Master's track Building Physics and Services

Providing optimal lighting conditions and healthy indoor air in hospitals? Intervening in road traffic noise? Designing innovative bio-concrete? Developing solutions for sustainable heating of existing residential buildings? Facilitating air purification in parking garages? Using data mining and machine learning techniques for extracting hidden information from building energy consumption data? If this is what you get up for in the morning, then the Building Physics and Services (BPS) master track at the TU/e is for you!

The built environment is all around us, every day. It is the man-made space in which we live, work and play. Optimizing the built environment for our comfort, health and safety is crucial. It becomes even more relevant when we consider the ongoing sustainability transition that we are driving and endorsing. For many of the immense societal challenges with which we are currently confronted, BPS engineers develop solutions related to decarbonization, optimizing resource scarcities, managing pandemics and dealing with the causes and consequences of climate change.

What’s in it for me?
The Building Physics and Services master track is all about acquiring the knowledge and skills required to design and develop truly sustainable habitats that are healthy and comfortable, while taking ecological, energetic and economical constraints into account. We will help you generate new knowledge and integrate new methods that lead to a sustainable, healthy, comfortable and productive indoor and outdoor environment.

What’s the track all about?
Heat, air and moisture transfer, wind, indoor air quality, building services, light and acoustics, energy use, renewable energy systems, building materials and more. This is the essence of the master track, covering a wide range of related interdisciplinary topics. Specialized BPS laboratories run by highly-skilled support staff are the centers of excellence for both education and research. Our amenities include an extensive material science laboratory, an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel, acoustic (reverberation) chambers, daylight and artificial light chambers, a climate chamber for thermal comfort and indoor air quality studies, and a building physics test façade. Moreover, we introduce advanced simulation tools to the program such as ANSYS Fluent, EnergyPlus, Dirac, Radiance and COMSOL.

Why would this master track be a good fit for me?
If you are interested in building services, sustainability and circularity, urban physics, smart cities, health in the built environment or the integration of renewable energy, join the BPS master track! In order to do so, however, this master track requires a bachelor degree in a field related to the built environment. You should have prior knowledge in subjects such as:

• building and urban physics
• building services
• building materials
• building technology
• environmental engineering

A solid understanding of physics and mathematics in general is also a prerequisite. Please visit this page for background and elucidation about the requirements

Why should I follow this master track at the TU/e?

For all the reasons mentioned earlier in this summary: heat, air & moisture transfer (including wind flows and ventilation), acoustics, light, materials, building energy use, building services, and all related issues with respect to the built environment. These issues are what makes the BPS track unique in the Netherlands; the only master track that offers a comprehensive perspective on these topics. This master track, offering both latitude and high-level depth, provides a rare opportunity from an international perspective too. The track considers the built environment from every parameter, from individual to building and all the way to a broad urban environment. Having graduated from this track, you will have the knowledge and skills at your disposal to help tackle complex and urgent societal issues around the world. Demand for graduated engineers from the BPS master track is high, due to its relevance. But we’re not that far yet; let’s review the course structure.