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AIA Center for Building Performance
2004 Symposium on Building Performance and Design
Report compiled by Marvin J. Cantor, FAIA
Acknowledgements
Welcome and Introductions
Case Study No. 1: High Performance High-Rise
Residential Buildings
ASTM Overview of Committee E6
Case Study No. 2: Intelligent Office Building
Research
NIST Overview
Case Study No. 3: Post Occupancy Evaluation
NIBS Overview
Case Study No. 4: Commercial Building
Performance
Case Study No. 5: Environmental Research
Center
Symposium Wrap-up and Concluding Remarks
Acknowledgements
2004 Center for Building Performance Advisory Group
David Bullen, AIA, Chair
Jerry R. Tepe, FAIA, Vice Chair
Steven A. Parshall, FAIA, Program Facilitator
Joel P. Zingeser, FAIA
Neil Hall, PhD, AIA
Symposium Advisory Group
Marvin J. Cantor, FAIA
Janice Olshesky, AIA
Gabor Lorant, FAIA
AIA Staff
Vanessa Williamson, Director, Professional Practice
Catherine Roussel, Director, Education
Erika Taylor, Project Manager
LaKysha Barnes, Administrative Assistant
Symposium Speakers
Wolfgang F. Preiser, Assoc. AIA, PhD, University of
Cincinnati
Volker Hartkopf, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University
Daniel J. Kaplan, AIA, Fox & Fowle Architects PC
Kevin Thomas Burke, AIA, William McDonough+Partners PLC
Adrian N. Tuluca, AIA, Steven Winter Associates
Steven Bushby, National Institute of Standards and Technology
David A. Harris, FAIA, National Institute of Building
Sciences
David B. Hattis, Building Technology Inc.
Welcome and
Introductions
David Bullen, AIA, chair of the Center for Building Performance
Advisory Committee, opened the session with a capsule history of
the group developing this symposium and a brief introduction of the
symposium’s content and goals. The Center for Building
Performance started as the former AIA Codes and Standards
Committee. In 1990 it hosted a seminar that asked, “Has the
time come for a single building code?” Although the question
was met with much skepticism, in 1991 the AIA passed Resolution
L-1, endorsing the concept of a single code. In the ensuing decade,
the building community witnessed the evolution of the single code.
Starting with a common code format among the major model building
codes, the AIA played a major role in bringing together the parties
that eventually agreed upon the present International Building
Code. Meanwhile, the Codes and Standards Committee became the
Building Performance and Regulations Committee, later shortened to
the Building Performance Professional Interest Area, to the now
Center for Building Performance.
Steven Parshall, FAIA, the symposium facilitator and moderator (and
vice president and director of HOK’s Houston Consulting
Group), began the symposium with a request from the audience for
self-introductions. The audience reflected a wide spectrum of
disciplines from the built environment community, ranging from the
small practitioner to the medium-sized architecture office to the
large architecture office, as well as academic, engineering, and
environmental specialists.
Parshall then posed some questions the symposium might address.
- What do attendees want to take away from the symposium?
- Where are we in terms of measuring building performance
today?
- What is the human response?
- How do we get the human response into the post-occupancy
evaluation (POE)?
- What is the importance of collaboration with other agencies and
disciplines?
- What are the metrics to assist in measuring the building
performance?
- How do you "sell" building performance to private and public
stakeholders and owners?
- How can we get the "power" in this audience to get other
disciplines to participate in POEs?
- What direction should POEs take?
- How do you check actual case studies of completed buildings to
see how actual POEs have been done
- What do we need to know to survive the next 30 years?
Case Study
No. 1: High Performance High-Rise Residential Buildings
Daniel Kaplan, AIA, Senior Principal, Fox & Fowle
Architects
Residential high-rise buildings generally do not receive the same
recognition or scrutiny that commercial buildings of a similar size
do, which is unfortunate because this field has much that it can
contribute to the entire scope of building performance, efficiency,
and sustainability. Kaplan indicated that, in his opinion, the
typical high-rise apartment building serves as a background
building in the cityscape and is generally comprised of poor
quality materials, tight building designs, and mundane esthetic
design. Perhaps this is due to building owners looking for a fast
turnover in selling the apartments as condominiums or the entire
building soon after its completion. In any event, he thought his
firm had shown that it was possible to build high-rise apartment
structures with quality materials, efficiency, and good design, and
achieve overall excellent building performance if the “right
client” comes along.
Four Fox & Fowle designs were noted: The Helena, Battery Park
City (referred to whimsically as "Four Shades of Green"), St.
Francis of Assisi, and Clinton Green.
