swissnex Boston Day Lighting Case Study at MIT December 3rd 2009
swissnex Boston Day Lighting Case Study at MIT December 3rd 2009
The Day lighting course is taught at MIT during the Fall semester 2009 by Marilyne Andersen, a faculty member of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture. This course aims at providing the tools necessary for an efficient integration of day lighting issues in the overall design process of a building. By getting familiar with the factors and quantities involved in a given (day)lighting situation, students are able to assess it in different ways (visual assessment, experimental survey, calculations or computer simulations) and to propose advanced (day)lighting strategies to improve it, a knowledge they apply to the analysis and (re)design project of an existing building. This year, the outcomes of this design project will be exhibited in the Wolk Gallery at MIT (inauguration on April 27, 2010) for an exhibition organized in collaboration with and sponsored by swissnex Boston, entitled: 'Delight in Greener Daylight - A Class Perspective on Façade Renovation'. As part of their design project for this class, eighteen students worked in teams of three to four to each analyze a designated portion of the recent second floor extension to the Swissnex building in Cambridge MA from a day lighting perspective, focusing on visual and thermal comfort (glare, illumination, overheating risks), ensuing energy requirements and visual interest of the spaces. They took measurements in situ, proposed improvement objectives, then validated a first design proposal through scale model measurements, and a second iteration through simulation methods. They presented this process and their results on December 3, 2009 at MIT to a panel of design and building technology faculty that also included the Swiss Consul, Deputy Consul and Counselor for Science and Technology from the Swiss Embassy in Washington DC.
