John Straube

Associate Professor
John Straube

Contact information

Phone: 519-888-4015
Location: CPH 2373H

Website

John Straube

Biography summary

John Straube is an Associate Professor joint-appointed to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. He researches and teaches building science, building materials, and engineering design with a focus on high-performance low-energy sustainable buildings. A registered professional engineer he is also a Principal at RDH Building Science Inc., where he leads forensic investigations, hygrothermal measurement and analysis research projects, and design projects in the areas of low energy building design, highly durable building enclosures, new building materials and systems, and extreme climate buildings

Professor Straube authored “High Performance Enclosures” and co-authored “Building Science for Building Enclosures” with Eric Burnett. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Building Science Education from the National Consortium of Housing Research Centers (NCHRC).

Professor Straube is a member of the CSA A371 Masonry Construction Standards Committee, the CAN/ULC S741-08 Standard for Air Barrier Materials, the American Society of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) Canada among others.

Research interests

  • engineering design
  • building physics
  • building science
  • building performance
  • building envelop
  • building enclosure
  • moisture
  • durability
  • construction
  • sustainable building
  • energy efficiency
  • material
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Heat air and moisture transport

Education

  • 1998, Doctorate, Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo
  • 1993, Master's, Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo
  • 1991, Bachelor's, Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo

Courses*

  • AE 100 - Concepts Studio
    • Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021
  • AE 225 - Environmental Building Systems Studio
    • Taught in 2022
  • AE 300 - Architectural Engineering Studio
    • Taught in 2021, 2023
  • AE 301 - Building Enclosure Systems
    • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024
  • ARCH 264 - Building Science
    • Taught in 2019
  • ARCH 364 - Building Science
    • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
  • ARCH 673 - The Science of the Building Envelope
    • Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
  • CIVE 507 - Building Science and Technology
    • Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021
  • GENE 199 - Special Topics in First Year Engineering
    • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

Selected/recent publications

  • Ge, H., Straube, J.F, Wang, L., Fox,M.J. “Field study of hygrothermal performance of highly insulated wood-frame walls under simulated air leakage”. Bldg & Environ., Vol 160, 2019.
  • McClung, Ruth and Ge, Hua and Straube, John and Wang, Jieying, Hygrothermal performance of cross-laminated timber wall assemblies with built-in moisture: field measurements and simulations, Building and Environment, 71, 2014, 95 - 110
  • Straube, JF and Acahrya, V, Indoor air quality, healthy buildings, and breathing walls, Iris communications Inc., Green building. Retrieved October, 13, 2013
  • Straube, John and Eng, P, High performance enclosures, Building Science Corporation, 2012
  • Smegal, Jonathan and Straube, John, Hygrothermal analysis of exterior rockwool insulation, Retrieved February, 26, 2011
  • Straube, John, Measuring the Impact of Interior Insulation on Solid Masonry Walls in a Cold Climate, Journal of Green Building, 2010
  • Straube, John and Smegal, Jonathan, Modeled and Measured Drainage, Storage and Drying Behind Cladding Systems, Proceedings of Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Buildings X, 2009
  • Straube, J.F., Schumacher. C.J., Interior Insulation Retrofits of Load-Bearing Masonry Walls in Cold Climates, J. of Green Building, 2(2), 2007, 42 - 50
  • Straube, J.F., & C.J. Schumacher, Assessing the Durability Impacts of Energy Efficient Enclosure Upgrades using Hygrothermal Models, Journal of the International Association for Science and Technology of Building Maintenance and Monuments Preservation, 2, 2006
  • Straube, J and van Straaten, Randy and Burnett, Eric, Field studies of ventilation drying, Proceedings of Performance of Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings IX, Clearwater Beach, Florida, 2004
  • Straube, John and Schumacher, Chris, Monitoring the hygrothermal performance of strawbale walls, Ecological Building Network, Available online at: http://v$backslash$/w/w. sbportal. ca/pdf/Monitori ng of Hygrothermal Performance of Strawbale Walls. pdf, 2003
  • Straube, John and Onysko, Don and Schumacher, Chris, Methodology and design of field experiments for monitoring the hygrothermal performance of wood frame enclosures, Journal of Building Physics, 26(2), 2002, 123 - 151
  • Straube, John and Schumacher, Chris, The role of hygrothermal modeling in practical building design: Case studies, Proceedings of e-Sim 2002, 2002, 185 - 192
  • Straube, J.F. and Burnett, E.F.P., , Rain Control and Design Strategies , J. Of Thermal Insulation and Building Envelopes, 1999, 41 - 46
  • De Rose, D and Pearson, N and Mensinga, P and Straube, JF, TOWARDS A LIMIT STATES APPROACH TO INSULATING SOLID MASONRY WALLS IN A COLD CLIMATE,
  • Straube, J.F. Simonji, J., Schumacher, C.J., “Thermal Resistance Measurements of Two- and Three-D Thermal Bridges Using an ASTM C177-based Apparatus”, Proc. Of Buildings XIV, Clearwater Beach, FL., Dec. 2019.
  • Fox, M and Straube, J and Ge, H and Trainor, T, Field Test of Hygrothermal Performance of Highly Insulated Wall Assemblies, Proceedings of the 14th Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology, Toronto, Canada, January 2014
  • Jablonka, Marcus and Karagiozis, Achilles and Straube, John, Selection Tool for Water-Resistive Barriers with Suitable Vapor Permeability, ASHRAE/DOE Whole Buildings, 01 2013, Clearwater Beach FL
  • Finch, Graham and Straube, John and Richmond, Mike, Field performance of spray polyurethane foam: The role of vapour diffusion control, Proceedings from 11th Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology, Banff, Alberta, January 2007
  • Turk, B., Straube, J., Basement Dampness and Ventilation During Radon Mitigation, ASHRAE IAQ 2007: Healthy and Sustainable Buildings, October 2007, Baltimore, Md
  • Wilkinson, James and Ueno, Kohta and DeRose, David and Straube, J and Fugler, Don, Understanding Vapour Permeance and Condensation in Wall Assemblies, Proceedings of the 11th Canadian Building Science & Technology Conference, National Building Envelope Council, January 2007
  • "Building Science, Green Buildings, and the Future of the World", John Adjeleian Lecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, 2011
  • Straube, John and Ueno, Kohta and Schumacher, Christopher, Internal insulation of masonry walls: final measure guideline, January 2011,
  • Smegal, Jonathan and Straube, John, Building America Special Research Project: High-R Foundations Case Study Analysis, January 2010,

Graduate studies