A short lab exercise designed for individual students to experience the qualitative and calculate some quantitative aspects of acoustic performance. Designed to be completed in a single lab period.
Lab exercise focused on envelope performance, specifically calculations of steady-state conduction, and simplified assessment of condensation risk (dew-point analysis). Lab includes a walking tour with IR camera to explore wall construction and performance, and students individually hypothesize and analyze those constructions, and compare to local energy code. Designed as an individual assignment.
A final design exercise focused on integration of prior experiences, and on the graphic communication of performance and design information. Designed for an individual student and around the production of a single integrated systems diagram for a pin-up review.
My version of the ever-popular balance point game in which students modify a simple physical model of a building (a glass cube) to affect the internal temperature. This version is compressed to run in a one-hour lab, but still allow competitive game play. Focuses on various forms of heat transfer and storage, and on system dynamics. Can be played with elementary through PhD students, depending on how you frame the conversation. Designed for groups, and obviously requires construction of the boxes!
Editable syllabus document and schedule spreadsheet, plus PDF example for a spring semester.
Unless otherwise noted, content is ©2020 David Fannon, and licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License.
Lab exercise in which students construct a simple daylight model, predict the qualitative and quantitative distribution of light, and then measure the model under overcast conditions. Designed to be done as teams in a week, but could be expanded to address additional issues or made individual. See also the related Design exercise 8.
This exercise is based on and adapted from the work of Professor Charles Benton, U.C. Berkeley School of Architecture.
This work, including all images, is used with permission under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike license.
Slides for sound absorbing materials in buildings including types, rating, mounting and simple examples. Also, there is a slide animation for the reverberation time and the buildup and decay of sound in rooms.
Example of project assignment for the design analysis of noise in buildings using manual calculations and Noise Control 3D modeling software. It provides the opportunity to easily study the effect of different design factors on the noise.
A lab assignment that asks students to perform an enclosure assessment by detecting sources of air leakage and thermal bridging utilizing infrared thermography
In this lab we ask students to perform an enclosure assessment by detecting sources of air leakage and thermal bridging in one of our buildings using infrared thermometers along with infrared thermography.
Air leaks show up different from thermal bridges although they can often look similar on infrared images. They learn to distinguish between the two types and assess the consequences to a building’s enclosure performance.
This is a game to allow students to experiment with energy saving design strategies in buildings. Faced with a $ spending limit, students make choices to upgrade a building and compete to achieve the lowest EUI. This version uses DesignBuilder, and it helps if you have students or Teaching Assistants who can run the software.
This is a game to allow students to experiment with energy saving design strategies in buildings. The included game files can be run in DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus. Also included are a Game Brief (rules for participants), Order Form, and Instructions for Modelers. If the participants know DesignBuilder they can run the simulations themselves. If not, they can turn in Order Forms to a small group of teaching assistants who can run the simulations for them.
The Environmental Protection Agency Building Dessau Germany was designed by Sauerbruch Hutton in Dessau completed in 2007
Given sufficient data, including the REVIT project file (attachced), lectures on climate region, and the materials lectures and videos, determine the LCA for the building scenario below.
In these slides you can find the information on how to calculate sound diffusion coefficient and one example that shows the use of acoustics wave-based modeling for large scale.
This is a demonstration of a game I play with my students in my introduction to Environmental Systems class.
Students break into teams and are given charts, including solar sunpath diagrams and graphs from the tool Climate Consultant, representing one of three cities. They are taught how to read the graphs and charts, as well as solar geometry basics. Each team is tasked with describing their climate, and guessing their actual city.
Understanding Climate Game
This is a demonstration of a game I play with my students in my introduction to Environmental Systems class.
This is a 50 minute quiz. It involves analyzing passive strategies for a house in a hot humid climate.
A quiz covering questions dealing with sun shadows, heat loss, and infiltration.
This slide deck provides an intro to the different enclosure control layers before diving deeper into moisture control and its relevant material layers.
These are lecture slides for teaching water supply systems, components, and design considerations.
This lecture covers a set of slides for teaching water supply systems, components, and design considerations that I draw from when covering this topic in a Building Systems Technology course.
A lab assignment for students to study schematic riser diagrams
In this assignment I ask my students to study the schematic riser diagram and come up with question of
They have to try on their own, then discuss in teams, and then develop strategies (identify methodologies) to find the best possible answers to their questions. This excercise starts in class, where I move from team to team to facilitate some of the questions for them to further their research.
Lecture content for an introduction to the thermal performance of building enclosures
This lecture provides an introduction to thermal performance of building enclosures. It starts with repeating the principles of thermal heat transfer through the example of a fin tube radiator, which perfectly blends all these principles together. We then look at the different units for measuring heat and energy before moving to how we can characterize heat transfer through enclosure in a uniform way (U-Values and R-Values).
