Department Profile
The Department of Building Engineering and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Žilina, provides a substantial part of the educational activities in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes in Building Engineering, as well as in the doctoral programme in Theory and Constructions of Building Structures. The department’s staff also participate in educational activities in other bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes of the faculty, teaching subjects focused on architecture, urbanism, engineering networks and building engineering structures. The department’s scientific and research activities focus on the study, theory and development of new advanced building structures, building physics issues of envelope construction and laboratory testing of windows and building facades made of various materials under real climatic conditions. An important aspect of the department’s work is its collaboration with professional practice in implementing research and project tasks.
News
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Timber & Climate Resilience Forum 2026
On 24–25 September 2026, the international conference on timber construction and climate resilience Timber & Climate Resilience Forum 2026 for education, practice and partnerships was held in Terchová, at the Vŕšky Resort, under the slogan „Join us and together let us build the future of timber construction, and a community of climate-responsible professionals, architects, engineers and builders“. The aim of the conference was to exchange information and practical experience, as well as to provide inspiration in the current design, construction and renovation of climate-resilient timber buildings.
In addition to the Department of Building Engineering and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Žilina, the event was also organised by the Slovak Scientific and Technical Society, the Slovak Green Building Council and the Centre for Adaptation and Resilience.
The conference was thematically focused on architecture and design, fire safety in timber buildings, building physics of timber buildings, climate resilience and environmental quality. It was divided into three sections: Timber Buildings, Climate Change Adaptation and a scientific section entitled Measurement of Variables Affecting Timber Durability, which was organised within the framework of the implementation of the project APVV SK-PL-25-0120 Linking Research in the Field of Prediction of Hydro-Thermal Properties of Interiors by Implementation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (MADAM-RL).
270 registered participants attended the conference, and 33 presentations were given by speakers from Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Italy and Canada. The conference also included a travelling exhibition with posters of architecturally significant timber building projects „Salón drevostavieb“. The Faculty of Civil Engineering was actively involved through presentations by prof. Ing. Jozef Štefko, CSc., doc. Ing. Jozef Gocál, PhD., doc. Ing. Radoslav Ponechal, PhD., Ing. Michal Poljak, PhD. and Ing. arch. Michal Diviš. Ing. Adam Šangala was also a member of the organising team.
The conference was organised also thanks to its general partners, which were the Association of Wood Processing Industries of the Slovak Republic, Saint-Gobain and Kontrakting – a member of the DMC Group, as well as other partners and exhibitors listed on the conference homepage: https://www.adaptuj.com/en/timber-and-climate
The conference thus provided an opportunity to present research results, establish new professional contacts and exchange experience with researchers and professionals from around the world.
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Changes at DBEUP
Since September 2026, several changes have taken place in the personnel and organisational arrangements of the Department of Building Engineering and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Žilina.
Ing. Marek Chabada, PhD. has taken over the position of department administrator, Ing. Daniela Jurášová, PhD. has become the new study advisor, and Ing. Michal Poljak, PhD. will be responsible for the administration of final theses at the department.
At the same time, we would like to thank Ing. Marek Bartko, PhD. for his work and service at the department to date. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with him in his capacity as an external collaborator.
