Designing an intelligent building skin to improve occupant comfort

The New Academic Building of the Cooper Union has a very unique façade construction. The exterior of the building is a 50% perforated skin. The perforated skin is attached to the exterior of the building and performs as a unique manipulator of the building performance. The perforated skin acts as a solar screen and assists in the creation of a climate façade. The climate façade is created by controlling the air in the cavity between the perforated skin and the exterior wall of the building. By controlling the movement of air between the exterior wall and the perforated skin, heat gains during the summer are reduced and heat losses during the winter are also reduced. The challenge in designing a building with such a unique enclosure is made possible by fully understanding the physics of the building. The perforated skin of the exterior must reduce solar radiation during the summer and at the same time allowing diffuse radiation to enter the place to enable natural day lighting in the spaces. During winter, solar radiation is encouraged to enter the space and provide heat to the building to offset heat losses. This report will identify some of the characteristics and performance required of the outer skin and the glass. The information from this report will be relayed to the Lighting Consultants so they can evaluate the utilization of natural daylight in the spaces. The report uses comfort criteria as determined in the ASHRAE standard 55 to evaluate occupant comfort in the spaces.