PROFESSOR BRIAN CODY
Graz University of Technology

Professor Brian Cody is university professor at Graz University of Technology and head of the Institute for Buildings and Energy. He focuses on research, teaching and maximizing the energy performance of buildings and cities. Prior to his appointment at Graz University of Technology, he was associate director of the international engineering consultancy Arup.

He is founder and CEO of the consulting firm Energy Design Cody, which is responsible for the development of innovative energy and climate control concepts on construction projects all over the world.

Professor Cody serves as member on many advisory boards and juries, and is Visiting Professor and Head of the Energy Design Unit at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna.

Form follows Energy – Maximizing Building Energy Performance Using Natural Forces

When designing buildings, we have to work with the existing natural forces. Letting the forces influence the building and their necessary control requires a more complex consideration and results in a more extensive planning process. Nevertheless, working with instead of against natural forces represents the future of sustainable buildings. In an effort to achieve sustainability, designers increasingly tried to minimize the negative impact of the planned building on its environment over the last 20 years. That is too little, though. The point must rather be to maximize the positive impact of the building.

Maybe sustainability is the wrong term. We should not have the goal of just maintaining everything as it is, but rather we should seek to make the situation much better with our actions now and for the future. Innovative investors, architects, planners and engineers are meeting this challenge