PENSACOLA, Fla., April 26, 2010 – Some 1,000 undergraduates began taking science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes this Spring semester at the University of West Florida’s new School of Science and Engineering.

The $30.6 million state-funded building embodies the principles of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), an advocate in the United States for building and sustaining strong undergraduate STEM programs by transforming the learning environment.

Designed by architecture firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent, the four-story, 94,719-square-foot building is an energy and water-efficient structure that is targeting LEED silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Full news release and photos of the Science and Engineering Building

Image credit: © 2010 Richard Leo Johnson/Atlantic Archives, Inc.

For further information contact:
Anne Taylor Carros, Lord, Aeck & Sargent, 404-253-6710, acarros(@)lasarchitect.com, or
Ann Kohut, Kohut Communications Consulting, 770-913-9747, annielk(@)bellsouth.net, www.kohutcommunications.com or http://twitter.com/kohutcomm 

RBc: Our favorite line from Leo ter Haar, director of the School of Science and Engineering is, “What I like best about the building is the way it’s designed more around people…”. As readers know we’re big supporters of this design approach as it has repeatedly demonstrated that it results in healthier more efficient buildings.

Congrats again to Lord, Aeck & Sargent for another great project.

OTTAWA – The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, announced the launch of a campaign to help make Canadian families more aware of the environmental health risks around them.

The four-year public education campaign is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to environmental health. “Our government is working to help keep Canadian families safer,” said Minister Aglukkaq. “As part of this campaign I’m pleased to introduce Hazardcheck, a guide that provides simple advice that parents can take to keep their homes safer and healthier for themselves and their children”. Environmental hazards can be present in the air, water, soil or in your home. They can be inhaled or ingested or absorbed through the skin. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards.

Hazardcheck includes specific advice on ways to protect our most vulnerable populations. The Guide builds on Government of Canada efforts to raise awareness of such issues as consumer product safety, so that Canadians can better understand and act to reduce the health risks around them. The Hazardcheck campaign directly supports and builds on the Government of Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan and Clean Air Agenda.

For a free copy of Hazardcheck, please visit:
www.HealthyCanadians.gc.ca/Hazardcheck  or call 1-800-O-Canada.

RBc: This is a great consumer piece and a recommended read for those wishing to improve your indoor environments. For those wishing to expand your knowledge you may want to consider enrolling in the HRAI of Canada IAQ Awareness Program offered across the country. Contact HRAI of Canada.

For a background study in IAQ see these links:
http://www.healthyheating.com/Definitions/sneeze.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/Definitions/pollen.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/IAQ/IAQ_animation.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/IAQ/IAQ_animation_lungs.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/Definitions/Particulate_matter.htm

ASHRAE Guideline Addresses Interactions Affecting Indoor Environmental Quality

ATLANTA – A proposed guideline, currently out for public comment, would provide guidance on achieving good indoor environments by considering the interactions of air quality and thermal conditions as well as lighting and acoustics.

ASHRAE Guideline 10P, Interactions Affecting the Achievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments, calls attention to many interactions that designers might not have previously recognized or understood. The guideline opened for public comment on April 9 and remains open until May 24.

“The guideline summarizes what research and experience have taught us about the complex interplay of the wide range of factors that determine occupants’ reactions to the buildings they inhabit,” Hal Levin, chair of the committee writing the guideline, said.

Levin explains that the guideline is intended to help users understand and use existing documents that deal with indoor environments, including the ASHRAE standards related to ventilation and indoor air quality and thermal conditions with a more complete understanding of the impacts of the indoor environmental on occupants. “It can provide assistance to building design professionals and building operators by making them aware of the major interactions that have the potential to impact the indoor environment,” he said. “We believe the guideline will help draw attention to the narrowly-defined scopes of the widely-used standards and the significance of interactive effects in determining the acceptability of an indoor environment.”

The draft of Guideline 10P is available for comment only during its public review period. To read the guideline or to comment, visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.

For further information contact: Jodi Scott, Public Relations, 678-539-1140, jscott(at)ashrae.org

RBc: As stated in the forward, “This guideline is intended to help people understand and use all of the documents that deal with indoor environments, such as ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Standard 62.2, Standard 55 and the ASHRAE Indoor Air Quality Guide, as a whole rather than separately. The guideline focuses on thermal conditions, indoor air quality (IAQ), and the interactions between these environmental conditions as they affect the acceptability of the indoor environment. In addition, but to a lesser extent, it also addresses mechanical energy (including noise and vibration) and electromagnetic radiation (including environmental lighting, ultraviolet and infrared radiation) as additional sources of interactions affecting the acceptability of the indoor environment as well as limitations that exist in the ability to achieve acceptability.”

We encourage readers to visit the ASHRAE site to review and comment on this document.

For a back ground study we suggest reading these pages. http://www.healthyheating.com/Defintion_of_indoor_environmental_quality.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/Thermal_Comfort_Working_Copy/IAQ_ICQ_IEQ.htm http://www.healthyheating.com/Human_Factors/Human_Factors.htm
http://www.healthyheating.com/Definitions/facts_about_skin.htm http://www.healthyheating.com/Thermal_Comfort_Working_Copy/HH_physiology_intro.htm

Also view our ASHRAE lecture on The Human Factors in HVAC Systems

Excerpt: “Departing from the simple question Why do we heat and cool buildings with air?, this book focuses on the technique of thermally active surfaces. This technique uses water in building surfaces to heat and cool bodies – a method that is at once more efficient, comfortable, and healthy. This technique thus imbues the fabric of the building with a more poignant role: its structure is also its primary heating and cooling system. In doing so, this approach triggers a cascading set of possibilities for how well buildings are built, how well they perform, and how long they will last: pointing the way toward multiple forms of sustainability.” Source: Princeton Architectural Press

Learn more here: http://www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781568988801

RBc: I’ve just reviewed this new addition to our library of recommended reading for design professionals. Author Kiel Moe is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Northeastern University School of Architecture and has done an outstanding job illustrating the benefits of thermally active surfaces. We have been preaching thermally activated building systems (TABS) for many years and we’re pleased to see a section in this new resource from www.healthyheating.com contributor Geoff McDonell, B.Sc., P.Eng., LEED™ Ap. For more articles from Geoff use the search feature above.

The quality of this book is equal to any higher education text book on architecture, structural design, interior design and HVAC engineering with outstanding easy to understand graphics. We especially appreciate the inclusion of design details from numerous TABS projects from around the world.

A must have for the student or design professional.