i n t r o d u c t i o n

photo courtesy of Alison Kwok

This case study centers on recently opened Ash Creek Elementary School in Monmouth, Oregon. Designed by BOORA Architects of Portland, the new school incorporates features such as daylighting (a system of light shelves, operable louvered blinds, solar tubes and clerestory windows), sophisticated light monitoring and ventilation systems, and passive cooling to create a school environment that saves the school district much in energy costs, and creates a comfortable and positive learning environment for its students. This school is part of the Oregon Department of Energy's "High Performance Schools" program, promoting energy efficiency, daylighting and natural alternatives to mechanical temperature control systems.

While other groups in this seminar are studying the quantitative effects of the lighting, ventilation and heating systems at the new school, our aim is to survey the opinions of Ash Creek's students and teachers, to gain insight into their perception of the effectiveness of the school's high-tech design in those same areas: lighting, ventilation, and temperature.

Our interest in the more qualitative evaluation by teachers and students of the school was prompted by an initial desire to find out whether students felt better, and might perform better, in a school whose design paid attention to such factors as daylighting. It was further piqued by comments we heard on our first visit to Ash Creek: it seemed there were clear opinions that the occupants had surrounding their new school, and we were intrigued to find out more.

Questions we had about the feelings of students and teachers at Ash Creek towards the new environment included: Do students and teachers feel they have adequate light from the daylighting/artificial lighting system? Are they thermally comfortable in their classrooms? Do students and teachers feel the air quality is reasonable? Do teachers feel they have adequate control of the complex lighting system (which uses sensors to detect daylight levels and adjusts artificial light accordingly)? Do teachers feel all the components comprising the lighting system are useful?

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