CR∆CKİNG THЄ C󉘳DЄ // DYN∆MİC L∆B F∆C∆DЄS: Humanizing Façade Performance Metrics

King, Amanda, AIA; Kumar, Dayita, LEED GA; Nauman, Daniel, AIA

CR∆CKİNG THЄ C󉘳DЄ // DYN∆MİC L∆B F∆C∆DЄS

Humanizing Façade Performance Metrics

Paper by Amanda King, AIA, LEED AP BD&C, CPHC · Dayita Kumar, LEED GA · Daniel Nauman, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, CPHC

Presented on October 12, 2022 at Facade Tectonics 2022 World Congress

Overview

Abstract

The real estate market continues to demand “all glass” buildings often to the detriment of human comfort and thermal performance. For an office building typology, maintaining a low window to wall ratio is the most straightforward path to lowering the building’s energy consumption. However, for life sciences buildings, increased ventilation requirements mean the envelope has a smaller impact on the overall energy consumption than for an office building of the same design. With less direct energy use consequences, this can lead to sacrificing the basic tenets of high-performance envelope design in favor of market pressures. The same envelope that would not enable the project to meet energy code requirements for an office building can pass when applied to a lab building. Progressive energy codes are moving to restrict the quantity of vision glazing projects may use, but their adoption is yet to be widespread.

This paper explores the challenge to meet that market demand for full height views while performing above and beyond the energy code in the rapidly expanding bio-tech market of Philadelphia. The resulting case study delivers an “all glass”, LEED Platinum and WELL Gold lab that offers the spaces and views tenants are looking for without compromising on comfort or performance. The path of exploration lead us through an array of technologies and strategies to a relatively new technology; dynamic glazing. This paper will explore the journey through those technologies and the decision process that ultimately lead to dynamic glazing.

Authors

Amanda King, AIA, LEED AP BD&C, CPHC

Gensler

amanda_king@gensler.com

Dayita Kumar, LEED GA

Associate

Gensler

dayita_kumar@gensler.com

Daniel Nauman, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, CPHC

Senior Associate

Gensler

daniel_nauman@gensler.com

Keywords

dynamic facade, responsive active facade, building performance, health-comfort-IEQ, BIPV, electro-chromic glass, case study

Introduction

Laboratory buildings are a challenging typology, with more stringent requirements for air quality, humidity, and temperature control than office buildings. Adding to that an additional layer of planning rigidity required for appropriate lab bench layout and support rooms means the envelope is often a secondary or tertiary design consideration. Lab building envelopes are often little more than a static wrapper; a boundary between exterior and interior with performance requirements capable of achieving only the base code minimums. Façade innovations across the industry have made tremendous strides in the last decade due to three primary drivers: enhancing user well-being and indoor environmental quality, reducing carbon consumption for the protection of the overall environment, and improving operations and marketability for building owners. Each of these drivers are valid for laboratory buildings yet the facades often fall short.

The skin can be more than a static barrier; it is a medium to control daylight, capture views, provide natural ventilation, reduce heat transfer, enhance occupant well-being, and provide a dynamic extension of the overall building systems. Prioritization of all these opportunities may not be possible within a project budget, and there is no specific formula to achieve the outcome of high performance. It is therefore imperative to begin the design process with the definition of what a successful outcome will look like. By defining success at the outset of a project, understanding the challenges in the design process, and the specific requirements of the lab typology, this case study proves it is possible to arrive at a solution that exceeded the performance outcomes of the baseline despite an increase in the window to wall ratio.

Figure 1: Interior View of Case Study. Rendering by author.

Energy Codes Don't Cut It

Laboratory mechanical systems are so energy demanding it can seem that there are diminishing returns in addressing energy within the façade. Conditioning the large volume of air exchange required to