OCAD U Research Sponsored by Autodesk

Bruce Hinds, Carl Hastrich, Ian Clarke

Thanks to all our open minded students willing to play!

After a while, the whole concept of a national grid for electricity will seem to be as outdated as the concept of phones with wires... Any buildings with air conditioning will generate at least some of its own power from solar tiles on the roof, and gradually grid operators in most places will begin to announce 10-year phaseout plans, advising their customers of the last likely date reliable grid electricity will be available. By then, most people will be generating most of their own energy anyway, and the fading out... will be an inevitability. Your kids will see this.
Vinay Gupta - printed in The Alpine Review; Scenarios

Occupants are generally treated as passive participants within an environment controlled by a centralized automation system.
Attar, from Cole, Brown 2009

Image credit: Michael Lokner

An Investigation of Relationships User

Context

Building

Natural Models for Inspiration Individual Colony Community

Image credit: Carl Hastrich

Image credit: v4vjk

Image credit: USFW Pacific

Increase in complexity

Barrel Cactus - Current Goal of Sustainable Architecture

Image credit: Carl Hastrich

Isolated and independant, reliant entirely on physiological strategies for survival.

Image credit: BaldBoris Image credit: Manitoba Asssociation of Architects

Swiss Re - London

Manitoba Hydo Place - Manitoba

Fantastic pioneer species of future cities. But to regenerate our cities, buildings must connect and contribute.

Termite Colony - Active Participation

Image credit: IDEO

Image credit: v4vjk

The structure functions like lungs, acting as an extension of the organisms physiology, an extended phenotype. Furniture layout is designed to facilitate organizational behaviour.
Image credit: Herman Miller

The next step is for the participation to extend to physiological systems.

Coral Reef - Community through Nutrient Flow

Image credit: USFW Pacific

While nutrient poor, the community is so diverse it is able to use energy efficiently which then supports the increase of diversity. It is an example of circular cause and effect.

Efficiency and regeneration will occur through networking resource flow.

Impact on Energy Efficiency in Ecology

energy used by organisms

Increase in complexity

Patch Dynamics: Diversity increases Efficiency

Evolution of Buildings in a Regenerative City

Old Paradigm

Buildings as Consumers
Buildings drawing (perceived) abundant enegy

Current Paradigm

Buildings as Conservators
Independant buildings drawing minimal resources

Emerging Paradigm

Buildings as Contributors
Inter-dependant & connected buildings exchanging resources

Single direction of flow, resources abundant.

Single direction of flow, resources conserved.

Multidirectional flow, resources generated.

Increase in complexity

Our Research Overview - Building Science Review

Current trajectory of research Future trajectory of research

Building Centric
Efficiency is the quantitative measure of achieving human needs - identified through predetermined standards.
Technologically driven according to predefined standardized metrics (i.e. Ashrae) with a goal of static, consistent performance.

Occupant Centric
Comfort is the qualitative human perception of their environment.
A deeper understanding of user satisfaction, health and engagement is evolving building performance. Research suggests desire for personalized, individualized performance. Therefore metrics for building performance are tailored and are informed according to input from the user.

Eco-Centric
Distribution of resources within a system via diverse relationships.
Dependant on deep understanding of occupant centric building performance and the value of an ecological/systems framework. Research suggests an evolving, interconnected framework. Emphasis on context and time, specifically the relationships between information.

Building: Pre-determined function.

Individual: Adaptive / Interactive services.

Community: Exchange of Resources in a network.

OCAD U Research Sponsored by Autodesk

Thank you,
Carl Hastrich - carl@hastrichdesign.com Bruce Hinds - bhinds@ocadu.ca Ian Clarke - iclarke@ocadu.ca