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Antonio Martinez-Molina, Ph.D., LEED Green Assoc., CPHD
Associate Professor, Architecture
Affiliated Associate Professor, Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering

Contact:

Location:

URBN Center, 4A20A

Toni is a licensed architect with a PhD in Architecture gained in 2016 at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain, and he is currently an Associate Professor at Drexel University, Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism, where he leads the Architectural Technology Curriculum. He has broad international experience in sustainable architectural design obtained in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, and the United States. His research activities are focused on sustainable design, building technology, and occupant comfort, health and well-being. While he currently conducts the bulk of his research at Drexel University, he is also collaborating with The University of Auckland (UoA), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Pennsylvania State University, and The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at The University of California-Davis. Notably, he spent two years as a Visiting Scholar at the Building Energy Technology Laboratory (BETLab) at North Carolina State University in the field of technology and sustainable design, worked as a Research Associate with the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) at Cardiff University, United Kingdom, where he worked on UK's first low carbon, positive-energy, smart house. Additionally, he was an Assistant Professor of high-performance building design at The School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) in The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), leading the Building Performance Laboratory (BPLab). Lastly, he is also a skilled educator with a Master’s degree in teaching and with lecturing experience at Drexel, UTSA, NCSU, and UPV. His current role as an Associate Professor at Drexel brings together the skills, he has honed in through his diverse pedagogical and research experience and allows him to implement low-carbon technologies into sustainable designs for the creation of a more comfortable, healthy, and efficient built environment, particularly focusing on vulnerable population.

CV [PDF]

Ph.D. in Architecture, Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV; Spain–2016
M.Ed. in Teaching, Valencian International University VIU; Spain–2014
M.Eng. in Building Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV; Spain–2011
B.Arch. in Architectural Technology, VIA University College; Denmark–2009
B.Eng. in Architectural Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV; Spain–2006

