Alison Kwok, School of Architecture & Environment

Alison Kwok, School of Architecture & Environment

Alison Kwok

Professor, Architecture
Director, NetZED Laboratory
Practice Areas: Design, Architecture, Sustainable Design, Building Resilience, Thermal Comfort, Natural Ventilation, Building Performance, Zero Net Energy Strategies, Climate Change

Faculty bio | NetZED Laboratory | (541) 346-2126

Architect Alison Kwok's research looks at adaptive and mitigation strategies for climate change, materials and carbon, thermal comfort, natural ventilation in tropical schools, building performance post-occupancy evaluation, zero net energy strategies and building energy metrics. She believes that the integration of these architectural issues yields better buildings. Kwok's current research examines "carbon narratives" with a grant from the TallWood Design Institute and schools research on teaching and learning with the California School Facilities Research Institute. She has guided projects with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance; US Green Building Council (USGBC), Passive House Institute US, American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was principal investigator of the Agents of Change project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). She has served as board member for the Architectural Research Centers Consortium; past-president of the Society of Building Science Educators; member of several ASHRAE committees; and the USGBC’s Formal Education Committee. 

Kwok's publications include Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, 13th ed. (with co-author Walter Grondzik) affectionately known as “MEEB” a preeminent teaching and practice reference for building environmental control systems. The Green Studio Handbook 3rd ed. (also co-authored with Walter Grondzik) provides forty-three selected environmental strategies including a description of principles and concepts, step-by-step procedures for integrating the strategy, and 10 case studies demonstrating how it all goes together. Passive House Details: Solutions for High Performance Design, introduces the concepts, principles, and design processes of building ultralow-energy buildings.

Recent Media:
Hospital serves victims of obstetric fistula in Uganda (Around the O, April 14, 2020)
Passive solar energy innovation award goes to UO architecture professor (College of Design, Nov. 30, 2017)
Bringing in the big fans (The New York Times, June 15, 2011)