Energy and Comfort, Integrated Building Design
Mark Frisch, FAIA, LEED AP® BD+C, Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Over the past three years, Loyola University of Chicago has commissioned two innovative laboratory buildings: one housing a new School of Nursing and Collaborative Learning, the other housing a precedent-setting Center for Sustainable Urban Living. The integrated design process used in both buildings offers a path that marries energy reduction with user comfort. Key to the success of this process is bringing the stakeholders together in a goal-setting session so that the design team, client, and users understand the delicate balance between energy and comfort and how to apply it. Once the design opportunities have been established, this process utilizes a focused series of studies using an array of tools to test strategies in parallel with the development of the architectural expression. In the School of Nursing and Center for Collaborative Learning, three key studies were undertaken to guide design decisions. The first focused on the enclosure, which allowed the team to validate the use of active slab radiant systems given their limited capacity to provide cooling capacity. The second study explored the integration of an innovative solar chimney driving natural ventilation with the base building mechanical system. Finally, in order to confirm the assumption that a variety of assembly spaces could function comfortably with a displacement ventilation system, a series of computational fluid dynamics models were employed to understand the impact of reducing ventilation capacity on the inhabitant comfort. Collectively, these studies allowed tuning the design of the building in concert with the user experience. The Center for Sustainable Urban Living utilized a general opportunity assessment to identify natural ventilation as the most plausible solution to reduce the energy profile, which was validated through a series of empirical studies focused on the winter garden, or the conceptual "lungs" of the project. Three distinct explorations were undertaken to support this concept: one focused on the technical characteristics of the enclosure, one focused on the impact of the interior shading, and one focused on natural ventilation openings. The combination of these studies was influential in informing the architectural expression. Using an integrated approach to design that relies on timely and substantiated engineered data results in a higher quality architectural solution.
Mark Frisch is a creative leader who has spent his professional life developing an understanding of how buildings work and innovating on their integration into the natural and built environments. He currently serves as principal in charge of technical design, where he is responsible for comprehensive technical oversight of the office, initiatives in innovative materials, systems, and sustainability; and implementing the firm's rigorous quality assurance program. Mr. Frisch's extensive and diverse portfolio reflects the development and implementation of technology for sustainable projects, working closely with new energy partners from around the world. His experience includes projects across institutional, health and science, transportation, commercial, and residential sectors.