Members of the High Performance Building Lab pose outside the Hinman Research Building.
Photo: College of Design

High Performance Building Lab

High Performance Building Lab

The HPBL is a transdiscplinary and convergent research lab housed in the School of Architecture, College of Design at Georgia Tech. Our goal is to disruptively transform design decision making processes to address complex societal problems through the development of impactful emergent technologies. We operate at the scale of components, architecture, urban design, and planning practices through basic and applied research, and by developing sustainable and resilient design workflows. The HPBL attracts qualified students with a background in architecture, design and technology, and/or engineering. The focus is addressing the calamities of our climate crises, especially by empowering marginalized communities that will be at most dire risk. Students take basic courses in architecture, energy, and the environment, as well as electives in engineering disciplines, along with courses that apply these subjects to buildings. The lab is organized into dynamic Research Groups that members form according to funded projects and research interests. We continuously contribute to the rigorous investigation of sustainability and equity in architecture and inventing the next state-of-the-art in building design technology. 

Active Research Groups

Greyscale icon demonstrating an aerial inspection of a building's envelope.

Aerial Diagnostics

Diagnostics of building performance using aerial robotics and AI
A graphic design with a wind turbine and solar array

Urban Decarbonization 

Focusing on urban systems research for sustainable energy transitions
A greyscale icon of a cube with an interior graph to measure the space.

Building Science

Concentrating on physics-based and data-driven building analytics
A graphic design of buildings and trees.

Outdoor Comfort 

Revolutionizing the study of sustainable and comfortable urban spaces
A graphic design of a building and a courtyard.

Community Analytics 

Advancing technologies for racially and socially just built environments 

Inactive Research Groups

A greyscale icon of a web representing performance informatics.

Performance Informatics

Investigating built environment interrelated and nested data.
A greyscale diagram of a tree.

Living Systems

Integrating architectural envelopes with active and natural systems
A greyscale icon of a window and a shadow cast from the window.

Natural Lighting

Researching the art and science of daylighting systems

Panagoulia, E., & Rakha, T. (2023). Data Reliability in BIM and Performance Analytics: A Survey of Contemporary AECO Practice. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 29(2), 04023006. https://doi.org/10.1061/JAEIED.AEENG-1483 

Kastner, P., & Dogan, T. (2023). A GAN-based surrogate model for instantaneous urban wind flow prediction. Building and Environment, 110384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110384 

Heidelberger, E., & Rakha, T. (2022). Inclusive urban building energy modeling through socioeconomic data: A persona-based case study for an underrepresented community. Building and Environment, 222, 109374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109374     

Rakha, T., El Masri, Y., Chen, K., Panagoulia, E., & De Wilde, P. (2022). Building envelope anomaly characterization and simulation using drone time-lapse thermography. Energy and Buildings, 259, 111754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111754 

Kastner, P., & Dogan, T. (2022). Eddy3D: A toolkit for decoupled outdoor thermal comfort simulations in urban areas. Building and Environment, 212, 108639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108639 

Young, E., Kastner, P., Dogan, T., Chokhachian, A., Mokhtar, S., & Reinhart, C. (2022). Modeling outdoor thermal comfort along cycling routes at varying levels of physical accuracy to predict bike ridership in Cambridge, MA. Building and Environment, 208, 108577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108577 

Kastner, P., & Dogan, T. (2020). A cylindrical meshing methodology for annual urban computational fluid dynamics simulations. Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 13(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/19401493.2019.1692906 

Rakha, T., & Gorodetsky, A. (2018). Review of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) applications in the built environment: Towards automated building inspection procedures using drones. Automation in Construction, 93, 252-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.05.002 

 

Retrofitting Design and Residential Grand Winner

Solar Decathlon Design Challenge 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition that has challenged teams of students to design or build high-performing buildings since 2002. Out of 101 participating teams, the English Avenue Yellow Jackets won the 1st prize for the Retrofit housing category and the Grand Prize for the Residential Divisions category. The event was held at the National Renewable Energy Lab, Colorado, on 22nd-24th April 2022. Read the School of Architecture Press Release and the US Department of Energy Announcement.

1st place physical model

Two Awards: 1st Place and Honorable Mention

AIA and ACSA’s 2019 International Design Competition: Here+Now

The 2019 Design and Research (D+R) Studio, co-taught by Prof. Michael Gamble and Dr. Tarek Rakha, assigned students to tackle the ACSA Zero-Energy Urban Housing Competition proposal. Of the 400+ international participants, Georgia Tech School of Architecture students brought two awards home, Kang Song (’19), Dan Lu (’19), Raunak Tibrewala (’19), were awarded first prize, and Solangely Rivera Hernandez (’19), Warren Campbell (’19), and Lu received an honorable mention.

Community

Current and past students in the HPBL have been typically enrolled in the MS and PhD programs in Architecture at Georgia Tech. However, research synergies with the BSArch, MArch and MSUD can be (and are continuously) established. We are currently accepting Ph.D. and MS students (with funding) starting Fall 2024. For information about joining the HPBL, please contact the lab director.

