The Building Physics Conference, traditionally held at Tampere Hall, was held for the seventh time. The building physics research group of the University of Tampere organised the event for the first time in cooperation with the Real Estate Training Centre Kiinko. Despite the shadow caused by the coronavirus, the event could eventually be held as a physical event. Despite the exceptional starting point, the conference was carried out successfully. The three-day conference had more than 400 participants and 59 partners.
The conference days were divided into themes related to different topics in a familiar way. The topics of the first day were related to the design and implementation of building physics, the thermal and moisture engineering of structures, training and new instructions. On the second day, the traditional focus was on moisture and mould problems in buildings, their prevention and indoor air quality. On the same day, the results of computational analyses of building physics as well as laboratory and field research were also presented. The topic of the third day was primarily low-carbon and natural construction, acoustics, and materials and coatings. All in all, almost 80 speeches were heard at the conference.
This time, the conference included four keynote speeches. On the opening day of the conference, Tuesday, the keynote speeches were given by Professor Carsten Rode from Denmark, who is an active developer of building physics and is a world-renowned developer, and Professor Targo Kalamees, who has actively developed research in building physics in Estonia. Wednesday’s keynote speech was given by Professor Heidi Salonen, who has carried out long-term research and development work aimed at improving indoor air quality. Thursday’s keynote speaker, Professor Fionn Stevenson from the United Kingdom, is a famous architect who has taken a strong stand on issues related to climate change prevention and sustainable and low-carbon construction.
The award for moisture-safe construction was awarded for the fifth time in connection with the conference. The prize was applied for by 12 competition entries from several different areas of moisture-safe construction. From among the five winning candidates, the award for moisture-safe construction was awarded to Pauli Sekki from Vahanen Rakennusfysiikka Oy’s presentation of the by2020 Concrete Drying Time Estimation tool.
The presentations of following keynote speakers can be downloaded as pdf versions:
Keynote 1: Professor Carsten Rode, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark: Some recent challenges and peculiarities in moisture practices and assessment of buildings
Keynote 2: Professor Targo Kalamees, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia: Renovation of facades in Estonia -challenges and solutions in terms of building
Keynote 3: Professor Heidi Salonen, Aalto University, Finland: Indoor air quality in buildings – current situation and future prospects
Here you can see pictures of the event.