I've recently become acquainted with the work of Michelle Addington, an architect/professor at Harvard (who was first a mechanical engineer, nuclear engineer, and painter!). She is looking at things in a really interesting way, challenging some of the assumptions that basically drive the whole industry. For example, why are we conditioning whole buildings, when only the space right around the human are what we're after? She's also looking at how very tiny adjustments -- "tuning" surfaces, for example -- can have very dramatic impacts in thermal performance, air flows, and more... fascinating stuff. Here's a sample: http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/cote_addington.pdf. I will have some ppt slides to share soon as well.

Recent Comments