Building Pathology

This course addresses the subject of deterioration of buildings, their materials, assemblies and systems, with the emphasis on the mechanisms of deterioration and their enabling factors, material durability and functional longevity.  Details of construction and assemblies are analyzed for existing and potential deterioration pathologies and the impact on function and performance. Lectures cover: concepts in durability; climate and climate change; psychrometrics; soils and soil moisture; physics of moisture in buildings; systems thinking; wall and roof systems; structural systems; and building services systems. The course concludes with an introduction to diagnostic thinking.