VOLUME 10 ISSUE 4
The International Journal of
Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design __________________________________________________________________________
Outside In Using the Animation of the Weather to Improve Building Occupants’ Well-Being and Raise Awareness of Passive Energy and Rainwater Saving KEVIN NUTE AND AARON WEISS
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Outside In: Using the Animation of the Weather to Improve Building Occupants’ Well-Being and Raise Awareness of Passive Energy and Rainwater Saving Kevin Nute, University Oregon, USA Aaron Weiss, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, USA Abstract: Natural outdoor environments are known to reduce human stress, but most people in the developed world now spend more than 90 percent of their lives inside buildings, and the most common means of attempting to bring nature indoors—interior planting—is significantly less beneficial to human health than its outdoor equivalent. The work presented here is based on the thesis that this may in part be because indoor plants typically lack a characterizing feature of most outdoor foliage: visible movement. The paper demonstrates how the movements of sunlight, wind and rain can be used to overcome the absence of nature and perceptible change from many indoor environments while at the same time increasing the visibility of important but underused passive energy and rainwater-saving techniques in buildings. Three general design strategies for bringing the movements of the elements indoors without compromising shelter are identified, and their potential intersections with five key passive energy and rainwater-saving techniques are then examined. Keywords: Weather-Generated Indoor Movement, Building Occupant Well-Being, Passive Energy and Rainwater Saving
Introduction
O
ver the past three decades the human benefits of contact with nature have been widely documented. The work of Rachel and Steven Kaplan, for example, established that exposure to natural outdoor environments has important restorative effects, including reducing stress.1 Most people in the developed world now spend the majority of their lives indoors, however, and although interior prospects of outdoor nature have been shown to have a similarly calming effect, the majority of buildings—and especially those in urban settings—are not blessed with views of greenery.2 The most common means of attempting to compensate for the absence of nature inside buildings, interior planting, has also been found to be significantly less beneficial than its outdoor equivalent.3 The work presented here stems from the thesis that this could in part be because indoor plants generally lack a key characteristic of outdoor foliage: visible movement. With the goal of addressing the general absence of both nature and perceptible change from many indoor environments, the paper explores how the natural movements of sunlight, wind and rain could be used to improve occupant well-being by visibly animating building interiors at the same time as increasing the visibility of underused passive energy and rainwater-saving techniques in buildings.
1 Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 184–93. 2 Roger Ulrich, “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery,” Science 224 (April 27, 1984): 420–22. 3 See, for example, Tina Bringslimark, Terry Hartig, and Grete G. Patil, “The Psychological Benefits of Indoor Plants: A Critical Review of the Experimental Literature,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 29 (December 2009): 422–33.
The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design Volume 10, Issue 4, 2016, www.designprinciplesandpractices.com © Common Ground Publishing, Kevin Nute, Aaron Weiss, All Rights Reserved Permissions:
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTONIC, SPATIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Relationship to Existing Theory The link between sensory restriction and human stress was first established by Donald Hebb's Arousal Theory in the 1950s.4 It is now generally accepted that unchanging environments lead to a rapid fall off in alertness, and eventually to fatigue and stress when we attempt to maintain concentration in under-stimulating conditions. Evolutionary psychology attributes our need for both nature and perceptible change in our surroundings to the fact that human physiology originally developed outdoors in response to a constantly varying natural environment. But as Judith Heerwagen points out, one of the consequences of the pursuit of ‘optimal’ indoor climate control over the last fifty years has been that the sensory variation our bodies still depend upon to keep us alert is largely absent from the indoor spaces where we now spend most of our time: Access to sensory diversity—change, […] is a basic characteristic of the natural world. Sensory change is fundamental to perception […] Our indoor environments are largely devoid of sensory change, and deliberately so. Buildings are kept at constant temperatures and ventilation rates, the light from overhead fluorescent lights is the same day in and day out […] Although many designers and researchers are beginning to express serious doubts about this state of affairs […] there have been relatively few attempts to provide indoor environments that deliberately mimic sensory change as it exists in the natural world.5 The work presented here is aimed at remedying that situation. Rather than attempting to simulate natural change, however, since the real thing is still freely available in the movements of the weather immediately outside most buildings, the paper examines the potential design implications of bringing that movement indoors.
