Comfortable? Just Right? Or, In Need of a Portable Heater?
So, at the beach, comfort isn’t complicated. Bring a sweater or shirt, just in case, or maybe a windbreaker—and a portable umbrella if you have one. Or, rent one. If still uncomfortable, hit the water or retreat to a nearby building.
But, what I want to talk about has more to do with comfort, technically referred to as thermal comfort, in buildings, such as your Formation Building.
I intended to blog about this LEED credit for the building a little later, but then read a professional magazine article the other day about a preponderance of buildings failing thermal comfort surveys.
Out of 609 buildings in the database of the Center for the Built Environment (UC Berkeley), only 13% meet the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) performance standard for thermal comfort. Worse, to my mind, is that among those LEED-certified, only 20% performed satisfactorily for building occupants. Only 20%?! Disappointing is one word that comes to mind…
That news reminded me of a LEED project I worked on up to certification award in April 2011. Realizing that its thermal comfort survey should have been completed before now, I was interested in knowing the results.
To my surprise, due to people moving around within the management company, nobody started the survey. Now overdue, someone there needs to take it on, or accept my offer to implement the survey that I wrote and successfully documented for LEED certification credit.
But, back to the beginning, as it were. The building design and mechanical systems have everything to do with whether you’re going to be comfortable in your building through the seasons. No surprise there, right?
Many factors must be successfully addressed in order assure the desired outcome of the Thermal Comfort—Verification survey, good for 1 LEED point, at 80% or better for all regular occupants.
Sparing you the details of construction, the church will engage what’s called a Commissioning Authority whose tasks include testing the various mechanical systems in the building for performance according to manufacturer specification and the owner’s project requirements, prior to building occupancy. Job is to insure both energy savings and likely post-occupancy productivity stemming from user comfort in the various building spaces.
Tied into this “tune-up” is the LEED credit, Thermal Comfort—Design. To put it in a few words, acceptable documentation is dependant upon effective building envelope and mechanical system design. Drafts and radiant temperature cold/warm spots are among potential discomforts to solve for in the design and verify in pre-occupancy performance testing.
As to the survey, here are several among numerous questions that will be on the list for Formation Building occupants to answer sometime between the 6th and 18th month of occupancy :
12. Your attire at the time of survey (color in best match):
- o Trousers, short-sleeve shirt
- o Trousers, long-sleeve shirt
- o Trousers, long-sleeve shirt plus suit jacket
- o Trousers, long-sleeve shirt plus suit jacket, vest, T-shirt
- o Trousers, long-sleeve shirt plus long-sleeve sweater, T-shirt
- o Trousers, long-sleeve shirt plus long-sleeve sweater, T-shirt plus suit jacket
- o Knee-length skirt, short-sleeve shirt (sandals)
- o Knee-length skirt long-sleeve shirt, full slip
- o Knee-length skirt long-sleeve shirt, half slip long-sleeve sweater
- o Ankle-length skirt, long-sleeve shirt, suit jacket
- o Walking shorts, short-sleeve shirt
- o Long-sleeve coveralls, T-shirt
- o Overalls, long-sleeve shirt, T-shirt
- o Insulated coveralls, long-sleeve thermal underwear tops and bottoms
- o Athletic sweat pants, long-sleeve sweatshirt
13. Your current activity level:
o Reclining
o Seated quietly
o Standing relaxed
o Light activity standing
o Medium activity standing
o High activity
14. Is the view from your meeting/school room window facing North, East, South or West?
o North (toward the Parish House)
o East (facing the playground)
o South (facing the Joust field)
o West (facing the Admin. building)
The aim of the Design/Construction team is to insure your thermal comfort in the Formation Building.
It will not be forgotten!