Overview Research Initiatives

This research advances the frost dilatometry method to predict the risk associated with freeze thaw damage in masonry and other porous building materials (concrete, stone, mortar, etc.)  The research builds on work originally conducted by G. Fagerlund in th 1970s, and later by other researchers in Europe (Litvan) and Canada (Messinga and Straube), in addition to current leading edge practices by a national industry partner (RDH Building Science).  The research is primarily conducted in our Building Science Laboratory at Toronto Metropolitan University by students in Dr. Richman's Sustainable Buildings Group.  The research focusses on questions of repeatability and applied theory of the current frost dilatometry methods used partner laboratories.  The long term goal of the research is to develop a method to test half and whole brick samples so as to better represent in-situ conditions and improve our understanding of the risk associated with freeze thaw of masonry in Canada's historic and aged building stock.

Mass timber buildings are becoming more common throughout Canada and the world as building codes and standards are allowing taller and larger building designs using products such as cross-laminated timber, nail-laminated timber, glu-laminated timber, in addition to others.  Research being conducted by students in the Sustainable Buildings Group aims to support the market growth of mass timber buildings through understanding material performance, both through laboratory work and large in-situ field studies.  Research initatives are ongoing at various levels, including: development of a 1D hygrothermal model that predicts performance of multi-layer mass timber products (including the effects of intermediate glue layers), development of mass timber focussed moisture content sensors for long term deployment in buildings, predicting dry out periods and long term hygrothermal performance of in-situ mass timber elements (including walls, slabs and roofs), the buffering effect of mass timber buildings as it relates to building occupancy and seasonal environmental trends.

Society’s growing energy demand and emerging policy crisis regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requires authorities and decision makers to comprehensively long-term plan for urban and sub-urban areas. A current IPCC report has called for “…rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” with a requirement for net-zero buildings by 2050. The proposed research will develop a framework to create residential building archetypes in order to support a Canadian residential retrofit strategy to reach net-zero in the next 20 to 30 years.

The primary objective of this research program is to reduce the energy and GHG impact of the Canadian residential housing stock through providing quantified data to support the generation of a national policy resulting in a Canadian retrofit plan for net-zero residential buildings.  The research uses field studies and laboratory testing to develop residential housing archetypes capable of supporting a national net-zero retrofit plan.  Archetypes aredeveloped at a community, city and provincial level as part of the research.  At each level, a net-zero retrofit plan will be developed in order to show the proposed research’s scalability and ability to be used at a national level in the long term.

The project will reduce Canada’s environmental impacts from green house gas emission. The resulting target energy reductions will directly enable Canada to achieve their GHG emission reductions in the next 10-15 years.

Dr. Richman is part of a group that organized and hosted the first Passive House training in Canada.  The group went on to form Passive Buildings Canada.  Dr. Richman is also one of the founding members of the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) technical committee and has been in discussions with CanPHI.  In coordination with this role, research is currently underway to address a multi-tude of outstanding questions to support further adoption of the Passive House standard in the North American context.  Research questions include (i) construction practices, (ii) material/assembly performance/analysis, (iii) policy implementation, (iv) constructability.

This research focusses on identifying existing and potential super-insulated building envelope assemblies for single family dwellings (SFD) in Ontario.  The research will analyze and experimentally test the identified assemblies in a laboratory setting.  Using this preliminary experimental data, recommendations will be made to conduct further research on specific assemblies through installation in a full-scale laboratory (i.e. a typical Ontario SFD with and without occupancy) to gather long-term, in-situ, performance data.  This data will be used to support co-development of highly efficient energy delivery systems and renewable and bio-energy systems. The research will inform the spectrum of stakeholders from home owners to policy makers.

In an effort to address the growing burden of the existing energy inefficient canadian housing stock on current and future generations, development of sustainable renovation principles and practices is necessary. A key focus of the Sustainable Buildings Group (headed by Dr. Richman) at Toronto Metropolitan University is to address topics related to research in sustainable renovation. Current projects and further information can be viewed in the Sustainable Buildings Group pages within this site.  Renovation2050 is the first research house associated with this initiative.  Topics within this area include: (i) occupant healt, (ii) energy usage reduction, (iii) materials/assemblies performance, (iv) psychology of energy efficiency, (v) water resource usage reduction, (vi) life cycle assessment, (vii) reduction of overall environmental impact.

This work began a new research direction in the building science research group at the University of Toronto.This innovative system involved coupling near-passive solar collection with existing curtain wall assemblies.The idea of combining these two elements was never attempted prior to this research.Laboratory testing and numerical modeling validated the system and proved its ability to perform on par with traditional solar air collectors.

Dr. Richman is a lead contributor in the creation and development of a new research area focusing on an extreme low energy home design.The Gemini housing design involves building two buildings within one: a “core” building and a “perimeter” building. Both buildings are designed to control heat as well as air movement.The perimeter building is designed much the same as a traditional low-energy demand building.The core building, since it is not exposed to the exterior weather elements, will not be conventionally constructed; however, it will be constructed with thermal insulation and an air barrier system.  The first Gemini House is currently under construction.

Dr. Richman was a co-creator of the Build Better Now initiative in the building science research group at the University of Toronto.This initiative proves it economically advantageous to build residential dwellings to a higher standard initially rather than retrofitting in future years, simply stated, we should be building tomorrow’s buildings today.Until this research, the housing industry was uncertain as to long term economic comparisons between retrofitting and building to a higher standard initially.This research has started to change how large tract-home builders design and construct new housing.