Thanks for the question, Jessica.
I have been practicing for over 40+ years and I will confess that I learned about temperature differentials, and thermal bridging in college.
I learned the difference between vapor barriers and air barriers and specifically where they go after many years in practice - and as a result of the pendulum swing when buildings were designed with substantial infiltration in before the 1970's....then the energy squeeze came about and building envelopes were tightened, but then we ended up with sick buildings because the industry knowledge had not caught up with the need to concentrate on IAQ, balanced air supply/exhaust and controlling water vapor as well as liquid water. While infiltration was reduced, indoor humidity rose and became problematic, particularly in the SE (hot, humid climate), so we had to go back to school in the late 1900's. While I knew about thermal bridging, it did not become a significant issue until mandated by the building and energy codes.
Now, as I am teaching Environmental Technologies as an Adjunct Instructor, these concepts are expected to be taught to students as they are gaining their formal education and split between the broad umbrellas of HSW in the Built Environment, Technical Knowledge, Design Synthesis and Building Integration. These are broad umbrellas and we all know some schools lean more towards design and other schools lean more towards the technical aspects. I guess that's why we still need a few years in "practice" until being allowed to be licensed and then really "practice." After 40 years, I still spent the day in contuing education classes today.....
Stephen B. Lafferty, AIA MBA LEEDap bd+c | Director
BRAILSFORD & DUNLAVEY, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 12/9/2025 2:02:00 PM
From: Jessica Saravia, AIA
Subject: Where did you learn about building science and building performance?
I have been practicing Architecture for +/- 23 years and have a lot of experience in construction and learned alot of my understanding of building systems 'the hard way' - by making mistakes, asking questions even when I felt nervous and dumb asking them, seeing a lot of issues and how they were corrected. I have had the benefit of working all over the country, on a wide variety of project types and sizes, with various sustainability requirements (or lack thereof) and I would say experience is the best teacher but it took every bit of 23 years to get where I am and I still feel like there's always more to learn and topics I dont quite understand.
I certainly didnt learn about air barriers and thermal bridging and reservoir cladding in grad school. I learned it from watching a 100 webinars trying to figure things out and taking courses and reading white papers and joining organizations where I could hopefully learn from experts. So Im curious.. where did the BPKC members gain their expertise? Was it in school or elsewhere? Do architecture schools teach building science? Ill add some links below to resources and do my best to add them to our 'online resources' link on our main page as well but Id love to hear the community's thoughts on the future of architecture and building performance. Will we let engineers and specialty designers take over building enclosure details and design or will architects keep this in our realm of expertise?
Joe Lsitburek's Building Science Fundamentals Class is a blast. Everyone should take it if you have the time and the means.
Basically all of BuildingScience.com is a treasure trove of white papers by Joe and John Straube and others on every topic you can imagine.
Also John Straube's book Building Science for Building Enclosures.
Getting involved with my local Building Enclosure Council chapter
Reading William Rose's blog and his book 'Water in Buildings'
Participating here in our amazing BPKC community
Building Science Fight Club's fantastic instagram account also has a class series that is available on demand
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Jessica Saravia AIA
DMAC Architecture
Evanston IL
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