LIGHTING DEPTH

     The lighting depth will include the redesign of the lighting in four spaces, all located on the first floor of the building:

              - Exterior Plaza

              - Lobby

              - Flex Classroom

              - Flex Lab

     The designs will be developed fully from schematic design through construction documentation. The designs will incorporate the studies done in the various breadths to create a successful energy efficient design.

ELECTRICAL DEPTH

     The electrical depth will conduct two redesigns in the building which will accommodate the changing loads and energy consumption. The first will be a branch circuit study to determine how to resize the panelboards and feeders to cover the new lighting design. The second is the addition of a photovoltaic array on the roof of the building which will help reduce energy consumption.

MAE BREADTH- DAYLIGHTING

     Because the Flex Lab has more strict lighting requirements for highly detailed work and the use of  machinery, the daylight in the space needs to be controlled. The entire eastern wall of the lab is a 30’ curtain wall, which will allow for a significant amount of daylight into the space, especially in the morning. This could cause glare and thermal comfort problems throughout the year which could impact the ability of occupants to complete their research. A daylighting study will be done on this space to analyze the current daylighting influence and determine the need for a shading strategy on the 30’ curtain wall. Using this analysis, a new  façade will be designed for the first floor to maximize the influx of good daylight and minimize the glare and thermal gain in the space. Learning material from the AE 565 Daylighting masters class will be incorporated into this study.

STRUCTURAL BREADTH

     Based on the result of the daylight analysis, a new façade system will be designed for the first floor of the building. Because the first floor façade is different than the remaining floors, the architectural look of the building will not be compromised. The new façade will be designed to maximize the helpful daylight allowed into the first floor, which will help reduce energy usage and cost. A shading strategy will be applied to the new façade to minimize glare and visual discomfort for occupants. Because the façade will be designed for structural purposes, it will need to be checked for loads that may influence its stability. 

MECHANICAL BREADTH

     The design of a new façade system will minimize the harmful influence of daylight on the first floor. This change in daylight control will affect the mechanical loads in the building as well, helping to reduce energy consumption and thermal discomfort for occupants. The change in thermal influence will be studied to determine how much energy savings will be achieved from the new façade design. The results will determine whether the mechanical systems or equipment will be resized in order to further increase the energy savings.

SCHREYER HONORS THESIS

     To satisfy the requirements for the Schreyer Honors College Thesis preliminary research was conducted on the influence of daylight on building occupants and the various shading and façade techniques used to control it. This research will be used to guide the redesign of the first floor façade to maximize the influence of good daylight into the building. A paper was completed to summarize this research and serves as the first chapter of the final Schreyer thesis. The entirety of the thesis will contain the initial research along with the individual depth and breadth topics completed for the Architectural Engineering Thesis.