Integrated Design Research Lab

This research by Savannah Cherry aims to evaluate the emissivity and thermal properties of common parking lot materials in the United States, including asphalt, gravel, and grass. The objective is to assess these materials’ thermal characteristics to support designs that help reduce their impact on urban surface and air temperatures. Throughout the study, the grass lot consistently recorded the lowest average temperatures, both during the day and night, showing an average 11.33% reduction compared to asphalt and gravel.

The adoption of tiny houses, characterized by a footprint of less than 400 ft², emerges as a compelling alternative to conventional residences, offering solutions to enhance sustainability across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The project by Parham Kheirkhah Sangdeh assesses the potential of different climate zones for achieving net-zero energy tiny houses, with emphasis placed on selecting the most densely populated city with the highest average house rent in each region.

This project by Nathan King investigates the simulated impact of punctures in simple envelopes, using projected energy use as a baseline for efficacy between iterations. The overall research question concerns how courtyards can be used as part of an effective passive design solution, with a focus on how their efficacy can be proven in simulations and represented to other designers & project stakeholders. The study as conducted showed that although it appeared outwardly that necessary climate data was available to prove the efficacy of certain puncture positions, the simulation calculations were seemingly not detailed enough to accurately represent the differences between different puncture positions in a consistent form.

Integrating photovoltaic (PV) panels into buildings as a source of clean energy has been a widely established method to achieve net-zero energy buildings. While rooftop installed PV panels have been extensively implemented, with more urban area development and population growth, the rooftop area of high-rises will not be sufficient to meet the whole building’s electricity demand. This thesis by Hamideh Hossei investigated the different BIPV’s array configurations and PV cell circuit connections to achieve higher energy yields while addressing design requirements in BIPV facade systems.

While there is considerable research on the performance and aesthetics of BIPV systems, there is less focus on understanding how these systems affect the human experience. Without a deeper investigation into how BIPV installations influence office workers’ sentiments, progress in integrating these systems may be hindered. The goal of this research by Faith Tootle is not to find a single solution but to offer insights that can guide the future integration of BIPV systems in a way that takes both human comfort and sustainability into account.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are one of the pollutants that impact indoor air quality, leading to many adverse health effects such as asthma and other breathing issues. Building facade is one of the building elements that is in direct contact with sunlight and interior space. Therefore, it can serve as a prime location to implement TiO₂ photocatalytic facade and remove VOCs. The facade configuration studied in this paper by Ketki Parshant Bapat was chosen as a tetrahedron geometry to increase more surface area for coating TiO₂ under a unit volume.