Forrest Meggers is jointly appointed in the School of Architecture and School of Engineering. He works in systems integration to facilitate interdisciplinary design teaching and research, building bridges between the often-disconnected fields.

He directs the CHAOS Lab (Cooling & Heating for Architecturally Optimized Systems) in the development and exploitation of the concept of exergy and unique heat transfer mechanisms that facilitate novel architecture, improve comfort and performance, and support new building sensors and control. CHAOS Lab projects include prototypes like the Thermoheliodome, a radiant cooling pavilion, new geothermal systems and desiccant ventilation systems, and integrated systems in the prototype 3-for-2 building project in Singapore.

Forrest Meggers is co-founder of Hearth Labs, a cleantech startup developing sensors to measure the radiative environment and finally quantify the missing half of thermal comfort. He founded the company in 2018 with Nicholas Houchois and Eric Teitelbaum to bring the SMART sensor technology to market. The sensors can drastically reduce HVAC energy consumption while improving occupant thermal comfort, and have won multiple awards from institutions including the US Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

His fields of knowledge include building systems design and integration; sustainable systems; renewable energy; optimization of energy systems; exergy analysis; geothermal; seasonal energy storage; low temp hybrid solar; building materials; thermodynamics and heat transfer; and heat pumps.

Forrest Meggers was an Assistant Professor in the School of Design & Environment, Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He was also Low Exergy Module Advisor in the Future Cities Laboratory of the Singapore ETH Centre.

He worked as a Researcher for the Building Systems Group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and directed research on sustainable systems for the president of the ETH Board. He was selected as keynote speaker for the launch of the Green Building Council Indonesia, where he presented the keynote address The Hidden Potential: through green building to sustainable nation.

Forrest Meggers obtained a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering (2003) and a Master of Science, Environmental Engineering (2005) from the University of Iowa, USA. He then obtained a PhD within the Institute for Technology in Architecture, Building Systems Group of the Faculty of Architecture at the ETH Zurich (2011). His PhD focused on the exergy analysis of building systems and systems integration.

His publications include a chapter in Energy Accounts: Architectural Representations of Energy, Climate, and the Future and in Future City Architecture for Optimal Living, articles in ARPA Journal and FutureArc.

He won 1st prize in the Student Poster Competition at the 3rd Holcim Forum (2010), was an assistant in the 3rd Holcim Forum workshop Reduce CO2: With technology to zero emissions and was co-author of two sections of the Reinventing Construction book from the 3rd Holcim Forum. He presented a paper in the workshop Local resources: Leveraging regional skills and metabolism at the 4th Holcim Forum (2013).

He was a member of the Holcim Awards Acknowledgement 2020 winner Hydroculus Cooling from Arizona - Evaporative and radiant thermal comfort. The project presents a new approach for engaging with the thermal environment to minimize energy consumption and improve comfort in buildings. It was praised for “Providing a new sustainable cooling mode that can be revolutionary.”

He was a member of the Holcim Awards jury for Asia Pacific in 2014 and for North America in 2017 and 2023.