CH2 - Lighting and Physiology

This paper explains the designed performances of the new CH2 building in Melbourne, Australia. CH2 is an environmentally significant project that involves biomimicry of natural systems to produce indoor conditions that are conducive to user comfort, health and productivity. This paper focuses on lighting and physiology and examines the solutions chosen for artificial and natural lighting and the likely effects these will have on building occupants. The purpose of the paper is to critically comment on the adopted strategy and, cognisance of contemporary thinking in lighting design, to judge the effectiveness of this aspect of the project with a view to later verification and post-occupancy review. The paper concludes that CH2 is an exemplar of lighting innovation that provides valuable lessons to designers of office buildings, particularly in the Melbourne CSD

A roadmap to Renewable Adaptive Recyclable Environmental (R.A.R.E.) architecture

R.A.R.E. stands for Renewable Adaptive Recyclable Environmental Architecture; the acronym expresses a demand that is becoming increasingly important today in the eyes of designers and clients. The paper draws on the contents and the pedagogical methods applied in a Building Technology Unit (SRT 450) &ndash; at forth year level &ndash; at the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University, Australia. The unit is basically structured upon eight subjects derived as relevant to the research and development for a R.A.R.E. Architecture: Sustainable Site &amp; Climate Analysis; Flexible &amp; Adaptive Structural Systems; Renewable Adaptive &amp; Environmental Building Materials; Modular Building Systems; Innovative Building Envelope Systems; Renewable or Non-conventional Energy Systems; Innovative Heating, Ventilation &amp; Air Conditioning; Water Storage &amp; Systems. The overall objective of the unit is to present a comprehensive overview of all these Sustainable Building Categories (SBCs) so that the students can produce a guide towards the design of a R.A.R.E. Architecture. The push towards a holistic and integrated approach will contribute to the definition of an innovative architecture, which is both progressive and sustainable.<br /

Natural and environmentally responsive building envelopes

In a context of global warming and our needs to reduce CO\d2 emissions, building envelopes will play an important role. A new imperative has been put forth to architects and engineers to develop innovative materials, components and systems, in order to make building envelopes adaptive and responsive to variable and extreme climate conditions. Envelopes serve multiple functions, from shielding the interior environment to collecting, storing and generating energy. Perhaps a more recent concern of terrestrial habitats is permeability and leakages within the building envelope. Such airtight and concealed envelopes with zero particle exchange are a necessity and already exist in regard to space capsules and habitats.This paper attempts to acknowledge existing and visionary envelope concepts and their functioning in conjunction with maintaining a favorable interior environment. It introduces several criteria and requirements of advanced fa\acades along with interior pressurization control. Furthermore, the paper also takes a closer look at the principles of &quot;biomimicry&quot; of natural systems combined with the most up-to-date building materials and construction technologies, trying to integrate the notions of adaptation - where the capacity to survive depends on the ability to adjust to the environment - within the concept of technological evolution and innovation. An &quot;adaptive&quot; attitude in the way in which we conceive our built structures provides a conceptual basis for the advanced building design of our future, as well as one concerned about the efficient management of the available resources. Built environments of the future (in extreme climates or not) will need to respond to Renewable, Adaptive, Recyclable and Environmental (R.A.R.E.) concepts in order to coexist in a sustainable way with their surroundings. <br /

Discomfort glare evaluation: the influence of anchor bias in luminance adjustments

Luminance adjustment is a procedure commonly used to evaluate discomfort glare and the results from adjustment experiments form the basis of some recommendations for limiting its occurrence. There are, however, strong reasons to expect that settings made using adjustment are unintentionally influenced by extraneous variables. This paper discusses bias towards the initial anchor, the setting of the variable stimulus immediately before an adjustment is made. Specifically, the initial luminance is expected to influence the setting that is made by adjustment; for example, a lower initial luminance leads to a lower setting than a high initial luminance. To investigate anchor bias, a Hopkinson-like multiple-criterion adjustment experiment was undertaken, but with three different anchors. The results confirmed significant bias: glare settings were biased towards the luminance of the initial anchor. This demonstrates a need for caution when using adjustment to explore discomfort glare and when interpreting the results of past studies that used discomfort glare models fitted to data obtained with this procedure

Occupant satisfaction in LEED and BREEAM-certified office buildings

Green certification schemes, such as LEED in US and BREEAM in UK, are contributing to promote the sustainability agenda in the design and operation of office buildings. However, the role of rating tools towards improved workplace experience is still much debated. Previous work by the authors provided evidence that LEED rating per se does not significantly and substantively influence occupant satisfaction with indoor environment qualities, although tendencies showed that LEED-certified buildings were more effective in delivering satisfaction in open spaces rather than in enclosed offices, and in small rather than in large buildings. This paper investigates occupant satisfaction in BREEAM-rated office buildings in UK. User responses were collected by cross-sectional questionnaires and point-in-time surveys administered while physical measurements were taken. Consistent with earlier work, the results showed that BREEAM certification does not have a significant and practically-relevant effect on building and workspace satisfaction, although tendencies revealed that occupants of non-BREEAM buildings were more satisfied with visual privacy and air quality than users of BREEAM-rated workspaces. Lower satisfaction was detected in BREEAM buildings for occupants having spent more than 24 months at their workplace. These results support previous findings, suggesting further research on the sustained benefits of green certification over time

