Conclusions

Hypothesis 1 - Conclusions

It was found that Green on the Grand generally succeeds in fulfilling its goal for a passive sustainable design without changing the occupant attitude. Green on the Grand uses a high level of engineering to achieve its goals and succeeds on almost every level. One area of difficulty is the summer cooling and seasonal transition periods. Thirty-three percent of the occupants indicated that they were dissatisfied with the temperature and ventilation, especially during the summer months. Occupants, however, did not indicate a problem with the winter months. This concurs with the HOBO results obtained, which did not leave the human comfort zone on mild winter days. It can be concluded that Green on the Grand met its goals, but did not provide adequate cooling for the summer months.

Hypothesis 2 - Conclusions

It is thought that the Green on the Grand does provide a suitable working environment, taking full advantage of natural daylighting through the use of equal window distribution, justified through superior window glazing construction and performance. Over 80% of the occupants were satisfied with the lighting in their work environment and over 75% were satisfied with the size of windows used. Exterior shading was deemed unnecessary, although more attention to the problematic western façade could have been made.

LESSONS LEARNED

Hypothesis 1

The major lesson learned was that while technological advances can provide a cost savings in building operation they do not necessarily provide as great an improvement in occupant satisfaction. Although a building design may allow for a very high indoor air quality(IAQ) and ventilation rate it is apparent from the occupant survey that operable windows are desirable. This is human nature. In order to substantiate the findings from the occupant survey the results will need to be compared with other similar surveys conducted on typical office buildings. is that occupant comfort is of up most importance.

Hypothesis 2

The major lesson learned is based around the creation of new supplements to current shading devices. This refers specifically to the invention of triple-glazed window systems, which offer excellent resistance to the transmission of radiant heat and still allow exceptional daylight transmission. Currently, it is thought that systems such as this still need to be used with more commonly used methods such as exterior solar shelves, in several situations. In this case, it would be in terms of the west façade. Perhaps in the future, such systems will become advanced enough to not need supplementation.

FINAL REMARKS. We would like to thank all of those that assisted us in completing this case study:

Stephen Carpenter and the Enermodal Engineering staff for allowing us to put HOBOS all over their office
Snider Richard & March Architects for providing us with the building information, drawings, and participating in an interview.
All of the Occupants at Green on the Grand for participating in the occupant survey
Terri Boake, University of Waterloo, for her assistance during the case study process.
The Center for Environmental Design Research at the University of California, for the use of theVital Signs equipment package

And we would like to thank you for showing some interest in our results.

With Thanks,

Kevin Leskiw, Carla Weinberg, Laurie Evans McLeod, Costas Catsaros, Angie Mende

The Vital Signs Curriculum Materials Project

Last Modified: April 23rd, 1998