Prof. Yair Etzion Architect etzion@bgumail.bgu.ac.il Tel: 972-8-6596875 Fax: 972-8-6596881 Mailing Address

Education

• 1980.........PhD, Texas A&M (U.S.A)
  
• 1976.........Master of Architecture, University of California - UCLA, Los Angeles (U.S.A)
  
• 1970.........Bachelor of Architecture, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa (Israel)

Research interests

Topics in desert architecture and related fields including:

• Thermal comfort in buildings
• Energy in buildings
• Building materials
• Passive heating of buildings
• Passive cooling of buildings
• Design tools
• Climate and energy related urban design issues
• Building materials

Professional activities and distinctions

• Incumbent of the Bank Chair for Research in Desert Architecture.
• Served from 1999-2005 as Head of the Department of Man in the Desert of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
• Served from 1982-2005 as Head of the Desert Architecture Unit of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
• Has taught in schools of architecture and environmental design in Israel, the U.S. (Buffalo NY, Alberquerque NM, Tuscon AZ) and Australia (Adelaide).
• Associate of PLEA (Passive and Low-Energy Architecture).
• Headed technical committee for 11th PLEA International Conference, Dead Sea, Israel (1994).
• Served on the committee for the Israeli Standard on the Insulation of Residential Buildings.
• Member of the Committee on the Use of Alternative Energies (Ministry of Industry and Commerce), and the Advisory Board on Energy in Buildings, (Ministry of Science and Energy).
• Reviewer for the Foundation for Research and Development, Pretoria, South Africa, and the Editorial Board of Building and Environment.
• Served on interdisciplinary team for the Sustainable Community Solutions international competition initiated by the AIA & IUA (1992-1993).
• Received the 'Best Paper' Award at the 2000 PLEA International Conference in Cambridge, UK, for the paper, "A GIS framework for studying post-occupancy climate-related changes in residential neighborhoods" (with B. Portnov, E. Erell, I. Meir and D. Pearlmutter).
• Received the Dori Award for Technology (jointly with I.A. Meir and D. Faiman -1992).
• Is a registered architect in Israel.

Selected publications

Co-edited Architecture of the Extremes, Proceedings of the PLEA '94 Conference (with E.Erell, I.A. Meir and D. Pearlmutter), co-authored Energy Aspects of Design in Arid Zones, a Design Manual prepared for the Israeli Ministry of Energy (with I.A.Meir and D. Faiman), and has published widely in Israel and abroad, including:

• Erell E., Etzion Y., "Heating experiments with a radiative cooling system," Building and Environment, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 509-517, 1996.
• Pearlmutter D., Etzion Y., Erell E., Meir I.A., Di H., "Refining the use of evaporation in an experimental down-draft cool tower", Energy and Buildings, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 191-197, 1996.
• Erell E., Etzion Y., "A radiative cooling system using water as a heat exchange medium", Architectural Science Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp.39-49, 1992.
• Etzion Y., "An improved solar shading design tool", Building and Environment Vol.27, No. 3, pp.297-303, 1992.
• Etzion Y., "A desert solar neighborhood in Sede-Boker, Israel", Architectural Science Review, Vol. 33, pp. 103-109, 1989.

Design projects

Has led numerous innovative design projects including:

• The Blaustein International Center for Desert Studies building at the Sede-Boqer Campus
• The Neve-Zin Solar neighborhood adjacent to the Sede-Boqer Campus
• The JNF-GADNA youth village in Beer-Ora

Graduate students

• See departmental student list.