Sunlight, Wind and Rain as Links Between Natural Indoor Animation and Passive Energy and Rainwater Saving in Buildings As well as being major sources of perceptible movement in the earth’s atmosphere, sunlight, wind and rain are also important sustainable resources. When used in passive environmental control and rainwater harvesting, for example, they can significantly lower both the economic and environmental running costs of buildings. Yet these practices are still only employed in a tiny percentage of buildings globally, and even when they are they often go unnoticed by building users. Recent commentaries on sustainable building design have suggested that it is no longer sufficient for buildings to simply ‘do no harm,’ however. In order to have any meaningful impact on the enormous environmental problems we now face, they argue that the built spaces where most people spend the majority of their lives need to actively demonstrate ways of living in harmony with nature.6 With this in mind, between 2008 and 2014 a series of controlled experiments and design studios was conducted at the University of Oregon aimed at determining whether the natural movements of sunlight, wind and rain could effectively be used to reduce stress in building occupants while also increasing the visibility of passive energy and rainwater saving in buildings.
Donald Hebb, “Drives and the Conceptual Nervous System,” Psychological Review, 62 (1955): 243-254. Judith Heerwagen, “The Psychological Aspects of Windows and Window Design,” Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association, EDRA 21 (Champaign-Urbana, IL: EDRA,1990), 270. 6 See, for example, Stephen Kellert, Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection (Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2005), p.124, and James Wines, The Art of Architecture in the Age of Ecology (Cologne: Taschen, 2000), 94. 4 5
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Effect of Wind Movement on the Daylighting Performance of a Lightshelf As an initial pilot study we tested the environmental performance and human benefits of a windanimated water lightshelf. Like a conventional lightshelf, the water version reflects excess light from immediately inside a window to the darker interior of a room, only in this case any reflected direct sunlight is animated by wind disturbing the external water surface (Figure 1). Before testing the effects of the wind-animated sunlight from the water lightshelf on building occupants we wanted to be certain that introducing movement had not compromised its daylighting performance. Figure 2 shows the daylighting levels generated by a tray-shaped lightshelf with and without water, measured in the same scale-model room. The light levels were almost unchanged, confirming that there was no significant drop off in environmental performance associated with adding wind-generated movement to the reflected sunlight.
Figure 1. Schematic section through a water lightshelf Source: Source: Aaron Weiss and Jake Weber
Figure 2. The daylighting performance of a tray-shaped lightshelf with and without water Source: Aaron Weiss and Jake Weber
Effect of Fan-Animated Light on Occupants' Heart Rate Having established that a wind-animated lightshelf was as effective as a static one in terms of daylighting, we proceeded to test the effects of its moving light on human subjects. This was initially done in a series of controlled experiments in the test room arrangement illustrated in Figure 3. The experiment was intended to simulate involuntary waiting, a common source of stress in everyday life. The heart rates of twenty-five subjects were recorded with a chest monitor as they waited inactively in the test room with fan-animated artificial light reflected from a water surface back-projected onto a translucent screen in front of them, and with the screen illuminated to the same brightness with static light. An electric lamp and fan were used to simulate sunlight and wind in order to ensure that all of the subjects were exposed to the same light patterns. Average heart rates were found to be noticeably lower in the animated light, which suggested that weather-generated movements might potentially be of value in reducing occupant stress in indoor environments lacking both nature and perceptible change (Figure 4).