Towards a renewable adaptive recyclable and environmental architecture

Research in pursuit of an effective response to the demands for a sustainable architecture has lead towards the conception of a Renewable, Adaptive, Recyclable and Environmental (R.A.R.E.) building typology. The term R.A.R.E. expresses issues that have assumed central importance in the current architectural debate. This paper establishes the principles of the typology, drawing on the contents and pedagogical methods applied in a building technology academic course, at fourth year level. The R.A.R.E methodology is presented to and explored by students in the search for a definition of an innovative architecture, which is both progressive and sustainable. The unit is structured into eight subjects: Sustainable Site &amp; Climate Analysis; Flexible &amp; Adaptive Structural Systems; Renewable &amp; Environmental Building Materials; Modular Building Systems; Innovative Building Envelope Systems; Renewable &amp; Non-conventional Energy Systems; Innovative Heating, Ventilation &amp; Air Conditioning Systems; Water Collection &amp; Storage Systems. Through a holistic and integrated approach, the unit presents a comprehensive overview of these &lsquo;Sustainable Building Categories&rsquo;, so that the students can produce a guide towards the design requirements of a Renewable, Adaptive, Recyclable and Environmental (R.A.R.E.) Architecture.<br /

Occupant satisfaction in LEED and BREEAM-certified office buildings

Green certification schemes, such as LEED in US and BREEAM in UK, are contributing to promote the sustainability agenda in the design and operation of office buildings. However, the role of rating tools towards improved workplace experience is still much debated. Previous work by the authors provided evidence that LEED rating per se does not significantly and substantively influence occupant satisfaction with indoor environment qualities, although tendencies showed that LEED-certified buildings were more effective in delivering satisfaction in open spaces rather than in enclosed offices, and in small rather than in large buildings. This paper investigates occupant satisfaction in BREEAM-rated office buildings in UK. User responses were collected by cross-sectional questionnaires and point-in-time surveys administered while physical measurements were taken. Consistent with earlier work, the results showed that BREEAM certification does not have a significant and practically-relevant effect on building and workspace satisfaction, although tendencies revealed that occupants of non-BREEAM buildings were more satisfied with visual privacy and air quality than users of BREEAM-rated workspaces. Lower satisfaction was detected in BREEAM buildings for occupants having spent more than 24 months at their workplace. These results support previous findings, suggesting further research on the sustained benefits of green certification over time

Ecologically sustainable development and architecture: the impact of rating tools

The concept of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) has become an important issue &ndash; albeit often scarcely applied &ndash; in the design of commercial buildings. To encourage the adoption of sustainable strategies in the practice of design and to address the environmental problems caused by these developments, governments and organisations of various countries have proposed the adoption of scorecard rating tools to inform designers of the impact of their decisions and to present a way of establishing project goals and objectives early in the design process. In Australia, the recent introduction of the Green Star Rating Tool (Office Design) is believed to provide the architects with a &lsquo;whole-of-building&rsquo; assessment of the environmental impact of their design by creating a checklist against which to benchmark performance. This paper follows the design of a commercial building, evaluating the impact of Green Star in the overall process. The results of the study suggest the need to include the use of scorecard rating tools in a more integrated model, where ESD is considered at every stage of design and construction rather than being a separate component applied only to promote the &lsquo;greenness&rsquo; of a building. Rating tools can be an asset to the design team, provided sustainable requirements are reinforced throughout the entire process.<br /

Satisfaction with indoor environmental quality in BREEAM and non-BREEAM certified office buildings

This paper presents preliminary analysis of occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality in Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and non-BREEAM certified offices in the UK. Results from cross-sectional questionnaires (N = 121) showed that BREEAM certification per se did not seem to substantively influence building and workspace satisfaction. Conversely, occupants of BREEAM offices tended to be less satisfied with air quality and visual privacy than users of non-BREEAM buildings. Lower satisfaction was also detected in BREEAM offices for occupants having spent over 24 months in their building, and for users working in open-plan spaces. To interpret these findings, a methodology for data analysis was adopted whereas responses to point-in-time surveys (N = 82) were paired with environmental measurements. Broadening the perspective for appraising occupants’ perceptions, these combined techniques led to conclude that certification schemes should balance criteria addressing energy performance with design solutions considerate of issues of privacy, proxemics and perceived control over the qualities of the indoor environment

Integrated Solutions for Daylighting and Electric Lighting: IEA SHC Task 61/EBC Annex 77, Subtask D – Proposal and First Results

The integration of daylight and electric lighting, considering user satisfaction and energy savings potentially can contribute significantly to reduce energy demand for lighting, that represents 18% of global energy demands. This paper presents the work and first results of IEA SHC Task 61/EBC Annex 77 “Integrated Solutions for Daylighting and Electric Lighting: From component to user centered system efficiency”, a joint project activity between the Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) and Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC). The project deals with the idea that an integrated design approach for the whole system, combining daylighting, electric lighting, the associated lighting controls and the users’ interaction, can achieve higher energy saving than the simple energy-efficient design of single components. First results show the main experience from three completed case studies