Building Engineering Group
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
Contact John Straube, Building Engineering Group
Building science and building engineering are fields of study concerned with the technical performance of buildings, building materials, and building systems. The area is broad enough to include construction technology, material science, urban design, architecture, heat and mass transport physics, meteorology, mycology, and structural design, to name a few. The field can be seen as the specialization of infrastructure engineering applied to building systems.
Design, construction, and maintenance of yet-to-be-built and existing buildings and structures represents a significant portion of the gross domestic product for countries of the developed world. In Canada, new construction accounts for almost 14% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and buildings account for almost 65% of that. Operating costs (energy, maintenance, cleaning and repairs) are also a multi-billion dollar expenditure. Building scientists and engineers seek to improve the manner in which buildings are constructed and maintained to ensure long building life, to improve building performance through out the expected service life, and to allow demolition, reuse, and recycling.
Building science and engineering are applied to the design of new buildings, the repair and maintenance of the increasing stock of existing buildings, and the development of new building materials and technologies. The issue of sustainability, pollution, energy use, and health are becoming increasingly important.
Building Engineering Group
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
Contact John Straube, Building Engineering Group
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.