Prof. Salmaan Craig joins faculty of School
Prof. Salmaan Craig has joined the faculty of the School at the rank of Assistant Professor as of January 1, 2018.
Prof. Craig will make an excellent addition to our school as an outstanding researcher in the field of environmental technology, design engineering, materials and material systems.
He was most recently a lecturer in Environmental Technology at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, co-coordinator of their MDes Energy & Environments, and Research Associate at Harvard Center for Green Buildings & Cities. He studied product design before completing a doctorate (Eng.D.) in 2008 in environmental technology at Brunel University, researching within the office of Burro Happold consulting engineers. In that context, he designed and tested a biologically inspired material for protecting buildings from solar and ambient heat, while allowing them to cool through radiation to outer space. His doctorate was awarded the Hamilton Prize for best thesis in design at Brunel University. After completing his doctorate, Dr. Craig continued at Buro Happold as a façade engineer, specializing in the design of material systems in extreme climates, notably working on the perforated, multilayer dome of the Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel. He then moved to Foster+Partners as an Environmental Design Analyst and in the Specialist Modeling Group, continuing to develop his research interests in the context of a number of very high profile building projects, notably the Apple Campus in Cupertino. He is currently working on how to design thermally autonomous buildings, using smart geometry and “dumb materials.” He practices as an independent consultant whose clients include Abalos & Sentkiewicz Arquitectos in Madrid, and Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano (EDU) in Medellin. In the latter case, he is a prime consultant for the construction of new naturally ventilated multi-story office headquarters, functioning without air conditioning through buoyancy + thermal mass.
Prof. Craig possesses the ambition to redefine the scope and focus of environmental and material research in architectural design. He wishes to completely re-assess the relations between form, matter and flow, though a precise understanding of the thermodynamics of buildings. He is developing a new concept of dynamic insulation through the use of porous materials, thermally activated surfaces and transpired solar heating. His work is a critical inquiry into current notions of sustainability in buildings, wishing to move beyond Leeds and PassivHaus standards.
Prof. Craig already has a good record of publications with six articles in scientific journals; six book chapters; 21 conferences and invited lectures.
