The primary focus of the course is the study of the thermal, luminous and acoustical behavior of buildings. The course examines the basic scientific principles underlying these phenomena and introduces students to a range of technologies and analysis techniques for designing comfortable indoor environments. Students will be challenged to apply these techniques and explore the role energy, light and sound can play in shaping architecture.

Following a review of how to analyze a site’s climate and local energy mix, the course will introduce students to the art and science of lighting buildings along with rules of thumb and computer-based methods for analyzing daylight within and around buildings. The third part of the course is dedicated to the principles of heat storage and heat flow into and out of buildings. Basic manual and computer-based methods to predict the energy use of buildings will also be discussed. In order to introduce students to the effective use of computer simulations during design, we will play a Building Optimization Game that mimics a sustainable design charrette. During the game, student groups will compete who develops the building with the lowest energy use within a given cost budget and for a given climate. The last part of the course provides an overview of building acoustics and sound attenuation.

The course format consists of semiweekly lectures on and weekly labs. Individual and group assignments as well as in-class presentations and exercises will help students to study the use of environmental technologies in contemporary buildings.

• Monday lecture (all) 11am - 12:30pm Rm 9-354

• Wednesday lecture (all) 11am - 12:30pm Rm 9-354

• Friday lab (4.464 students) 10am - 11am in Rm 3-442

• Friday lab (4.401 students) 11am - noon in Rm 3-442

The course aims to help students to:

• understand and apply the scientific principles underlying the thermal, luminous and acoustical behavior of buildings,

• learn to evaluate the pros and cons of a range of technologies for creating comfortable indoor environments,

• conduct a series of design analysis workflows regarding climate, building energy use and daylighting and

• acquire the knowledge required to critically discuss/present the environmental concept of a building.

For students enrolled in 4.401/4.464, the following deliverables are required to pass this class:

• Attendance of semiweekly lectures and Friday Labs.

• Timely completion of assignments. Late assignments will not be accepted.

• Completion of a group course project. The course project will be to develop and present an environmental concept for a small office building. Final project deliverables for 4.401 students are due during the penultimate week of term (see CANVAS site). Presentations for 4.464 students will be scheduled during Exam Week.

• Preparation of 15 minute in–class group presentations on one of the AIA Cote Top Ten Projects for the current year (http://www.aiatopten.org/). A description of the AIA presentations is provided here.

• Active participation in class discussions.

Grades will be determined based on:

• Quality and timely submission of completed assignments (50%)

• Final course project (25%)

• AIA case study presentation (15%)

• Participation in class discussions (10%)

Please familiarize yourself with MIT’s Academic Integrity Expectations at http://web.mit.edu/academicintegrity/.