THA + PSU Research Collaboration Update

by Miguel Hidalgo

As a continuation of our ongoing research relationship with Portland State University, we’ve just begun another student / design team investigative session. The purpose of this collaboration is to give PSU architectural and engineering students the opportunity to engage in research on real projects that supports specific sustainability goals. On the other side, our design teams hope to gain timely and specific knowledge to enhance project design.

This session is focused on investigating the potential for daylight modeling to optimize the window and skylight layouts for the Renton Highlands Public Library, currently in the CD phase. The students will use daylight modeling software, analyzing the current design to determine a series of baseline lighting values. Then, in collaboration with the THA design team, the students will develop a series of window and skylight variations to be modeled and compared with the baseline. Results that provide better daylighting conditions while reducing energy consumption will inform the final design.

Due to the complexity of building accurate daylight models and the challenge of interpreting the results from each modeling run, THA has expanded the collaborative team to include Jackie Kingen, a lighting technician at Glumac. Jackie has volunteered to participate in the early meetings with the students and THA to assist with model construction protocol and results analysis. Her participation will enhance the team’s confidence in the modeling data and reduce the time spent on non-informative modeling strategies.

Early baseline data is shown below. Final results showing the comparative performance of different configurations will be presented in late December and early January.