Center for the Built Environment

Description

Our projects fall into two broad program areas. First, we develop new ways to "take the pulse" of buildings in operation: measuring the occupants’ responses to their indoor environments, and linking them to improved physical measurements of indoor environmental quality. This feedback is directed variously at those who manage, operate, and design buildings.

Secondly, we study technologies that hold promise for making buildings more environmentally friendly, more productive to work in, and more economical to operate. This helps our manufacturing partners to target their product offerings, and facility management and design partners to apply these new technologies effectively.

Both program areas are supported by fundamental research into human physiology, indoor airflow, thermal performance of building systems, and an extensive occupant-survey program. We actively participate in standards and guides for ASHRAE and USGBC in order to remove barriers to effective building technologies, and to speed their implementation. We also develop software for design, operation, and research.