UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

The interior comfort level of a building, defined by ASHRAE as the "condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment" is the primary role of environmental control systems in Architecture. In the majority of buildings, the occupants and equipment produce enough heat that even in northern climates mechanical systems are necessary to cool the interior. My SURF research is focused on reducing the complexity and demand of these systems by optimizing interior surface geometries leading to a more effective flow of air and thus lowering a buildings total energy usage. My method utilizes the UWM School of Architecture building as a case study for evaluating the effect on air-flow caused by the shape of the building interior. Using the 3-Dimensional modeling program Rhino3D, and testing the pressure and temperature difference across a space using Autodesk Simulation CFD (computational fluid dynamics), we can identify methods of increasing the level of circulation that are beneficial in different building situations. Further developing the results of the latter through iteration, reveals solutions that that are permutations of a basic geometrical premise, yielding a precise tool for the refined manipulation of the interior of the building. Results could range from the discovery of significantly different results in testing due to spatial depth of the forms, discovering whether or not the air can be pushed without a mechanical system to move the air in a specific direction, and whether or not there is a uniform geometry that is equally effective in Winter and Summer conditions. The question is not if this is possible, but whether the size of the geometry, the number of geometric instances, or if it is uniform or spaced randomly affects the results the most. Though these individual characteristics could be beneficial on their own, there will be a form that takes advantage of best aspect of each, and that they can be combined in such a way to create the best solution.