Join us for another exciting event in our public lecture series

Mechanisms used by the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning industry dominate building design in countries across the world, hi-jacking concepts of comfort to promote the need for mechanical conditioning.  

Professor Roaf will outline how comfort actually works for ordinary people in ordinary buildings and will describe how the next generation of buildings will have to be designed to both radically to reduce emissions and also help people survive in a heating world of ever more extreme climates and weather events.  

The lecture builds on the new book by Fergus Nicol and Susan Roaf on Adaptive Thermal Comfort to be published in March 2026. 

Sue Roaf (B.A. Hons, A.A. Dipl., PhD, FRIAS, HonDEng) is Emeritus Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot Watt University, Honorary Professor at Deakin University, Melbourne and at the University of Queensland and has an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering at Southampton Solent University.  

An award winning author, architect, teacher and solar energy pioneer. Sue spent ten years in Iran and Iraq on archaeological excavations, nomadic migrations, and researching desert technologies. Her 24 books include those on The Ice-houses of Britain, Ecohouse design, energy efficient buildings, adapting buildings and cities for climate change, sustainability indicators, adaptive and resilient thermal comfort, natural energy buildings and transforming markets in the built environment.  

An ex-Oxford City Councillor, ex-member of the UK’s Architects Registration Board and ex-Director of AES Solar Energy Ltd, she is Director of Ecohouse Initiative Ltd., an advisor to the Resilient Design institute in New York.

Location

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Exhibition space
Bute Building
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff
CF10 3NB

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