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • Iskandar, L.; Faubel, C.; Martinez-Molina, A.; Toker Beeson, S. “Quantification of inherent energy efficient features in historic buildings: a case study in a hot and humid climate.” Energy and Buildings, Elsevier (2024). 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114546.
  • Karaiskos, P.; Martinez-Molina, A.; Alamaniotis, M. “Examining the Impact of Natural Ventilation versus Heat Recovery Ventilation Systems on Indoor Air Quality: A Tiny House Case Study.” Buildings, MDPI (2024). 10.3390/buildings14061802.
  • Karaiskos, P.; Munian, Y.; Martinez-Molina, A.; Alamaniotis, M. “Indoor Air Quality Prediction Modeling for a Naturally Ventilated Fitness Building with RNN-LSTM Artificial Neural Networks.” Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Emerald (2024). 10.1108/sasbe-10-2023-0308.
  • Iskandar, L; Bay, E; Martinez-Molina, A; Toker Beeson, S. “Evaluation of Passive Cooling Through Natural Ventilation Strategies in Historic Residential Buildings Using CFD Simulations.” Energy and Buildings, Elsevier (2024). 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114005.
  • Faubel, C; Martinez-Molina, A; Suk, J. “Calculation of CO2 Generation and Required Fresh Air Rates in a High-intensity Physical Athletic Facility” Journal of Building Engineering, Elsevier (2023). 10.1016/j.jobe.2023.108289.
  • Karaiskos, P.; Martinez-Molina, A.; Alamaniotis, M. “Analyzing Indoor Air Pollutants in Naturally Ventilated Athletic Facilities. A Case of Study.” Journal of Building Engineering, Elsevier (2023). 10.1016/j.jobe.2023.107457.
  • Nichiforov, C.; Alamaniotis, M.; Martinez-Molina, A. “An Intelligent Big Data Analytics Method for Two-Dimensional Non-Residential Building Energy Forecasting”. Intelligent Decision Technologies, IOS Press (2022). 10.3233/idt-220212.
  • Bay, E; Martinez-Molina, A. “Assessment of Natural Ventilation Strategies in Historical Buildings in a Hot and Humid Climate Using Energy and CFD Simulations”. Journal of Building Engineering, Elsevier (2022). 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104287.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Williamson, K.; Dupont, W. “Thermal Comfort Assessment of Stone Historic Religious Buildings in a Hot and Humid Climate during Cooling Season.” Energy and Buildings, Elsevier (2022). 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111997.
  • Boarin, P.; Martinez-Molina, A. “Integration of environmental sustainability considerations within architectural programmes in higher education: A review of teaching and implementation approaches”. Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier (2022). 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130989.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A.; Alamaniotis, M. “Intelligent System Utilizing HOG and CNN for Thermal Image-Based Detection of Wild Animals in Nocturnal Periods for Vehicle Safety.” Applied Artificial Intelligence, Taylor & Francis (2022),  10.1080/08839514.2022.2031825.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A.; Alamaniotis, M. “Active Advanced Arousal System to Alert and Avoid the Crepuscular animal based vehicle collision.” Intelligent Decision Technologies, IOS Press (2021), Impact Factor: 1.235. 10.3233/idt-210204.
  • Williamson, K; Martinez-Molina, A.; Dupont, W. “In Situ Assessment of HVAC System Impact in Façades of a UNESCO World Heritage Religious Building.” ANUARI d’Arquitectura i Societat, Universitat Politècnica de València (2021). 10.4995/anuari.2021.16331.
  • Nichiforov, C.; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. “An Intelligent Approach for Performing Energy Driven Identification of Buildings Utilizing Joint Electricity-Gas Patterns”. Energies, MDPI (2021), Impact Factor: 3.004. 10.3390/en14227465.
  • Núñez-Andrés, M.A.; Martinez-Molina, A; Casquero-Modrego, N; Suk, J. “The Impact of Peer Learning on Student Performance in an Architectural Sustainability Course.” International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Emerald (2021), Impact Factor: 2.854. 10.1108/ijshe-11-2020-0447.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis. M. “Enhancing Historic Building Performance with the Use of Fuzzy Inference System to Control the Electric Cooling System.” Sustainability, MDPI (2020), Impact Factor: 3.251. 10.3390/su12145848.
  • Boarin, P; Martinez-Molina, A; Juan-Ferruses, I. “Understanding Students’ Perception of Sustainability in Architecture Education: A Comparison Among Universities in Three Different Continents”. Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier (2020),  Impact Factor: 9.297. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119237.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Boarin, P; Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L. “Assessing visitors' thermal comfort in historic museum buildings: Results from a Post-Occupancy Evaluation on a case study”. Building and Environment, Elsevier (2018), Impact Factor: 4.820. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.02.003.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Boarin, P; Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L. “Post-Occupancy Evaluation of a Historic Primary School Building in Spain: Comparing  PMV, TSV and PD for Teachers’  and Children’s Thermal Comfort”. Building and Environment, Elsevier (2017), Impact Factor: 4.539. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.03.010.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I; Cho, S; Vivancos, J.L. “Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort in Historic Buildings. A review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier (2016), Impact Factor: 9.184. 10.1016/j.rser.2016.03.018.

Book chapters

  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Llinares, J. (2014). Chapter: “Simulation of Energy Performance of Buildings: A case study in Prague.” Construction and Building Research, Springer, Part III, 263-269. 10.1007/978-94-007-7790-3_32.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Vivancos, J.L. (2014). Chapter: “Modeling and Simulation of History Museum of Valencia.” Construction and Building Research, Springer, Part III, 255-262. 10.1007/978-94-007-7790-3_33.