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Figure 3. Subjects wearing a heat-rate monitor waited inactively in front of a translucent screen illuminated from behind by artificial light reflected from a water surface, which was either static or disturbed by an electric fan Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Figure 4: Average occupant heart rates in fan-animated and static light Source: Kevin Nute and Aaron Weiss
Effect of Fan-Animated Light on Recovery from Stress This experiment was designed to test whether natural animation in an indoor environment could hasten recovery from elevated stress. A different set of twenty-five subjects was intentionally stressed by being asked to perform a series of timed mental math problems. Their subsequent recovery as they waited inactively was then recorded in static and fan-animated light. Average heart rates compared at the same four points during their recovery were again noticeably lower in the animated light, in this case significantly so (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Average occupant heart rates measured at the same four points during inactive recovery from induced stress in static and fan-animated light Source: Kevin Nute and Aaron Weiss
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Responses to Wind-Animated Sunlight in a Medical Waiting Room The calming effect of fan-animated light observed in our controlled experiments suggested that it might be of value in spaces typically associated with increased stress. This led us to undertake a field test of the water lightshelf in a medical waiting room. Three working prototypes were installed outside the waiting room windows of an outpatient clinic in Eugene, OR (Figure 6), and over a three-month period patients were requested to complete a voluntary questionnaire seeking their responses to the moving sunlight patterns reflected on the waiting room ceiling (Figure 7). Patient responses were generally positive, and seemed to confirm the calming effect observed in our controlled experiments (Figure 8). These findings suggested that the natural animation of other energy and rainwater-saving practices could potentially be used to reduce stress in building occupants while increasing public awareness of these underused sustainable practices.
Figures 6, 7: Left: water lightshelves installed outside the waiting room windows of the clinic Right: moving light patterns reflected from the wind-disturbed water surfaces onto the ceiling of the waiting room Source: Kevin Nute, Women’s Care Clinic, Eugene, OR, USA
Figure 8: Waiting patients' responses to the question "which of the following terms best describes how the moving sunlight patterns make you feel?" Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
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Bringing the Movements of the Elements Indoors Before we could test the compatibility of weather-generated movement and other passive energy and rainwater-saving practices, however, we needed to identify generally applicable strategies for bringing weather-generated movement indoors without undermining the primary role of most buildings: shelter from the elements. Analyses of existing structures and testing of physical models produced three simple ways of achieving this. Each technique effectively allows weathergenerated outdoor movement to be perceived as part of an indoor space without compromising the weather-proof envelope of a building (Figure 9, 10, 11): 1. Enclosure of outdoor space containing visible weather-generated movement 2. Projection of visible weather-generated movement onto indoor surfaces 3. Back projection of visible weather-generated movement onto translucent cladding materials
Enclosure
Projection
Back Projection
Figures 9, 10, 11: Three generally applicable strategies for bringing the visible movements of sunlight, wind and rain indoors without compromising shelter Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Using the Movements of the Elements to Naturally Animate Sustainable Practices and Indoor Spaces Having established that it was possible to bring the natural movements of the elements indoors while maintaining shelter from the weather, we proceeded to examine the feasibility of combining the three general transmission strategies identified, enclosure, projection and back projection, with five key sustainable practices that often go unnoticed by building users: shading, solar heating, daylighting, natural ventilation and rainwater harvesting.
Shading Isolated patches of sunlight can help to draw attention to the general shading of a room, especially if the light is seen to be moving. The movement of a distinctly-shaped patch of sunlight, a solar spectrum, or separately colored light caustics, for example, can all be made directly perceptible if the projection distance is sufficiently long. At mid-latitudes this typically means in excess of 15 meters, which generates light patterns traveling at a surface speed of more than 1 mm/s, the slowest movement the human eye can detect (Figures 12, 13, 14). The same is true of light patterns generated by shading devices, and particularly if they are designed to transform during the course of the day. The latter can easily be achieved, for example, with opposing louvers placed over a roof light (Figures 15 and 16).
