Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-162).This project outlines a design for a fac̦ade product that can potentially be used to simplify both the construction and operation of an apartment in an urban setting. Additionally, this fagade module has been conceptualized as a way to improve energy performance, making it the energy hub of the home, and housing the majority of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment. The design makes use of activity recognition to aid with this energy performance improvement, and adapts the conditions in the living spaces to real-time activities being carried out in the home. Energy analyses, in conjunction with real-life modeling and deployment tests, were used to verify the concept. In addition, a graphical user interface was built, allowing the home occupant to adjust the system settings of the automated energy-management technologies, as well as enabling the system to give feedback to the user on how certain decisions affect the performance of the home.by Ronan Lonergan.S.M