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings 

  • Karaiskos, P; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. (2024) “Exploring Energy Efficiency with Adaptive Temperature Ranges: Thermal Envelope Optimization in Tiny House Design. A case study in the hot and humid climate of San Antonio, Texas, USA.” Passive and Low Energy Architecture PLEA 2024 International Conference, Wroclaw, Poland, 10.37190/PLEA_2024.
  • Iskandar, L; Faubel, C; Martinez-Molina, A; Toker Beeson, S. (2024) “Energy Performance Evaluation Of Affordable Residential Prototypes With Different Construction Types.” Passive and Low Energy Architecture PLEA 2024 International Conference, Wroclaw, Poland, 10.37190/PLEA_2024.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. “Comparative Analysis of Thermogram and Pre-processed HoG Images using Machine Learning classifiers.” International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications IISA 2023, Volos, Greece 10.1109/IISA59645.2023.10345890.
  • Iskandar, L; Martinez-Molina, A; Toker Beeson, S. (2023) “Energy Retrofit Evaluation of a Naturally Ventilated Historic Building in a Hot and Humid Climate.” Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES) Conference, Phoenix, AZ, USA 10.7275/btes.1927.
  • Karaiskos, P; Iskandar, L; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. (2023) “Exposure to Particle Matter and Carbon Dioxide in a Naturally Ventilated Athletic Facility during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” ARCC Conference, Dallas, TX, USA 978-1-935129-33-2.
  • Iskandar, L; Karaiskos, P; Martinez-Molina, A; Toker Beeson, S. (2023) “Learning From the Past: The Evaluation and Optimization of the Inherent Energy Behavior of a Residential Historic Building in a Hot and Humid Climate.” ARCC Conference, Dallas, TX, USA 978-1-935129-33-2.
  • Bay, E; Martinez-Molina, A. “The Impact of Efficient Natural Ventilation on the Indoor Environmental Air Quality: The Case of a Social Housing in Turkey”. ARCC-EAAE 2022 International Conference, Miami, FL, USA 978-1-935129-31-8.
  • Awolusi, I; Martinez-Molina, A; Nnaji, C; Alamaniotis, M; Sulbaran, T. (2022) “Utility of Wearable Sensing Devices for Environmental Monitoring on Construction Sites.” Construction Institute (CI) and Construction Research Council (CRC) Joint Conference - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Arlington, VA, USA 10.1061/9780784483985.076.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Williamson, K; Awolusi, I; Alamaniotis, M. (2021) “The impact of different building assemblies on thermal and air quality performance. An experimental student project in an architectural course comparing city building code versus Passivhaus standard.” Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES) Conference, Auburn, AL, USA, 10.7275/w3zn-gw65.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. (2021) “Comparison of Image segmentation, HOG and CNN Techniques for the Animal Detection using Thermography Images in Automobile Applications.” 12th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications IISA 2021 (IEEE), Chania, Crete, Greece, 10.1109/IISA52424.2021.9555562.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Williamson, K. (2021) “Investigation of HVAC Environmental Impact on the San Antonio Missions.” 82nd Texas Society of Architects (TxA) Conference, San Antonio, TX, USA (Presented).
  • Alamaniotis, M., Martinez-Molina, A., Karagiannis, G. (2021) “Data Driven Update of Load Forecasts in Smart Power Systems using Fuzzy Fusion of Learning GPs.” 14th IEEE PowerTech — Power for the Sustainable Development Goals, Madrid, Spain, 10.1109/PowerTech46648.2021.9494757.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. (2021) “Design and implementation of a Nocturnal Animal Detection Intelligent System in Transportation Applications.” ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development (ICTD 2021), Austin, TX, USA, 10.1061/9780784483534.038.
  • Bay, E; Martinez-Molina, A. “Thermal Preference and Comfort Assessment: Historic Buildings in Hot and Humid Climates”. ARCC 2021 International Conference, Tucson, AZ, USA, 978-935129-30-1.
  • Williamson, K; Martinez-Molina, A; Dupont, W. (2020) “In Situ Assessment of Superficial Moisture Content in Façades of a UNESCO World Heritage Church Using Electrical Resistance Measuring (ERM). The Impact of the HVAC System.” APT & National Trust Joint Conference, Edmonton, Canada (Presented).
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Rashed-Ali, H; Suk, J (2020) “Indoor Environmental Analysis of a LEED Gold-Certified office building in ASHRAE Climate Zone 6.” EAAE-ARCC International Conference—2nd Valencia International Biennial of Research in Architecture, Valencia, Spain. 978-84-9048-982-6.
  • Suk, J; Martinez-Molina, A; Rashed-Ali, H. (2020) “Daylighting and Electric Lighting Post-Occupancy Evaluation Study of a LEED Gold Certified Office Building.” EAAE-ARCC International Conference—2nd Valencia International Biennial of Research in Architecture, Valencia, Spain. 978-84-9048-982-6.
  • Munian, Y; Martinez-Molina, A; Alamaniotis, M. (2020) “Intelligent System for the Detection of Wildlife using HOG and CNN in Automobile Application.” 11th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications IISA 2020, Piraeus, Greece, IEEE. 10.1109/IISA50023.2020.9284365.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Vivancos, J.L. (2016) “Analysis of the implementation of occupant thermal environment surveys in different buildings with different uses.” 20th  International Congress on Project Management and Engineering, Cartagena, Spain, 1734-1746, ISBN 978-84-617-4180-9.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Vivancos, J.L. (2016) “Thermal Comfort in Historic Buildings: The Case of Study of the Museum of History of Valencia.” 14th  International Forum of Studies ‘Le Vie dei Mercanti’. World Heritage and Degradation. Smart Design, Planning and Technologies, Naples and Capri, Italy, 41-50, ISBN 978-88-6542-257-1.
  • Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L; Martinez-Molina, A; Cerra, S; Mendoza, C.M. (2015) "Thermal comfort and occupants’ feedback in Historical buildings.” Proceedings of the 19th International Congress on Project Management and Engineering, Granada, Spain, 1809-1820, ISBN: 978-84-608-2864-8.
  • Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L; Martinez-Molina, A; Mendoza, C.M. (2014). “Energy Analysis and Improvement Proposal of a Traditional House in Requena (Spain) Using Different Simulation Tools.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings, Madrid, Spain, 281-291, ISBN 978-84-617-3440-5.
  • Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L; Martinez-Molina, A; Cerra, S; Mendoza, C.M. (2015). “Thermal comfort and energy efficiency in historic buildings with new uses.” Proceedings of the 3rd  International Conference on Documentation, conservation and Restoration of the Architectural Heritage and Landscape protection, Valencia, Spain, 569-577, ISBN 978-84-9048-386-2.
  • Tort, I; Vivancos, J.L; Martinez-Molina, A; Mendoza, C.M. (2014). “Energy Assessment of the History Museum of Valencia Using Various Simulation Tools.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings, Madrid, Spain, 249-256, ISBN 978-84-617-3440-5.
  • Tort, I; Martinez-Molina, A; Vivancos, J.L. (2014). “A Review of Papers in Buildings from the Energetic Perspective.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings, Madrid, Spain, 292-301, ISBN 978-84-617-3440-5.
  • Davoli, P.M; Boarin, P; Martinez-Molina, A; Arieti, F. (2014). “From Preliminary Audit to Sustainable Retrofit Strategies for Historic Settlements. A Case of Study.” Proceedings of the 30th International Congress Scienza Beni Culturali, Bressanone, Italy, 176-187, ISSN 2039-9790, ISBN 978-88-95409-18-4.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Llinares, J. (2012). “Simulation of Energy Performance of Buildings: a Case of Study in Prague.” Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Construction and Building Research, Valencia, Spain, Part III, 263-269, 10.1007/978-94-007-7790-3_32.
  • Martinez-Molina, A; Tort, I, Vivancos, J.L. (2012). “Modeling and Simulation of History Museum of Valencia.” Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Construction and Building Research, Valencia, Spain, Part III, 255-262, 10.1007/978-94-007-7790-3_33.
 