- The Helena (a 600-unit, 600,000-square-foot apartment project)
achieved a LEED level of Gold. It has a “black water”
treatment plan, a green roof, and no through wall penetration with
multiple HVAC units. It also has a high-efficiency heat pump system
for each apartment.
- Battery Park City (333 units, 600,000 square feet) achieved a
LEED level of Gold. Five percent of the project’s building
load must be met by generation on site. In addition, it has an
innovative curtain wall system that allowed the introduction of
outside air into bedrooms and living rooms to result in an energy
conserving and comfort achieving mix of outside and recirculating
air, something that is not addressed very well either by LEED or
the New York City Building Code.
- St. Francis of Assisi (460 units, 583,000 square feet) achieved
a LEED level of Silver. It has a green roof and a high performance
curtain wall skin.
- Clinton Green (634 units, 400,000 square feet) achieved a LEED
certification (the least expensive way to become LEED recognized is
to achieve its Certified level). It was built over Amtrak rails on
a brownfields project site. It features bicycle storage and on-site
electrical generation (considered after a recent experience in New
York with a major blackout).
Environmental considerations are still important in New York
City:
The city still has about 450 combined sewers, which means that
much stormwater drains into watershed areas; any reduction in such
storm runoff becomes very meaningful
Black water recycling goes to irrigation and toilet flushing,
reducing sanitary sewer flow into the combined sewers and other
sanitary sewer systems
More efficient HVAC systems and improved efficient glass can lead
to better building design with more glass than otherwise might be
used.
Kaplan noted there is still a long way to go toward using green
roofs and improving energy efficiency. He noted a major item to
consider in using renewable source or sustainable materials is
flooring. Bamboo, generally considered a sustainable material, was
not used on the illustrated projects because the samples shown to
the architect indicated that one could expect “cupping”
and other shortcomings with its use. It was noted that cork,
another sustainable and renewable material, also had problems that
prevented its use in the cited projects.
Finally, the City of New York is in the midst of determining
whether to supplant its own building code with the International
Building Code (IBC). Kaplan requested the AIA and its members to
help New York’s Patricia Lancaster get the city to adopt the
IBC. He said using the IBC would be a major step enroute to
efficient and sustainable design.
ASTM
Overview
Completing this portion of the symposium program, David Hattis,
president of Building Technology Inc. (a code consulting group in
Silver Spring, MD) gave a short presentation of American Society
for Testing and Materials (ASTM) activities in which he takes a
major part. He discussed the Committee E6, which has more than 600
members, has been around for almost 20 years, and focuses on
measuring building efficiency (the performance of buildings).
There are numerous subcommittees under Committee E6, each one
dealing directly with a specific item involved in measuring the
efficiency of a building. Members of the committee are appointed to
achieve a balance between users, producers, government, and general
interest so that no one group has any more influence in the
committee’s decisions than any other. In studying building
efficiency, it is necessary to achieve a balance between built
elements (i.e., brick, glass, and steel) and attributes (i.e.,
acoustical and thermal properties) to arrive at a meaningful
Building Performance Evaluation (BPE).
E6 subcommittees focus on:
- Test methods
- Preservation
- Sustainability standards
- Building economics
- Materials
- Connections
- Emergency escapes
- Solid fuel
- Air and ventilation
- Exterior systems
- Durability
- Serviceability
- Metal roofs
- Lead hazards
- Windows, doors, and skylights
- Single-family buildings.
Case
Study No. 2: Intelligent Office Building Research
Volker Hartkopf, PhD, Professor of
Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
Professor Hartkopf, making his case for the use of
“intelligent office buildings” and their concommitent
high building performance, noted that the United States uses 25
percent of the world’s resources. The United States is
changing from a country that used to be a “producer" to one
that now outsources and has become a user.
The “intelligent workplace” will focus on
- Indoor comfort and productivity
- Organizational flexibility
- Technical adaptability
- Energy and environmental effectiveness.
In looking at the big picture of energy conservation (and global
warming), it should be noted that 60 percent of the world’s
carbon emissions come from lighting and 20 percent come from
cooking. One of the most important concepts to convey to clients
and design professionals is the analysis of life cycle cost versus
initial cost. He noted that a goal to achieve is having a building
that generates electricity rather than requires electricity from
the local power grid.
Amplifying his theme, Hartkopf discussed a Carnegie Mellon School
of Architecture prototype for a multipurpose commercial structure
that expands on the concepts developed from the program’s
Intelligent Workplace. The prototype, designated as BAPP (Building
as A Power Plant), is a six-story, 64,000-square-foot building
housing classrooms, studios, laboratories, and administrative
offices for the College of Fine Arts. It is anticipated the
finished structure will meet all of the building’s power needs
for heating, ventilation, cooling, and lighting, using a
decentralized heating and power plant and fuel-cell-based energy
supply. Power will draw electricity from photovoltaics, fuel cells,
and steam turbine.
