John Straube

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 is also a professional engineer and 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

As a result of his research work, Professor Straube wrote the book “High Performance Enclosures” and also co-authored “Building Science for Building Enclosures” with Eric Burnett. He has also 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.

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

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

• ARCH 364 - Building Science
  • Taught in 2014, 2015, 2016
• ARCH 277 - Timber: Design, Structure and Construction for Engineers
  • Taught in 2014
• ARCH 673 - The Science of the Building Envelope
  • Taught in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
• CIVE 265 - Structure and Properties of Materials
  • Taught in 2016
• CIVE 507 - Building Science and Technology
  • Taught in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• ARCH 264 - Building Science
  • Taught in 2016, 2018
• CIVE 707 - Advanced Building Science
  • Taught in 2018

• 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
• 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
• 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,