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Figures 12, 13, 14: If they are projected more than 15 meters, patches of sunlight, solar spectra, or separately colored caustic light patterns can be made to visibly animate indoor spaces while drawing attention to their general shading Sources: David Wirth, Pantheon, Rome, Italy; Kevin Nute, ‘Solar Spectrum 11’ by Charles Ross, Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, Japan; Kevin Nute, ‘Sun Drawing’ by Janet Saad-Cook, Author’s Home, Eugene, OR, USA
Figures 15, 16: The shading of an interior can be made more noticeable if sunlight patterns generated by shading devices are designed to alter during the course of the day Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Figure 17: Convection current shadows from a sun-heated shade awning can be used to animate an interior while effectively revealing heat energy being excluded by the shading device Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Sunlight can also be used to animate a room and draw attention to its shading by revealing heat being excluded by a shading device. A shade awning made from a low thermal capacity, heat-absorbing material, for example, can effectively reveal the heat it is intercepting in the form of moving convection current shadows cast on interior surfaces (Figure 17). One of the oldest sources of shade known to mankind, foliage, is often naturally animated by the wind. Its moving shadows can either be projected directly onto indoor surfaces or back projected onto translucent cladding materials to both animate a building interior and draw attention to its shading (Figures 18, 19). Where external planting is not practical, in high-rise situations, for example, fabric shading devices can similarly serve to animate an interior while drawing attention to its shading (Figure 19).
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Figures 18, 19: Projected and back projected wind-animated foliage shadows can animate an interior at the same time as drawing attention to its shading Source: Kevin Nute, Author’s Home, Eugene, Oregon, USA
Figure 20: Where foliage is not an option, the wind-animated shadows of fabric shading devices can similarly animate an interior while drawing attention to its shading Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Solar Heating Moving air convection current shadows from an insulated, low thermal capacity material can similarly animate an interior space while revealing the usually invisible charging of a direct gain thermal storage mass (Figure 20). Exposing the edge of a thermal storage floor slab externally, although resulting in some heat loss, could make its charging even clearer because of the greater potential temperature difference with the surrounding air. On cold, sunny days, a heat and waterabsorbing material placed on such an exposed edge, for example, could effectively reveal the charging of the floor slab in the form of mist (Figure 22).
Figure 21: Moving air convection current shadows from an insulated, low thermal capacity insert can animate a space while revealing the normally invisible charging of a direct-gain thermal storage mass Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Figure 22: Mist formed by the rapid condensation of sunevaporated moisture from an asphalt roof on a cold, sunny day Source: Kevin Nute, Author’s Home, Eugene, OR, USA
The charging of liquid thermal storage tanks can likewise be made visible by using an optical lens to concentrate the sun’s rays and placing particles that are slightly denser than the
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storage medium in the bottom of the tank. As the sun-exposed lower section of the tank warms relative to the shaded portion above it, the resulting convection currents disturb the particles at the bottom of the tank, animating the space at the same time as revealing the normally invisible charging of the storage mass (Figure 23).
Figure 23: A focusing lens and visible particles slightly denser than the storage medium can be used to naturally animate a space while revealing the initial charging of a liquid thermal storage tank Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Daylighting Reflecting pools placed outside floor-level glazing can be an effective means of reducing the need for artificial indoor lighting during the day. They also have the added benefit of introducing wind-generated movement to an interior, which in turn can help to draw attention to its daylighting (Figures 24, 25). Wind-animated sunlight patterns can also be back-projected onto translucent cladding materials to create a quite different form of natural indoor animation (Figure 26). Similar wind-animated sunlight patterns can also be directly projected onto indoor surfaces through glazed roof ponds to naturally animate the space below and draw attention to its daylighting (Figure 27).
