(continued)

The Agents of Change approach gives students a comprehensive and integrated understanding of a building and allows them to evaluate the successes and failures of the original design. With state-of-the-art data acquisition devices, they measure temperature, sun path, luminance, heat stratification, and other variables that describe the physical environment.

Experiences in Training Sessions

In two recent trial training sessions, faculty and their teaching assistants together conducted detailed studies of existing buildings. Through peer-to-peer teaching, they developed questions, hypotheses, and experimental methodologies to study buildings.

In one session, participants studied a former power plant built along a river in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, which serves as the offices of Kubala Washatko Architects. Teams conducted investigations of infiltration, condensation, temperature stratification, and glare.

In developing questions about the building, one team wondered why condensation did not form on the large, single-pane, steel sash windows. They hypothesized that if the windows were replaced (a costly venture considered during renovation), condensation would form because the building is too "tight."

Another team thought that air movement was influenced by the occurrence of thermal stratification. Other teams investigated infiltration and glare.

After taking measurements and making observations, one of the teaching assistants remarked that prior to the training session, he had thought only of his design concepts and never considered energy efficiency or occupant comfort. He would get an impression of a space but not know how to analyze it.

Another teaching assistant said that he learned more about the psychrometric chart (which displays the interaction of heat and air's capacity to hold moisture) during the two hours at the building than he did during lectures on the subject and could even explain it to someone else now.

One of the faculty members remarked on what a good experience it was to have undergone the training with her students and appreciated the opportunities to listen and interact with students from other schools. She couldn't wait to return and make changes to her school's curriculum.

Vital Signs

The Vital Signs Project originated at the University of California Berkeley in the early 1990s. The project has grown substantially since then with funding from private and federal grants and with input from many members of the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE).

Activities and materials now available to support the teaching of case studies include curriculum packages, case study incentive grants and competitions, training sessions, and equipment toolkits for loan.

In a recent paper presented to the European Association for Architectural Education, current SBSE president Professor Walter Grondzik of Florida A&M University wrote, "the Vital Signs case study approach provides an excellent vehicle for expanding student views of the built environment.

"In addition, the project provides a structure that can enhance student communication and team planning capabilities. Because establishing a methodology for a site investigation is essentially a design problem, it could also be argued that the Vital Signs project can broaden students' design thinking."

Teaching assistants have reported that their students who use this approach learn the technical materials at a deeper and more intuitive level and are better prepared to consider the lessons learned in their design process.

Future Agents

The long-term goals of Agents of Change are to train about 200 teaching assistants and faculty around the country, to publish more than 700 case studies, and to engage over 4,000 architecture students. As future architects, these students will be better able to align design intent with building performance.

The new generation of trained teaching assistants not only would train other teaching assistants at their home institutions, but on graduation would become part of an expanding pool of badly needed applicants for faculty positions in architectural technology.

Targeting architects for education about energy and the environment is especially important because they play a central role in shaping the nation's future in these areas. Buildings are among the more lasting objects we produce and account for more than one-third of U.S. energy use and over 60 percent of our electricity consumption.

Though totaling only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans account for almost 25 percent of global energy use. So it is worthwhile to consider that a thoughtful sketch at the earliest stages of design can affect building energy consumption well into the future.

Alison Kwok is principal investigator of "Agents of Change" and an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon. Her project has been supported by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE).

Architecture students use a solar transit to determine if the sunlight will touch on a specific location in the courtyard. Photo: Alison Kwok Students hoist a 30-foot (9-meter) string of Onset Hobo dataloggers to measure thermal stratification in the belvedere of a house in Florida. Photo: Alison Kwok Teams play a game that raises awareness about heat gains and losses, material properties, and the importance of recording data. They test various strategies (insulation, thermal mass, reflective materials) to assist their glass box in achieving the highest temperature. Photo: Alison Kwok Using a Raytek infrared thermometer and steaming cup of water, teacher and student figure out the temperature of glass during condensation. Photo: Alison Kwok Looking at potential areas for glare, teaching assistants observe luminous conditions in the office of Kubala Washatko Architects in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. They use a Minolta luminance meter to measure areas of brightness. Photo: Alison Kwok A faculty-student team takes simultaneous illuminance readings at an art museum with Sylvania light meters. Photo: Alison Kwok A team of interior architecture students records surface thermal properties and illumination in a lobby with a Raytek infrared temperature gun and Sylvania light meter. Photo: Alison Kwok Students puzzle over the psychrometric chart to solve a condensation mystery. Photo: Alison Kwok   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.