Ruxandra Crutescu

Biography

Dr. Ruxandra Crutescu is architect and associate professor at the Royal University for Women, College of Art and Design, Kingdom of Bahrain.         She holds a PhD in Ecological Architecture from “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest, Romania. In 2013, she was awarded with the SUERD Trophy " Social & Economic Innovator" (EU Strategy for the Danube Region -Romania) and in 2016 with the Trofy „WREN Pioneer” (World Renewable Energy Network – Brighton, Great Britain), for her work in Romania, being among the first promoters of sustainable and ecological architecture in practice.    She has a long career in teaching Architecture Design and Sustainable Development, Climate Change Challenges in Architecture and Urbanism, Management and Marketing in Architecture at the “Spiru Haret” University, Faculty of Architecture, Bucharest, Romania. She has taught courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She has supervised also PhD theses as external advisor, at the „Politehnica” University , Bucharest, Romania. As an WREN expert in sustainable architecture (World Renewable Energy Network based in Brighton, Great Britain- http://www.wrenuk.co.uk/) she has delivered many talks and presentations at numerous professional institutions and conferences at universities in Romania and abroad, including  Romanian Academy in Bucharest, „Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism Bucharest (Romania), Politechnica University Bucharest (Romania), Kingstone University London (Great Britain), Faculty of Architecture in Florence (Italy), Kingdom University (Kingdom of Bahrain) and the American University in the Emirates (Dubai). Her current work is oriented towards architecture design based on energy efficiency of the buildings thermal envelope and by the intelligent and efficient use of the energy from renewables sources, especially in the area of improving energy efficiency in buildings (without affecting the comfort conditions, but on the contrary, to improve them). Other interesting areas of her research activity in architecture are smart cities, innovative technologies in architecture, creativity for future sustainable development. Between 2008-2013, she was the general manager of  the Research-Development-Innovation Department at Passivhaus EcoArchitect, Bragadiru Ilfov, Romania. She have write and published more than 80 scientific articles and 6 books (four of the six books contain chapters written by Dr Ruxandra Crutescu, being books with many authors). The main topics addressed are ecological architecture, intelligent use of renewable energy in public and residential buildings in order to reduce the pollution in the context of climate change and global warming. With a continuous and sustained activity, she has an experience of more than 33 years in practicing the profession of architect. In 2003, she designed the first certified  passive solar house in Romania, located in Burlusi village, Ciofringeni – Arges County. As an authorized designer for passive buildings she designed the first passive solar office building in Romania in 2007, the headquarters of Amvic Company, in Bragadiru Ilfov, two city halls in Ciofrangeni Arges and Dragalina Calarasi, one kindergarten in Blejoi Prahova and more than 800 residential solar passive houses to which she is the author and project manager also. She organizes annually symposiums and workshops like “Energy Days”, “Green Spot” , „ECO-ARCHITECT” and “Active Green Architects” on similar topics.

Research Interest

In addition to teaching, she is interested to develop curriculum, university and postgraduate courses on topics related to an ecological, sustainable and smart development in architecture. She is an active member of the Order of Architects, the Register of Urban Planners and the Union of Architects in Romania. She is since 2012, council member of the World Renewable Energy Congress and World Renewable Energy Network (based in Brighton – Great Britain) and co-chair of the World Renewable Energy Congress Bucharest in 2015.  Active member in steering committees of international scientific research organizations, like World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society(WSEAS)and World Renewable Energy Network (WREN), she is also affiliated with many scientifical associations like ICPE Scientific Society (Institute for Energy Research and Design)Bucharest, Romania, Internationale Gesellschaft Passivhaus Germany and  the Association for Hydrogen Energy - Bucharest Branch (affiliated to the European Association for Hydrogen Brussels and recognized by the International Association for Hydrogen Enhancement in the United States of America.