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Rahman Azari

Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of RE2 Lab
Portrait of Rahman Azari
Contact
razari@psu.edu
Instagram re2.lab

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Rahman Azari is an architect, associate professor, and the founding director of Resource and Energy Efficiency [RE2] Lab within the Department of Architecture. Azari is also a co-funded faculty at the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Prior to Penn State, Azari served as an assistant professor (2017-2020) and the interim director (2018-2019) of the architecture doctorate program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, and an assistant professor (2013-2017) at the University of Texas San Antonio.

Azari’s research focuses on life cycle environmental impacts of built environments, innovative construction materials for energy production and carbon sequestration, and building energy and carbon efficiency. Azari was a recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Upjohn Research Grant in 2019 and 2020, and a faculty sponsor to winning entries in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten competitions in 2016 and 2017. In 2019, Azari was recognized as a Researcher to Know by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition. In 2018, Azari co-edited the Energy and Buildings’ Special Issue on Embodied Energy and Carbon Efficiency. Azari’s research has been widely published in various journal venues such as Energy and Buildings and Building and Environment.

Azari holds a Ph.D. in the Built Environment from the University of Washington in Seattle.

  • Education
    • Ph.D. in the Built Environment, University of Washington in Seattle
  • Courses Taught
    • High-Performance Building Design Studio
    • Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
    • Environment and Building Systems
    • Doctoral Research Methodology
    • Crafting Doctoral Dissertation
  • Honors + Awards
    • Involved in research grants funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Industry Institute (CII), and Skanska USA Building
    • Recognized as a 2019 Research to Know by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition.
    • Recipient of the AIA Upjohn Grants in 2019 and 2020.
    • Faculty sponsor to COTE Top Ten student awards in 2016 and 2017.
    • College nominee for President’s Distinguished Achievement Award – Teaching Excellence, University of Texas San Antonio, 2017
    • Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Architecture, Construction and Planning, University of Texas San Antonio, 2016
  • Publications + Presentations
    • Mahdavinejad, M., Talaei, M., Azari, R. (2020). Thermal and Energy performance of Algae Bioreactive Façades: A review. Journal of Building Engineering (28).
    • Azari, R. (2019). Life-Cycle Energy Consumption in Buildings; Embodied + Operational. In: V. Tam and K.N. Le (Eds.), Sustainable Construction Technologies: Life-Cycle Assessment; Elsevier Science Ltd.
    • Azari, R., Garshasbi, S., Amini, P., Rashed-Ali, H., Mohammadi, Y. (2016). Multi- objective optimization of building envelope design for environmental performance. Energy and Buildings pp. 524-534.
    • Azari, R., Kim, Y. (2016). An integration evaluation framework for integrated design teams of green projects: development and validation. ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering 32(3).
    • Azari, R. (2014). Integrated energy and environmental life cycle assessment of office building envelopes. Energy and Buildings 82, pp. 156-162.
    • Kim, Y., Azari, R., Yi, J.S., Bae, J. (2013). Environmental impact comparison of onsite prefab-JIT rebar supply systems. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 19(5), pp. 647-655.
    • Azari, R., Kim, Y. (2012). Comparative assessment of environmental life cycle impacts of curtain wall mullions. Building and Environment, 48(2), pp. 135-145.
  • Service + Affiliations
    • International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA-USA)
    • American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
    • Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE)
    • Iranian Organization of Building Engineering Board
  • Expertise
    • Environmental life cycle assessment, novel construction materials with energy generation and carbon sequestration capabilities, net-zero energy buildings

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