Posted on Apr 15, 2005

Ashraf Ghaly, professor of civil engineering, was quoted in a recent Times Union article about the challenges architects face in transferring their designs to different climates and cultures. Climate, customs and materials are the three factors that need to affect designs to the greatest extent, he said. Get any one wrong and the building may be uninhabitable. Yankee know-how with building systems and materials won't be worth the building's scrap value if an American architect can't factor in a region's climate. And just as important is the culture and sensibilities, its local feng shui. Ghaly teaches a course on building designs through history and across the globe called Construction for Humanity.