Twentieth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Throughout our experience in the K12 Practice Area, we have seen and measured how daylight can positively affect students’ concentration and general wellbeing (1). We know the importance of daylight, but how can we account for good daylight levels since the early stages of the design process? With the pressure of a tight schedule, how can we make informed smart design decisions, through an iterative approach? Can you achieve high quality daylight levels without having an excessive amount of glass on your building envelope? The purpose of this study is to explain how a school with the constraints of a Net Zero Energy project can still achieve high levels of daylight quality while pursuing aggressive energy performance targets. In a fast paced project like Tobin Montessori Vassal Lane School, it is critical to have access to live performance data and constant feedback on how the design is affecting the performance of the project. This is a story of how you can make smart design decisions informed by data to generate a high-quality learning environment and at the same time achieve high-energy performing building. Through computational analysis and an iterative design approach, we were able to maximize the amount of daylight for all core learning spaces without having to sacrifice the performance of the project. (1) Jauregui et al. “Investing in our future. How School Modernization Impacts Indoor Environmental Quality and Occupants”. Perkins Eastman with J+J Flooring Group, 2018.