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Dr Scott Orr
Lecturer
Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources
Faculty of the Built Environment
- Joined UCL
- 1st Mar 2016
Research summary
Dr Scott Allan Orr was appointed as Lecturer in
Heritage Data Science in the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage (within the
Bartlett School of Environment, Energy, and Resources) in 2019. His research uses
data-driven multi-scale approaches to further understanding and management of the
historic built environment.
His research focuses on experimental methodologies that
enable understanding of weather events and climate and their impacts on the historic
built environment. This includes façade-scale investigation techniques that
adapt non-destructive equipment designed for contemporary civil engineering
applications to identify moisture regimes in solid-wall masonry structures. More recently, he has also collaborated on characterising damage
to materials by post-processing hygrothermal simulations. On a regional
and national scale, Scott uses probabilistic modelling with semi-empirical
evaluations of wind-driven rain to characterise changes in exposure of the UK’s
built environment due to climate change in the 21st century; this
work predicted future exposure to be more polarised in winter and summer months
and include shorter but more intense and concentrated wind-driven rain events.
This work also identified statistical flaws and limitations of existing
standards (e.g. ISO 15927-3) and led to new metrics (indices of exposure) with
improved statistical robustness, including some to specifically
characterise extreme events in the context of building performance. Scott is also currently an advisor on a doctoral project in Belgium to characterise
salt weathering risk to historic buildings, including national-scale
evaluations of risk represented by a range of historic building typologies and databases
of salt ion concentrations.
Teaching summary
Scott is the Deputy Programme Director on the MSc
in Data Science for Cultural Heritage. This programme pioneers a new way of
teaching data science through application in a cross-disciplinary context.
He leads on several modules within, including an Introduction to Heritage Science, Heritage Data Mapping and Visualisation, Technologies and Digital Approaches for Built Heritage, and Heritage Data Management.
Education
- University of Oxford
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 2018
- University College London
- Other higher degree, Master of Research | 2015
- University of Toronto
- First Degree, Bachelor of Applied Science | 2014
Biography
Dr Scott Allan Orr is a Lecturer in Heritage Data Science at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage. An engineer with broad interests, his research within heritage science primarily uses data-driven approaches to assess environmental impacts on the historic built environment, the use of non-destructive tools in building surveys, and incorporating value and perception into scientific evaluations. His research emphasises a holistic approach to considering the historic built environment in its context: an upcoming project with the University of Antwerp will evaluate synergies between urban greening and sustainable environments for historic building materials. He is the Deputy Programme Director of the MSc Data Science for Cultural Heritage, on which he teaches modules about heritage data visualisation, heritage science, and digital technologies for the historic built environment.