2025 Buildings XVI Conference

ASHRAE is pleased to announce a call for abstracts for the 2025 Buildings XVI International Conference to be held in Clearwater Beach FL on 8 - 11 December 2025 at the newly renovated Sheraton Sand Key Resort. The conference is co-organized by ASHRAE and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“This conference draws heavily on the advanced technical knowledge of our global experts and takes place every three years, allowing time to develop new research and technology applications and to document findings,” said André Desjarlais, conference chairperson. “It’s a great opportunity for product manufacturers, research groups, technical advisors, builders, designers, and consultants to discuss their work achievements, interest, and awareness of buildings issues, and provide solutions to some of our major building problems.”

The conference steering committee is seeking papers focused on the development of high impact technologies and processes that are cost effective, reduce energy use and environmental consequences, as well as case studies that are unique, new, and contribute to the body of knowledge and practice.

Abstracts on both residential and commercial applications are sought.  The topics for the residential track are broader and also cover research related to heating, cooling and ventilation systems and their impact on the indoor environment and energy performance. Papers should demonstrate how their topics will lead to high performance buildings, demonstrate technologies ready for implementation, and show the promise of short to mid-term adoption. Selected papers will be offered the opportunity to be expanded and published in ASHRAE’s Science and Technology for the Built Environment.

New for 2025 is the opportunity to present your work to a broader audience through the Buildings XVI Poster Session. Students, Post Doc or Masters, and early career professionals are highly encouraged to submit their research to via the poster session – only an initial abstract and a poster is required, no papers with posters. When submitting, please indicate whether you are submitting an abstract for a full paper or poster.

The conference includes three tracks focused on Principles (research and development), Practices (applications and case studies) and Residential Buildings. 

• Adaptation to a changing climate
• Advanced building construction,  modular and offsite manufacturing
• Air barriers and air leakage
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications in building envelope and whole-building design and operation
• Building decarbonization and lifecycle impacts including embodied carbon
• Building envelope commissioning
• Building/grid interaction
• Building retrofits and weatherization
• Building sustainability, passive survivability, circular construction, and resilience
• Cost performance optimization
• Design tools
• Dynamic and high-R windows and attachments
• Dynamic (smart) and passive roofs, attics, walls, basements/below-grade construction, and integrated technologies
• Heat and moisture transfer in materials and assemblies
• Heritage/historic buildings
• HVAC-envelope integration
• Insulation and bio-based solutions
• Mass timber construction and other innovative materials and systems
• Moisture management, durability, and service life
• Monitoring, modeling, and simulation, including micro-climates and boundary conditions
• Standards, new energy codes, guidelines, and test procedure development
• Thermal energy storage including thermal mass and phase change materials
• Whole building performance including thermal bridging

Additional topics for the Residential single and multifamily buildings track include:

• Indoor environmental quality including air cleaning, daylighting, emissions from building materials, overheating, kitchen exhaust, and ventilation
• Sustainability certification programs
• Smart buildings
• Urban heat islands and urban physics

Abstracts (300 words maximum) should concisely present the problem statement, the novelty of the work, the methodology and the findings.

Steering Committee

Desjarlais, Andre - Chair

Weston, Theresa – Vice Chair

Principles Track Chairs

Pallin, Simon

Tariku, Fitsum

Practices Track Chairs

Maref, Wahid

Gatland, Stan

Residential Track Chairs

Olesen, Bjarne

Weston, Theresa

Workshop Chairs

Dalgleish, Laverne

Stroik, Brian

Members at Large

Antonopoulos, Chrissi

Blanford, Michael

Glass, Sam

Gowri, Krishnan

LeViseur, Suzanne - CEC Representative

Mumme, Sven

Rode, Carsten

Rothgeb, Stacey

Shrestha, Som

Ziviani, Davide - CEC Representative

The conference organizers are pleased to offer several sponsorship opportunities to engage industry participation. All sponsors will have their company logo and name on the event flyer, the conference web site and recognition during the conference. A summary of the specific benefits of each sponsorship level is included. If you have questions or are interesting in being a sponsor, please contact Staci Loeffler sloeffler@ashrae.org.

Sponsorship Opportunities

The Buildings XVI Conference will be held at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater, FL.  The conference hotel offers an excellent combination of meeting and beach/recreation facilities. The hotel is located about 21 miles west of Tampa International Airport.