Figures 24, 25: Moving caustic patterns reflected from a wind-disturbed external water surface can naturally animate an interior while drawing attention to its daylighting Sources: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber; Kevin Nute, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan
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Figure 26: Wind-animated sunlight reflected from an external water surface onto the back of translucent glazing Source: Kevin Nute, Fujiya Hotel, Nara, Japan
Figure 27: Wind-animated caustic patterns from a glazed roof pond projected into the space below Source: Kevin Nute, ’Mizu no Yakata’ Himeji, Japan
Natural Ventilation Their sensitivity to air movement makes external water surfaces an ideal medium for providing building occupants with information about outdoor wind conditions. This movement can also easily be made to seem part of an interior by placing a shallow pool in a glazed internal courtyard. The rippling of the water surface not only effectively animates the surrounding interior spaces but also reveals the strength of outdoor air movement available for natural ventilation (Figure 28). Another variation on the use of water to reveal outdoor air movement is a liquid prism. If a transparent triangular trough of water is placed outside a sun-facing operable window, for example, the solar spectrum projected onto the interior surfaces not only moves gradually with the rotation of the earth but also from moment to moment with the wind outside (Figures 29, 30). Although less sensitive to the wind than a surface of water, foliage can also be used in a similar way in an internal court to both animate the surrounding interior spaces and provide occupants with information about air movement outside (Figure 31).
Figure 28: A water surface in a glazed internal court can effectively animate the surrounding interior spaces at the same time as providing information about the strength and direction of outdoor air movement available for natural ventilation Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
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Figures 29, 30: A water prism placed outside an operable window can naturally animate an interior while revealing the availability of natural ventilation Sources: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber; Serena Gardiner, ‘Water Prism,’ University of Oregon, 2010
Figure 31: Foliage in a glazed internal court can similarly animate the surrounding interior spaces and provide information about outdoor movement Source: Kevin Nute, Kaihatsukan, Kyoto, Japan
Figures 32, 33: Shade netting hung outside an insect screen in a window opening can naturally animate an interior while revealing the strength of external air movement available for natural ventilation Sources: Kevin Nute, Apartment, Mitaka, Japan
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Where internal courtyards are not practical, in high-rise or shallow plan situations for instance, an easier way of naturally animating an interior while providing information about outdoor air movement is to simply hang shade netting outside an insect screen in a window opening. The resulting moiré patterns change as the net moves in the wind, animating the interior and revealing the strength of the air movement outside (Figure 32). In direct sunlight, this arrangement can also project wind-animated moiré shadows onto interior surfaces (Figure 33). There are also many potential kinds of wind-animated cladding that can shade large areas of glazing while also revealing natural ventilation to those inside (Figure 34).
Figure 34: An array of aluminum panels that rotate in the wind effectively draws attention to both the shading and natural ventilation of this parking structure Source: Kevin Nute, ‘Wind Veil’ by Ned Kahn, Charlotte, NC, USA
Rainwater Harvesting One of the simplest ways of revealing rainwater runoff from a building is to allow it to fall directly from a roof into a ground-level collecting pool (Figure 35). Even during the gentlest of rain this runoff can still be made visible by funneling it through narrow outlets (Figure 36). If these techniques are used in enclosed courtyards or atria, falling rain can also be made to directly animate indoor spaces (Figures 37, 38). An even easier way of bringing the movement of rain indoors while revealing its collection is to simply glaze the roof surface (Figure 39). The glass roof pond we saw earlier introducing wind-animated sunlight into the space below, for example, can also serve to reveal rain-generated movement (Figure 40). Most of the natural indoor animation techniques discussed to this point rely on daylight, but many of those that use direct sunlight will also work with electrical lighting. If a water surface is illuminated at night, for example, it can effectively bring the natural animation of both the wind and rain indoors after dark (Figures 41, 42). 52
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Figures 35, 36: Unguttered eaves, surface pools, and funnels can all be used to reveal rainwater harvesting in buildings Sources: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber; Kevin Nute, ‘Rainwater Residence’ by LandCurrent, Eugene, OR, USA
Figures 37, 38: Eaves runoff and direct rainfall into enclosed pools can effectively animate the indoor spaces while celebrating the collecting of rainwater Sources: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber; Kevin Nute, ‘Solid Square,’ Kawasaki, Japan
