Backed by the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour, Nobatek/INEF4 Technological Resource Centre, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and the Basque Country Urban authority, the architecture and urban physics research chair, which was set up three years ago at Arkinova is currently working on concrete applications and experimentation.

It was in September 2016 that Benoit Beckers became architecture and urban physics research chair holder - for three years -in addition to his job as a professor at the ISA BTP engineering school (building and public works), based in Arkinova Technology Park in Anglet. In the framework of investments for the future, the chair leads research work on the topic of sustainable construction with a view to developing new measurement and calculation techniques for rethinking urban architecture in the environmental dimension.

“The first two PhD students were hired in September 2017. Then in September 2018, one more PhD student and one post-doctoral student joined us. There are two topics on the agenda: natural light and heating solutions on the urban scale. The academic outcome is rather satisfying with a dozen articles published in reviews, some fifteen conference contributions and three chapters of a book written. There are still two more years of work to be done,” summed up Benoit Beckers. 

A working laboratory

In addition to the research chair, a laboratory called “Sustainable Construction: architecture and urban physics,” was created at the beginning of 2017 at the Arkinova site, by Nobatek/INEF4 Technological Resource Centre and the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour (UPPA). Placed under Benoit Beckers’ authority, the laboratory has namely developed an innovative tool for simulating natural lighting which produces far more detailed results than those provided by current technologies. The goal is to work on the rehabilitation of old dwellings which often lack light, which makes them energy-hungry and find means to supplement the latter. The laboratory has contributed to the renovation of a 19th century building in Bayonne’s historical city centre.

“We have also led thermography campaigns in the urban environment using state of the art technologies for measuring the temperature on different surfaces. We have also worked on the 3-D modelling of streets and have learnt some concrete lessons. One of our new goals is to work on urban acoustics in order to develop a measuring device and then simulate improvements, concluded Benoit Beckers. 

Website:https://siame.univ-pau.fr/fr/organisation/laboratoires-communs/architecture-et-physique-urbaine.html