Whole-Building High-Performance
Maximum Experience, Minimal Footprint
Crafting an optimal experience for users/occupants goes hand-in-hand with building performance and requires not only a deep level of engineering and systems knowledge, but also a focus on the human aspect and how a place impacts overall well-being.
Building Performance Services
To fully realize healthy, happy, productive places that are operationally and energy efficient, we take a whole-building approach to design. This means thoughtful consideration of a building’s context (site, orientation, massing, surrounding neighborhoods and businesses), its indoor and outdoor spaces (and the interactions between those spaces), and its operational systems. The building performance services we offer our clients include:
Through daylighting analysis, we develop design solutions to optimize the use of natural light, reduce reliance on artificial lighting, and enhance overall energy efficiency and occupant well-being. This analysis involves assessing how natural light penetrates and illuminates the interior of a building, considering factors such as sunlight availability, shading, and the orientation of windows.
We use energy modeling to review potential building performance scenarios. Combining factors such as building orientation, weather patterns, construction materials, and HVAC systems, we analyze the data and make adjustments to find the right balance between cost and energy-use options for each project.
With expertise spanning visitor centers, office buildings, grocery stores, hospitals, schools, data centers, and more, our team understands the intricacies and demands of each type of facility and how to help clients make the best energy-system choices for their unique projects.
Our mechanical team works to assess air quality in indoor spaces and determine recommended solutions. The goal is to help clients determine a path forward that takes into consideration their existing systems as well as facilities planned for the future. We ensure HVAC systems are beneficial to building users and occupants for decades to come.
A post occupancy evaluation — or POE — is a detailed look at how a facility is meeting the original design objectives and operational requirements. It’s also a review of how occupants are using the space and how they feel about it. The POE process offers valuable insight into occupant satisfaction, building operations, and energy consumption.
The Secret Language of Buildings
Each building is an ecosystem conveying information about its health. Our goal is to ensure those ecosystems hum along with their various components in perfect harmony. This means designing them to be efficient and resilient for the long term, keeping up with maintenance, and ensuring new technologies are incorporated throughout their lifetimes.
With a focus on research-based design and long-term performance, our multidisciplinary team has the tools and expertise to design from a holistic perspective. Beginning in the early stages of a project, we use energy modeling to optimize designs. After construction, we “close the loop” through post-occupancy evaluation (POE). The POE process is custom-tailored to each project and includes steps such as analyzing utility bills to compare actual vs. modeled performance, surveying occupants, and taking on-site measurements of space conditions.
Data-Driven Design
How do you optimize building performance and the in-building experience? By looking at every facet of how a building interacts with its environment and how people interact within the space. Through a variety of tools, such as community and user surveys, energy modeling, building automation system analysis, daylight analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and post occupancy evaluations, our team looks at hundreds of variables, helping you make the best decisions for your project, from the initial design phase through construction and occupancy. This work provides valuable insight into key areas such building operations, energy consumption, and occupant satisfaction.
Service Highlight: Energy Modeling
Energy modeling is an important tool that can help us help you make the best design decisions. With custom-built scripts, our energy experts combine factors such as building orientation, building usage, weather patterns, construction materials, HVAC systems, and building-use predictions, among many others. Then they analyze the data and make adjustments to find the right balance between cost and energy-use options for each project.
Energy modeling can be used to document performance, obtain green building certifications, and inform energy audits and re-commissioning work.
Service Highlight: Post Occupancy Evaluation
Post Occupancy Evaluation is a detailed look at how your facility is meeting the original design objectives and operational requirements. Why you might be interested:
- You’re pursuing sustainable, healthy building certifications such as LEED and WELL.
- You want to confirm your project was built and commissioned the way it was designed.
- You value research, data, and discovery and want to gain more knowledge about your facility.
- You want to gain knowledge from your current facilities to inform future projects.
- You’re focused on recruitment and retention and want to ensure employee satisfaction.
- You’re interested in knowing about system performance and new technologies to incorporate.