Figures 39, 40: Rain on a glazed roof surface can naturally animate an interior at the same time as drawing attention to rainwater harvesting Sources: Kevin Nute, Erb Memorial Building, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA; Kevin Nute ‘Mizu no Yakata,’ Himeji, Japan
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Figures 41, 42: Artificial night lighting of an external water surface can be used to naturally animate an interior after dark at the same time as drawing attention to natural ventilation or rainwater harvesting Sources: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber; Kevin Nute, Author’s Home, Eugene, OR, USA
Summary It was found that all five of the key sustainable building practices examined—shading, solar heating, daylighting, natural ventilation and rainwater harvesting—could be naturally animated by the sun, wind or rain without compromising their environmental performance. Moreover, in almost half of the fifteen possible combinations this movement also helped to reveal the sustainable practice (Table 1). In seven of the combinations the natural animation was not only compatible with the normal performance of the sustainable practice but also served to make it more visible (black checks). Of the three general design strategies identified for transmitting weather-generated movement to indoor spaces, back projection seemed to be the most widely applicable. However, internal courts were found to be the most efficient devices in terms of combining natural indoor animation and increasing the visibility of sustainable practices, while shade nets and fabric shade awnings seemed to offer the most cost effective means of achieving both objectives (Figure 43). Table 1: Compatibilities between weather-generated indoor movement and five core sustainable practices.
Source: Kevin Nute
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Figure 43: The most effective of the natural indoor animation devices examined Source: Kevin Nute and Jake Weber
Conclusions Three general design strategies were identified for transmitting the natural movements of sunlight, wind and rain into indoor environments while maintaining protection from the weather. It was found that these could be successfully combined with five key sustainable practices to effectively animate building interiors without undermining environmental performance, and in almost half of these combinations the movement helped to increase the visibility of the sustainable practice. Of the various natural animation devices examined, the most effective were enclosed courts, shade nets and fabric shade awnings, in that order. Since the quantity of existing buildings typically far exceeds the number of new structures being built at any given time, however, and the absence of nature in indoor environments is likely to become most acute in urban high-rise buildings in the future, shade nets and fabric shade awnings would seem to offer the greatest potential for improving the habitability of indoor spaces at the same time as helping to sustain the natural environment.
Acknowledgements Many of the ideas presented here were explored in a series of architectural design studios at the University of Oregon between 2008 and 2014, and the authors are grateful to all of the students who participated in those classes. Several of them were also subsequently more directly involved in the research, including Jeffrey Stattler, Devin Saez, Heather Nelson, and Andrea Detweiller. Special thanks are also due to Jake Weber for creating the digital drawings.
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REFERENCES Bringslimark, Tina, Terry Hartig, and Grete Grindal Patil. 2009. “The Psychological Benefits of Indoor Plants: A Critical Review of the Experimental Literature.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 29: 422–33. Kaplan, Stephen, and Rachel Kaplan. 1989. The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Hebb, Donald. 1955. “Drives and the Conceptual Nervous System.” Psychological Review, 62: 243–54. Heerwagen, Judith. 1990. “The Psychological Aspects of Windows and Window Design.” EDRA 21. Champaign-Urbana, EDRA. Kellert, Stephen. 2005. Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Washington, D.C., Island Press. Ulrich, Roger S. 1984. “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery.” Science 224: 420–2. Wines, James. 2000. The Art of Architecture in the Age of Ecology. Cologne: Taschen.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Kevin Nute: Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA Aaron Weiss: Senior Associate, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, San Francisco, California, USA
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The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design is one of six thematically focused journals in the collection of journals that support the Design Principles and Practices knowledge community—its journals, book series, conference and online community. The journal’s primary interests are building design, landscape design and sustainable design practices. As well as papers of a traditional scholarly type, this journal invites presentations of practice—including experimental forms of documentation and exegeses that can with equal validity be interrogated through a process of academic peer review. This, for instance, might take the form of a series of images and plans, with explanatory notes that articulate with other, significantly similar or different and explicitly referenced places, sites, or material objects.
The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal.
ISSN 2325-1662