The proposed prototype will use a modular floor plan and Johnson
Controls for “plug and play” power systems and
environmental controls; and have a highly flexible facade system
which will be donated by a German company and built of recyclable
alumnium, flexible furniture systems, and water pipes for
cooling.
NIST
Overview
Steven Bushby of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) gave a brief overview of the institute's activities. One of
the areas being extensively investigated is that of building
automation and control systems. The investigation is under the
acronym BACnet, which is an international standard that defines a
communication protocol for integrating building automation and
control devices made by different manufacturers. BACnet was adopted
as a national standard in 1995. It has also been widely used by
HVAC manufacturers.
Projects using BACnet include
- GSA Region 9 (far west); 11 buildings on a centralized
maintenance management system
- City of Tucson
- Colleges and universities
- German Parliament (Capitol building)
- Architect of the Capitol (entire Capitol complex).
Case
Study No. 3: Post Occupancy Evaluation
Wolfgang Preiser, PhD, AIA, Professor, University of
Cincinnati
Professor Wolfgang Preiser gave a tongue-in-cheek post-occupancy
evaluation of the newly constructed Aranoff Center for Design and
Art at the University of Cincinnati. He briefly described the
origins, principles, and goals of post-occupancy evaluations. The
first major post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was published in 1975
in the AIA Journal. The POE is the last one of six “loops" in
the overall perspective of a project (the first five loops start at
the project’s inception and go through to design, building,
and final occupancy).
A building performance evaluation rates actual performance against
the design's required performance. The typical POE focuses on nine
items, as rated below in their order of priorities:
- Top Priority: Health, Safety, Security
- Mid Priority: Function, Efficiency, Work Flow
- Last Priority: Psychological, Social, Cultural.
POEs are classified in three divisions:
- Indicative (the quickest and least in-depth POE) which may be
used as a guide to pursue a more detailed POE
- Investigative, a more detailed and in-depth POE
- Diagnostic, an investigative POE that includes what may be done
to rectify shortcomings or poor performances.
As for the Aranoff Center, Professor Preiser noted that the
architect wanted the typical occupant of the building to “be
disoriented and disconcerted when inside.” Preiser said he
succeeded. He said most people rate wayfinding through the building
as poor. The many skewed elements make it difficult to orient.
Preiser rated work flow (offices, classrooms, studios) at 50
percent. Crits are held in wide corridors, which is a plus, but
noisy groups have to walk by and “drive the students in crits
crazy." He also noted the initial main entrance to the building is
somewhat hidden and, to reach it, one must go past the loading dock
and trash dumpster. He rated the quality of construction poor.
Columns are crooked, show different colors and hues of separate
concrete pours for the same column, and show massive caulking
(obviously to seal poor joints). Cheap material was particularly
disparaged by Preiser, especially since the budget came in with a
$30 million overrun. In addition, bad signage contributes to the
occupant’s general disorientation. The architect’s design
theory seemed to Preiser to be a post facto theory arrived at
after, not before, the design of the building.
To be fair, however, Preiser did say there are some elements of the
building the occupants like (e.g., the atrium and the library). Of
course, there are some elements they disliked (e.g., lack of
windows and quality of materials used). Whether some of the
negative aspects noted were due to budget considerations, client
restrictive requirements, or poor design is left to your own
conclusion. The final results whatever they were due to, however,
were not particularly good.
Preiser explained that the school’s POE data collection
process involves many different techniques that include
- Interviews
- Surveys
- Observations
- Photography
- Architectural research.
NIBS
Overview
David Harris, FAIA, and president of the National Institute of
Building Sciences (NIBS) described the institute’s activities.
One of the institute’s most important functions is maintaining
the Construction Criteria Base/Whole Building Design Guide. The
guide manages and organizes criteria for contractors and facility
operations staff in numerous governmental agencies, such as the
Army, Navy, Department of Defense, and Air Force.
NIBS also has several councils that investigate and monitor select
activities related to the built environment. They include
- Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC)
- Multi-hazard Mitigation Council
- Interoperability of Software
- Building Environment and Thermal Envelope Council
- Facility Maintenance and Operations Committee
- National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities Advisory
Committee
For more information, visit the following Web sites: www.bdg.org, www.ccb.org, www.nibs.org.
Case Study No.
