THE SECRET LIFE OF BUILDINGS
ARCH299 - The Secret Life of Buildings
This exploratory seminar addresses a secret life of buildings, one related to physical performance. Think of a building that has been influential in your architectural development. How much do you know about the physical environment it creates? Its amenities as viewed from an occupant's perspective? The energy it consumes?
In this course, existing buildings serve as laboratories and offer interesting lessons on the success and failure of various design methods. The approach has a number of benefits. The personal experience students gain in performing the evaluations contributes to their experiential base at a formative time. Analysis of data collected in the field and the comparison of these data to values given by simulation tools provides a foundation for understanding the more abstract tools and standards used by designers in practice.
Students in the class conduct a series of case study exercises involving the collection of background information, the survey of those associated with the building (e.g. designers, operators, occupants), the measurement of physical parameters, analysis, and the writing of short reports. The course includes both individual and group assignments, with some opportunity to tailor assignments to specific student interests.
Through this course, students gain an understanding of the various definitions and metrics used to evaluate the performance of a building, learn how to use data loggers to measure quantitative data about buildings, conduct small scale experiments to better understand how buildings work, and thus ultimately gain exposure to research-based design and the role of quantitative data in human-centered design.
In this course, existing buildings serve as laboratories and offer interesting lessons on the success and failure of various design methods. The approach has a number of benefits. The personal experience students gain in performing the evaluations contributes to their experiential base at a formative time. Analysis of data collected in the field and the comparison of these data to values given by simulation tools provides a foundation for understanding the more abstract tools and standards used by designers in practice.
Students in the class conduct a series of case study exercises involving the collection of background information, the survey of those associated with the building (e.g. designers, operators, occupants), the measurement of physical parameters, analysis, and the writing of short reports. The course includes both individual and group assignments, with some opportunity to tailor assignments to specific student interests.
Through this course, students gain an understanding of the various definitions and metrics used to evaluate the performance of a building, learn how to use data loggers to measure quantitative data about buildings, conduct small scale experiments to better understand how buildings work, and thus ultimately gain exposure to research-based design and the role of quantitative data in human-centered design.
