04/08/2026
🏆 Best Technical Paper Award, PLEA 2026
We are proud to share that our paper "Beyond Thermal Inertia: The Radiative Effect of Ground-Coupled Mass on Summer Comfort" has received the Best Technical Paper Award at the 38th PLEA Conference held in San José, Costa Rica.
The research investigates how thermal mass coupled to the ground influences indoor summer comfort through radiant heat exchange, based on experimental monitoring carried out in the retrofit of a traditional stone house.
Originally developed from François Jullien's Master's Thesis, the work was later expanded into a collaborative research paper by François Jullien, Helena Coch and Carlos Alonso-Montolio reflecting one of the strengths of our research group: transforming student research into internationally recognised scientific contributions.
Receiving this award from one of the world's leading conferences on Passive and Low Energy Architecture is a great honour and encourages us to continue researching climate-responsive architecture, building rehabilitation and passive environmental design.
Congratulations to everyone involved, and thank you to the PLEA community for this recognition.
Retrofit Research Architecture