/Workshops lectures .
- Conferences organization: over 40 as chair, organizing, steering and technical committee member of national and international conferences.
meir___roaf__2005__the_future_of_the_vernacular._towards_new_methodologies_for_the_understanding___optimization_of_the_performance_of_vernacular_buildings.pdf | |
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meir__2009__apology_for_architecture_or_the_planner’s_craft.pdf | |
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meir_et_al__2009__poe-an_inevitable_step_toward_sustainability.pdf | |
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saroglou_meir_theodosiou_givoni__2017__towards_energy_efficient_skyscrapers.pdf | |
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meir_et_al.__2018__a_window_of_ones_own._a__public_office_post_occupancy_evaluation.pdf | |
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reider___meir__2019__comparing_the_energy_implications_of_frp_and_concrete_residential_construction_in_a_hot_arid_climate.pdf | |
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