Congratulations to all of the 2008 recipients!

Cradle to Grave: Case Studies of Buildings’ Environmental Footprint
Principal Investigators:
Dan Jacobs, A3C Architects
Ash Ragheb, Center for Sustainability, Lawrence Technological University

Abstract :
The objective of this study is to estimate the environmental impacts released by multiple case study buildings throughout life span and evaluates their damage to both local and global environment. The results compile an environmental footprint for these buildings based on their impacts (releases to air, water, and land) during their entire life cycle. The study demonstrates how Cradle to Grave analysis or what is called Life Cycle Analysis LCA could be applied from a single material to complex systems such as buildings throughout its life cycle. It highlights the importance of reducing the environmental burdens of buildings as essential and important way for climate change mitigation. The whole building approach will identify and evaluate how building’s key elements (structure, enclosure, roofing, walls and partitions, finishes) will influence its environmental impact and performance. The analysis also shows to what extent each of these building components contributes to the total impact. The study then calculates the environmental damage imposed by these cases by calculating these impacts (emissions to air, water, land). Cases include some recent LEED certified vs. conventional construction to highlight the difference of choosing sustainable alternatives over others which is an essential decision of the future for architects and designers. The impact evaluation of cases uses the EPA environmental impact categories to assess the possible damage to the environment. This approach gives a balanced view of: a) Immediate or local impacts (e.g. human toxicity, smog formation), and b) Long-term or global impacts (e.g., global warming, ozone depletion, nonrenewable resources depletion i.e. energy & materials, acid rain formation). The final result will document these cases’ impacts to inform architects’ design decisions of buildings components alternatives and reduce their environmental burdens.

 

EcoCeramic Phase II: High Performance Masonry Enclosure
Principal Investigators:
Jason Oliver Vollen: Center for Architectural Sciences, Associate Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Principal, Binary Design
Kelly Winn: Doctoral Student, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Jed Laver: Researcher, University of Arizona

Abstract:
At the turn of the 20th century the height of building technology was hand-crafted ceramic tiles mounted on structural steel framing. There were more than a dozen companies nationwide employing thousands of workers making each tile from custom-built molds interpreted from architects’ drawings. Few of these original companies remain and most are primarily involved in the preservation of historic buildings. The art of building with ceramics has fallen by the wayside. Yet the natural process of erosion of the Earth’s surface produces clay five times faster than we could ever expect to use it. While terracotta has many desirable properties as a building material — vitrified glazed finishes (durability), thermal mass characteristics (energy efficiency), humidity controlling properties (environmental comfort), plasticity of form (structural stability) — modern building techniques require a resilient construction system based on sustainable and ecological principles with a streamlined design and manufacturing process: EcoCeramic.

Phase I of our research has demonstrated for the first time that combining the intrinsic properties of ceramics and glass fibers creates a new material whose performance is both multidimensional and recombinant. The initial prototypical masonry units are locally post-tensioned using composites eliminating the need for steel reinforcing or structural framing. By employing digital simulation and fabrication technologies we have created environmentally tuned surface tiles that absorb or reject thermal radiation. Phase II will develop the EcoCeramic masonry unit into a weatherproof self supporting enclosure system. The evolution of this technology revives historic and artistic traditions and promotes the aesthetics of terracotta building surfaces that are part of lineage of Frank Furness, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.


Guidelines for the Design of Sustainable Learning Laboratories that Teach Through Architecture
Principal Investigator: Jim Jones Ph.D., Director CHPLE,  Virginia Tech

Abstract:
The Center for High Performance Learning Environments (CHPLE), and the School of Education at Virginia Tech, in cooperation with the Southwest Virginia Science Museum, science educators, the International Institute for Sustainable Labs (I2SL) and Spectrum Design will promote “buildings that teach” and environmental stewardship with the development of a new AIA learning module that describes knowledge-based links between learning, critical thinking and architecture. The continuing ED module will build on recent research, and AIA and Labs21 workshops developed by the CHPLE that promote sustainable design practices and environmental stewardship while directly establishing design strategies that transform learning environments such as schools from passive vessels to active participants in learning. Through recent CHPLE participation on the designs for the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum and an Environmental Learning Center for Southwest Virginia, an understanding for the interrelationships between pedagogical issues and building systems is being mapped. By further developing this map through this proposal, guidelines will be developed that assist architects in designing environments that directly support learning. Through a qualitative research paradigm that includes observation and documentation, data reduction and coding, and interpretation, links between building features, museum and school displays and exhibits, and learning will be identified and mapped to the architectural design process. In addition, a group of middle school students from Southwest Virginia will participate in a mock design of an “environmentally responsive” building. Through a similar qualitative approach dimensions of student learning related to architecture and the environment will be identified and translated to architectural decision-making.


Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture
Principal Investigator: Kiel Moe, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Northeastern University

Abstract:
This body of research focuses on the new role of thermally active surfaces in architecture in our work towards low-to-no energy consumption buildings. In this transformation of energy and building practices, the thermal conditioning of a building is decoupled from the ventilation system by using the mass of the building itself as the thermal system rather than air. This method of heat transfer is physiologically and thermodynamically optimal. It also reinvests the fabric of the building itself with a more a poignant role: the structure is also the primary mechanical system. As energy and construction strategy, it yields a cascading set of advantages for the building design and construction industry: radically lower energy consumption, more durable buildings, more healthy buildings, and more integrated building systems and design teams. An important aspect of thermally active surfaces is that they are low-tech yet high performance and are thus equally applicable in the developed and developing worlds. As such, thermally active surfaces are central to multiple aspects of sustainability. This grant funding will sponsor parallel strains of research related to thermally active surfaces, leading to the publication the first and only book on this sustainable technique. This phase of research includes the documentation and illustration of the physiological and thermodynamic basis of thermally active surfaces, the elucidation of changes and amendments to professional practice and the building industry implied with this technique, the energy modeling of contemporary ten case studies with advanced modeling software, and the illustration/documentation of these case studies that focus on the systems, performance, and constructability of each project. The architects, engineers, and climate consultants for these ten projects have enthusiastically agreed to participate in the case studies and book, creating a network of practitioners and academics that will shape the case studies and ultimate book. The book is practice-driven, aiming to elucidate principles and practices for direct implementation.