Jonathon Brearley

About

He is an associate at Transsolar KlimaEngineering in New York, where he works on climate-responsive design for projects from Santa Cruz to Saudi Arabia. He is a Certified Passive House Designer, speaks at conferences on passive design, sits in on architecture studio reviews as a critic, and is on the content committee for NESEA BuildingEnergy Boston 2027.

Acoustically Protected Natural Ventilation, Facade Tectonics World Congress 2026, with Erik Olsen and Olivia Chen2026
Implementing Thermal Re-regulation in the Public Domain, for Heatwave, the Bahrain Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, with Viola Zhang2025
On the Courtyard, for Impossible Toronto, an ongoing research program by The Neptis Foundation, with Studio VAARO, Gabriel Fain and Krista Palen2025
Design of heat-resilient housing in hot-arid regions, Energy and Buildings 328, with David Birge, Zhujing Zhang and Leslie K. Norford2025
Mitigating Peak Load and Heat Stress under Heat Waves by Optimizing Thermostat Setpoint and Fan Speed Schedules, Journal of Building Performance Simulation 16(4), with Zhujing Zhang, Kevin J. Kircher, Yuan Cai, David Birge and Leslie K. Norford2023
Bubble Box Eat & Watch, Journal of Architectural Education 72(1)2018

Taming Torridity, new housing forms for heat resilience, for the MArch and SMBT at MIT2022

W/m²-K, browser calculators for the U-value of building assemblies, from layered walls and two-dimensional details to glazing and whole envelopes2026
Land Surface Temperature, a web interface to Google Earth Engine for downloading land surface temperature and NDVI maps2026
Jerboa, a Grasshopper toolset for modelling the ground under a building in EnergyPlus, released with the thesis2022

Pinch Point, a transit hub at Oak Grove as an anchor for density where Boston’s parks pinch its growth2021
Accommodations, mixed-income housing for construction and migrant workers in Chon Buri, Thailand2020
The Y, a YMCA for Coney Island built from one continuous surface2020
Village Square Pavilion, a canopy of bamboo trusses and fiberglass for a village square in China, built at full size2019
Safest At The Top Of The Hill, moving Chamanga, Ecuador, to higher ground after the 2016 earthquake2017
Bubble Box: Eat & Watch, imagined volumes turned into architecture, published in the Journal of Architectural Education2017

Moynihan Train Hall, a case study of what keeping the Farley Post Office's trusses meant for the hall's grid shells2022
Additive Timber, a workshop on building modules in timber, extended into buildings2021
The People's Pool, an alternative history of the WPA pools, told in print from 1924 to 20562019
Anthropocene, a sculpture of steel pipes that abstracts the air moving past a cyclist2019

Ecological Environments, guest lecture, Kent State University2026
Climate Responsive Design, guest lecture, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo2026
Guest critic, Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York2026
Water in Architecture, guest lecture for Design Studio 5, and guest critic for Design Studios 3 and 5, The New School2025 – present
Engineered Natural Ventilation for Climate Resilient Buildings and Occupants, NESEA BuildingEnergy NYC2025
Natural Ventilation and Passive House in Adaptive Reuse, Regenerative Metropolis, Passive House New York2025
Natural Ventilation at the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, NESEA Pro Tour2025
Design reviewer and guest lecturer, Building Design Collaborative, The Cooper Union2024 – present

Part Objects, Precarious models and digital animations, Keller Gallery, MIT2019
Anthropocene, a sculpture celebrating Oregon's 1971 Bike Bill, for the Oregon Environmental Council's 50th anniversary, Portland State University, with Aaron Whelton, Kip Olkowski, Griffin Lutz, Molly Jacobs, and Kagan Reardon2019
Rejected Projections, a digital exhibition of Rooms for 9^32019
Treeline Stage, designer of the music stage at Pickathon2018
Extracurricular PSU, a drawing made for Andrew Santa Lucia in an exhibition of faculty work, AIA Portland2017