4: Commercial Building Performance
Adrian Toluca, AIA, Steven Winter Associates
Adrian Toluca, AIA, a senior associate at Steven Winter Associates,
discussed sustainability issues surrounding four projects their
office designed:
- The Solaire Residential High Rise Apartments in Battery Park in
New York City achieved a LEED level of Gold. It received a New York
State tax credit in 2003.
- Tribeca Green in lower Manhattan was expected to achieve a LEED
level of Gold in 2005.
- One Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan expects to achieve a LEED
level of Platinum in 2007.
- McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago expects to achieve
a LEED level of Silver in 2007.
Toluca noted that high performance design is a process of
setting goals and evaluating strategies that integrate all of the
building’s systems in the context of the location. For large
buildings, commissioning is critical to long-term performance.
Among the systems incorporated in the four case study buildings
are
- A building envelope of sustainable materials
- A green roof that retains stormwater runoff
- A black water treatment process
- Spectrally selective glass with high-visibility
transmittance
- Rainwater collectors
- Photovoltaic arrays
- Carbon dioxide monitoring to modulate fresh air.
He said high performance design can be very varied. It describes
a process:
- Setting goals (sometimes these can be competing)
- Evaluation of strategies
- Integration and inspiration.
With a conventionally designed building at a level of 0 percent,
the premium added to the building cost to achieve various LEED
levels is 1.5 percent to 5 percent for LEED Certified, 2 percent to
6 percent for Silver level, 8 percent to 12 percent for Gold level,
and 15 percent to 25 percent for Platinum level.
Case
Study No. 5: Environmental Research Center
Kevin Burke, AIA, Senior Associate, William McDonough
+ Partners
The Environmental Research Center was designed in 1992;
construction started in 1996 and it was completed in 2000. It was
designed as a high performance building, and had for its goals and
principles an opposite end result from that of the Aranoff Center
for Design and Art at the University of Cincinnati. It was meant to
convey the ideas of who you are and where you are.
The design process optimized student, faculty, and community input
into the project design and subsequent use of the building. Goals
of this process were
- Building was to be a teaching school
- Energy was to be exported, not imported (a large photovoltaic
array was used)
- Landscape was to make use of moderating temperatures in the
building and supply the community with fruits and vegetables
(orchards, gardens, and trees are landscaped)
- Water would be recycled (a greenhouse-enclosed organic
wastewater treatment plant was part of the facility)
- Materials were to be sustainable types, nontoxic, recyclable,
locally available
- Economics was to account for realistic costs of materials,
labor, resources, and technologies.
All systems are maintained by the students, who also did all the
plantings and tend the orchard and the garden. Thus, the building
is an embodiment of the Environmental Studies Center’s
curriculum and serves as a teaching tool as well as an example for
the rest of the college.
Burke pointed out that continued commissioning is needed for
sustainable operation. He also posits that an environmentally
responsible building should produce oxygen, create habitat, store
carbon, fix nitrogen, distill water, build healthy soil, use the
sun’s energy to make food, create cooling through evaporation,
change with the seasons, and self-replicate. A POE indicated that
most of the goals had been reached.
Symposium
Wrap-up and Concluding Remarks
Below are some quick observations at the symposium’s
conclusion:
- Sustainability and high performance design are not mutually
exclusive; in fact, they generally complement each other in the
overall scheme. If you improve one, you will improve the
other.
- The architectural fee is generally a good investment in high
performance design. If you reduce the architect’s fee, you
will probably increase the project’s life cycle cost.
- An inhibitor to sustainability and high performance design is
the client's fear that the architect is more of an engineer than an
artist.
- How can we get the concepts of sustainability and high
performance design into the collegiate curriculum for
designers
- Measurement (Fox & Fowle), craft (Oberlin), and research
(Hartkopf) must all come together to accomplish a viable
sustainable and high performance project.
- Architects are generally “not on the train” for high
performance and sustainability design.
What are the most important things we must do now?
- Improve the metrics for measuring high performance and
sustainability
- Solicit the AIA to focus on the benefits to architects on
having them integrate their designs with high performance and
sustainability.
- Solicit the AIA to market POEs
- Promote not just data but knowledge
- Combine high performance and whole building performance
- Contact architecture schools and participate in juries
- Participate in lectures and job fairs
- Link workplace/environment to business performance
- Solicit industry to support monitoring of systems (financial
commitments)
- Piggyback on industries that are more data driven
- Focus on the value of architecture and architects
- Solicit the AIA to present high performance awards
- Recognize building poor performers (“bloopers”)
- Promote interest at AIA conventions and obtain information from
CSI conventions
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