 

Toni’s research generally focuses on the question of how to enhance building performance, occupant satisfaction, health, and well-being with technology and sustainable design. Particularly, he is interested in measuring and understanding the actual performance of buildings, whether they are newly built, existing, retrofitted, or historical, and in optimizing building performance with sustainable measures and innovative technologies. His research clearly indicates that there need not be a compromise between sustainable, responsible measures, energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction. Applying proper architectural technologies and designs can increase energy performance while creating a more comfortable and heathier built environment. This work has generated much academic, industry, media, and policy interest, and I have been invited to review international scientific journals, speak at conferences, and give lectures in multiple universities around the world.
Toni’s research agenda focuses on:

1. Sustainable design and building performance gaps by applying innovative architectural technologies and designs to achieve energy efficiency and occupant comfort, well-being, and health, in new and existing buildings.

2. Actual performance and occupant perception of sustainable standards, such as LEED, WELL, Passive House, Living Future, etc.

3. Integrating and understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on architecture at all life cycles of buildings such as design, commissioning, control, etc.

4. Investigation and building integration of available and innovative energy generation systems and eco-materials.

5. Investigating the scalability of the above-listed research and its applicability to varying climates and regions, considering political realities and policy implications through local and international outreach. 

This agenda aims to fill a gaping hole in sustainable design research that his own work has revealed: the sheer lack of data capturing actual energy performance of new and existing buildings. Likewise, there is a lack of understanding of the interrelation between occupant behavior, health and well-being and the indoor environment.