Lab Director Tarek Rakha

Lab Director: Dr. Tarek Rakha

Tarek Rakha is a researcher, educator, and entrepreneur that integrates building design technology and environmental sustainability with the needs of underserved communities. He is Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the High Performance Building Lab (HPBL) at Georgia Tech, and Co-founder and CEO of Lamarr.AI, a startup that commercializes technology developed through his funded academic research. Tarek is an architect by training, and before joining Georgia Tech in 2019 he was Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, after earning a Ph.D. in Building Technology from MIT in 2015. He was trained as an architect in Egypt, holding a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Cairo University.

Faculty: Dr. Patrick Kastner

Faculty: Dr. Patrick Kastner

Patrick Kastner joined Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor of Architecture in 2023. With a background in systems engineering, his goal is to empower architects and urban designers with software tools that place sustainability at the forefront of the profession. During his doctoral research, he developed Eddy3D, a microclimate modeling software toolkit for Rhino & Grasshopper, now adopted by leading institutions in both academia and practice. Originally from Germany, Kastner holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Cornell University, a M.S. in Sustainable Building Science from TU Munich, and a B.S. in Energy Engineering from FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Ph.D. Researchers

Rawad El Kontar, MS

Rawad El Kontar, MS

Tarek Sherif, MS

Tarek Sherif, MS

M.S. and B.S. in Architecture Students

Maryam Almaian (MS)

Maryam Almaian (MS)

Shruti Jadhav (MS)

Shruti Jadhav (MS)

Emma Menzies (BSArch)

Emma Menzies (BSArch)

Elaina Render headshot

Elaina Render (BS CEE)

Chinmay Rothe (MS)

Chinmay Rothe (MS)

HPBL Alumni

Hala Alfalih, MS

Hala Alfalih, MS

Tariq Alshahrani, MS

Tariq Alshahrani, MS

Dr. Kaiwen Chen, Post-doc

Dr. Kaiwen Chen, Post-doc

Jayati Chhabra, MS

Jayati Chhabra, MS

Sahithi Datla, MS

Sahithi Datla, MS

Max Doersam (MS)

Max Doersam (MS)

Dr. Yasser El Masri

Dr. Yasser El Masri

Nourhan Gamal, MS

Nourhan Gamal, MS

Vitor L. Goncalves, MS

Vitor L. Goncalves, MS

Erin Heidelberger, MS

Erin Heidelberger, MS

Ranjitha Jayasimharao, MS

Ranjitha Jayasimharao, MS

Anuradha Kadam, MS

Anuradha Kadam, MS

Riwayat Katia, BSArch

Riwayat Katia, BSArch

Aayushi Mody, MS

Aayushi Mody, MS

Samantha Morton, MS ISyE

Samantha Morton, MS ISyE

Tanmay Naik, MS

Tanmay Naik, MS

Simin Nasiri, MS in Design Computation

Simin Nasiri, MS in Design Computation

Harshini Ongole, MS

Harshini Ongole, MS

Dr. Eleanna Panagoulia

Dr. Eleanna Panagoulia

Dr. Tyler Pilet

Dr. Tyler Pilet

Madison Prince, MS

Madison Prince, MS

Deva Shree Saini, MS

Deva Shree Saini, MS

Dr. Rakha, Max Doersam, and Prof. Julie Kim
 

Retrofitting Atlanta

The 2022 Georgia Smart Communities Challenge spurred smart resilience throughout the state. 

Drone photo of a residential street in the Grove Park neighborhood during retrofit research about heat loss in homes
 

Rakha Builds Community Support With Sloan Foundation Grant

Tarek Rakha is part of a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to Pecan Street Inc. that pairs universities with community partners to research equitable energy.

Dr. Patrick Kastner
 

Dr. Patrick Kastner joins the HPBL!

Patrick Kastner brings his expertise in systems thinking to the areas of environmental performance simulation and the decarbonization of buildings and cities.

High Performance Building Lab in the News

Yasser El Masri (Architecture), James Anderson (Mathematics), and Meaghan McSorley (City & Regional Planning)

Yasser El Masri wins 2023 GSI of the Year

Graduate Student Instructor of the Year Award
Flourishing Communities collage

F(C)2 + HPBL to Build Mobile Learning Lab

The grant from PIT-UN places diversity, equity, and inclusion in the heart of technology development.
Flourishing Communities collage

F(C)2 + HPBL Wins PIT-UN Grant

The proposal received the highest PIT-UN award at Georgia Tech this year.
Heat dome representation

What’s A City to do When the Power Goes Out?

Higher Temperatures Result in Power Outages for Millions, what’s the role of the built environment and its occupants?
The Stockyards rendering

Team Cattlyst Finalists in ULI Hines Competition

Georgia Tech architecture, business, and civil engineering students were selected as finalists in the ULI Hines Competition.
Tarek Rakha

Dr. Tarek Rakha Named HPBL Director

Assistant Professor Tarek Rakha is the new director of the High Performance Building Lab.
Drone equipped with advanced sensors sitting over cracked pavement.

HPBL Drone Research Collaboration

CONECTech Lab and the HPBL to perform critical infrastructure assessment research funded by the Georgia DOT.
Dr. Rakha and students with a drone in the Hinman Courtyard

HPBL Awarded $1.4 Million by U.S. DOE

Our research team will develop drone-based diagnostics technology in a three-year project called AirBEM.
SimAUD Conference group photo in front of the John and Joyce Caddell Building.

Research Community Celebrates Simulation

The SimAUD conference returned to the United States and was hosted at Georgia Tech.

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You can find the HPBL on social media, including LinkedInX, and Instagram

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