On May 30, 2018, the academic lecture given by Prof. Charles J. Kibert of the University of Florida was held at the meeting room, Room 201, Building 7, South China University of Technology. The lecture was carried out by the SCUT Construction Management society.The theme of this lecture was Recent Trends of American Delivery systems-industrialized and Sustainable Construction.
Due to weather and some other special reasons, the lecture was postponed.
Lecture scene
However, the seemingly long wait didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the students. Prof. Yousong Wang, the head of the Department of Construction Management of SCUT, Dr. Hui Yan, vice head of the Department of Construction Management of SCUT, and Dr. Yuanxin Zhang from Guangzhou University, attended the lecture. With the announcement of the host Li Chuting, the lecture began.
At the beginning of the lecture, Prof. Kibert explained the concept of sustainable building, that is, both the building itself and its use processes are environmentally friendly and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. The concept of sustainable building was put forward by Prof. Kibert in 1993. Starting from the perspective of global climate change, he explained the necessity for the construction industry to attach more importance to environmental protection.
Prof. Kibert then introduced the transformation of the concept of building environmental protection in United states, from the core of ecology to human-oriented, and listed the use of solar energy and water cycle in green building. Some typical examples of green buildings, Apple Campus 2 and The Bullitt Center, were mentioned to help the audience better understand the effective use of green building resources. Prof. Kibert later introduced the concept of zero-energy building, which produces energy that offsets its own energy consumption with the example of NREL RSF building using solar energy.
Prof. Kibert made a detailed and thorough speech
Prof. Kibert spoke of the concept of systems-industrialized construction, in which case the site construction will be turned into being assembled directly in field after processing in the factories. The representatives of the industrialization that we are familiar with is prefabricated building. Prof. Kibert pointed out that the industrialization of the building will provide more opportunities for the innovation of the construction industry and the use of IT technology. It can also effectively relieve the pressure brought by the reduction of technical talents and rapid population growth, make construction faster, cheaper, more valuable and more environmentally friendly.
Taking an example of B2 Tower Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, Prof. Kibert proposed to learn from Xiao Tiancheng Building of China Grand Enterprises in Changsha. He affirmed the development and achievements of China's industrial construction.
In the summary and Q&A sessions, Prof. Kibert interacted with present teachers and students enthusiastically.
Prof. Kibert interacted with audience enthusiastically in the Q&A session
Finally, Prof. Wang presented a gift to Prof. Kibert on behalf of Construction Management society. The lecture was successfully ended in a warm atmosphere.
Prof. Kibert posed for photographs with Head Prof. Wang, Vice-head Dr. Yan from SCUT and Dr. Zhang from Guangzhou University.
Group photo
A brief introduction of the speaker:
Charles J. Kibert is professor of construction management in Florida University, head of the sustainable construction researching center, worked as Dean from1999 to 2002, and worked in several positions in several departments of federal government, such as EPA, etc. For the outstanding achievement and contribution in researching area, Prof. Kibert was awarded with multi-titles of honor.He got undergraduate degree in the United states Military Academy, got postgraduate degree in Carnegie Mellon University and got doctorate in the South Florida University.
Prof. Kibert is the founder of sustainable construction. At the first international conference on sustainable construction held in Tampa, Florida in 1994, he was the first to propose and explain the concept of sustainable construction. His book Sustainable Construction, Green Building Design and Delivery has become the set text on the subject about green or sustainable building in over 100 countries around the world. He has published over 100 papers, among which several papers were cited more than a hundred times. Prof. Kibert also carried out and accomplished several important research projects of national level. His latest research project has obtained $10 million research funding from US Department of Labor in 2016, which is mainly used to finance his research on construction industrialization.
Prof. Kibert's personal page: https://dcp.ufl.edu/faculty/kibert-charles-j/
