Professor Mat Santamouris is a distinguished academic and one of the world’s foremost authorities in urban physics, energy efficiency, and climate mitigation in the built environment. Clémence Carayol from Architecture & Design sits down with him after being awarded with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement at the Sustainability Awards 2024.
Santamouris is Professor of High-Performance Architecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. Over the course of his career, he has made significant contributions to the study and application of sustainable building design, urban heat island mitigation, and renewable energy integration.
Santamouris is internationally recognised for his pioneering research on urban overheating and its impacts on public health, energy systems, and urban liveability. His work has been instrumental in shaping policies and developing technologies aimed at improving thermal comfort and reducing energy demand in buildings, particularly in the context of global climate change.
He has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific papers and several influential books on energy efficiency and urban environmental quality, which are widely referenced by academics and practitioners alike. His expertise has fostered collaborations with international organisations, governments, and industry, enabling the creation of practical solutions to urban sustainability challenges.
Throughout his illustrious career, Santamouris has received numerous accolades for his contributions to the field. His research continues to have a profound impact on the design and implementation of sustainable practices in urban and architectural contexts.
Architecture & Design: Why do you think you were honoured for your entry?
Mat Santamouris: I am deeply honoured to receive the very prestigious award of Lifetime Achievements by Architecture and Design. Considering the very significant number of the existing excellent researchers and scientists in the country, I feel the greatness of the distinction done to me.
In my scientific life I always tried to learn and understand the complex phenomena related to the environmental quality and social equity in buildings and cities. I always tried to translate the acquired knowledge into new and innovative scientific products able to improve and facilitate the quality of life of people. Sometimes I was successful, sometimes not. But even during the most difficult times, my curiosity and scientific appetite have driven me to try again and again until a new development, even small, is achieved.
What did your entry add to the body of knowledge of sustainable design?
The main challenges faced in the Built Environment related to the regional and global climate change, overpopulation, pollution and poverty brings emphatically on the table, issues related to the environmental quality, sustainability, resilience and heat mitigation and adaptation. I wish to believe that my entry can further boost these issues on the building agenda and can enhance and promote the dialogue on the new alternative paths the building sector has to follow now and, in the future.
Has your entry influenced the way you will design buildings in the future?
Receiving such a prestigious award helps to increase our self-confidence on the followed scientific path, the principles we believe in and the methodology we are pursuing. I will continue to be a strong advocate of the sustainable and resilient solutions for the built environment, and I will try harder to accelerate the development of more innovative solutions that may improve and enhance the quality of life of people and respond to the serious challenges we are facing in the building sector.
This award is sponsored by BlueScope.
Image: Santamouris/supplied
