The Cass staff profiles content store_hidden Luisa Brotas Our staff

Luisa is a registered architect in Portugal and in the UK with a PhD in Daylighting by London Met (2004). She was a researcher at the Department of Renewable Energy of the former National Institute of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, INETI, in Portugal for 13 years. In addition to her lecturing at London Met, Luisa has also taught at three other UK and two Portuguese universities.

To date, Luisa has successfully led MSc thesis supervision of 64 students who have returned 100% completion of MSc awards. Two students were in the Top Twenty and one in the Top Thirty of the University Recognition Awards for Academic Excellence, Best Masters Award with Distinction in 2011 and 2012. One was the University Recognition Award for Academic Excellence - Best Masters Award with Distinction in 2013. Former students have successfully found working places in top consultancy and architectural practices, to name a few: ARUP, GIA, Grimshaw, Mott MacDonald, XCO2 and Zaha Hadid. She is also supervising four PhD students and has supervised researchers and international PhD students.

She has been involved in energy efficiency in new and retrofit buildings, eco materials and sustainability, natural ventilation and Passivhaus standard, daylighting and thermal analysis in national and European-funded projects. Her interests also include bioclimatic design, adaptive thermal and visual comfort and high dynamic range images.

She is actively involved in the Nceub – Network for Comfort and Energy Use in Buildings, and along with Fergus has recently organised the successful 8^th International Windsor Conference. She is secretary of the Nceub network and Vice-Chair of the Daylight Group of Cibse.

Luisa's teaching and research spans the fields of daylight, sustainability and energy efficiency in buildings and urban areas with a strong emphasis on adaptive thermal and visual comfort. With buildings contributing to more that 50% of the CO2 emissions, Luisa has a keen interest in environmental and sustainable solutions, particularly those applicable to the existing stock. Given the fact new buildings will account for around 2% of the buildings in use by 2050, refurbishing existing buildings and improving the indoor conditions while reducing the energy consumption from fossil fuels becomes particular important to achieve the UK commitments to reduce CO2 emissions. Buildings are only successful when they are both low energy and comfortable to the occupants. Assuming that people spend nearly 80% of their lives indoors, it is important to provide comfortable, safe and healthy environments without excessive use and depletion of natural resources. With the increasing realisation of what climate change involves, resilience and adaptability are also important in the urban context.

Good daylighting has proven to enhance productivity, reduce staff absences and achieve energy savings in artificial lighting, particular relevant as the later accounts for almost a quarter of the total carbon emissions in non-domestic buildings. Significant research has highlighted the impact of daylight on health and the importance of a view out through a window. Early phases of design are fundamental to promote and implement cost effective sustainable solutions. Likewise Building Performance Evaluation is pivotal to identifying deficiencies on existing buildings and fine tuning key aspects of their energy performance as well as the well-being, satisfaction and productivity of the occupants. Large discrepancies between predictions and real energy consumption in buildings are not uncommon. Whether these are a result of design simulation assumptions, user input, budget costs or poor construction is not fully understood. Often they have been attributed to bad user behaviour. Clear guidelines to users and all the stakeholders in the build environment are still needed.

Governments, the market and the people as beneficiaries must all work for the same aim of pushing sustainability into 'business as usual'. Schools of architecture, property and construction have a major role and responsibility to educate the future generation into designing and constructing the built environment to be aesthetically, functional and environmentally friendly. Luisa's work and research often involves a holistic approach encompassing several of the above fields, from design inception till post occupancy, including dealing with transient building energy and daylight simulations with ESP-r, EnergyPlus and RADIANCE programs amongst others.

Expertise areas

• Low-energy
• sustainable architecture

My teaching and research spans the fields of daylight, sustainability and energy efficiency in buildings and urban areas with a strong emphasis on adaptive thermal and visual comfort. With buildings contributing to more that 50% of the CO2 emissions I have a keen interest in environmental and sustainable solutions, particularly those applicable to the existing stock. Given the fact new buildings will account for around 2% of the buildings in use by 2050, refurbishing existing buildings and improving the indoor conditions while reducing the energy consumption from fossil fuels becomes particular important to achieve the UK commitments to reduce CO2 emissions. Buildings are only successful when they are both low energy and comfortable to the occupants. Assuming that people spend nearly 80% of their lives indoors, it is important to provide comfortable, safe and healthy environments without excessive use and depletion of natural resources. With the increasing realisation of what climate change involves, resilience and adaptability are also important in the urban context.

Good daylighting has proven to enhance productivity, reduce staff absences and achieve energy savings in artificial lighting, particular relevant as the later accounts for almost a quarter of the total carbon emissions in non-domestic buildings. Significant research has highlighted the impact of daylight on health and the importance of a view out through a window. Early phases of design are fundamental to promote and implement cost effective sustainable solutions. Likewise Building Performance Evaluation is pivotal to identifying deficiencies on existing buildings and fine tuning key aspects of their energy performance as well as the well-being, satisfaction and productivity of the occupants. Large discrepancies between predictions and real energy consumption in buildings are not uncommon. Whether these are a result of design simulation assumptions, user input, budget costs or poor construction is not fully understood. Often they have been attributed to bad user behaviour. Clear guidelines to users and all the stakeholders in the build environment are still needed.

Governments, the market and the people as beneficiaries must all work for the same aim of pushing sustainability into “business as usual”. Schools of Architecture and Property and Construction have a major role and responsibility to educate the future generation into designing and constructing the built environment to be aesthetically, functional and environmentally friendly. I must emphasise my background in Architecture, complemented with building science experience promotes an integrated design approach and creates different perspectives. My work and research often involve a holistic approach encompassing several of the above fields, from design inception till post occupancy, including dealing with transient building energy and daylight simulations with ESP-r, EnergyPlus and RADIANCE programs amongst others.

Expertise areas

• Low-energy
• sustainable architecture.