POE + M Research Insights: Towards High-Performance Commercial Buildings and the End of Least Cost Decision-Making
AIAU25-BPKC03
Included in subscription
1.0
LU|HSW
Live course date: 09/10/2025 | 02:00 PM
Included in subscription
Description
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 2:00-3:00pm ET
Post Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) that ensure records of building attributes, user satisfaction and measurements are key to advancing high performance building systems and operations and ending the cycle of least cost decision-making. This presentation will introduce a robust approach to post occupancy evaluation that can quantify the benefits of improving spatial, thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality in buildings, illustrated with new and retrofit commercial buildings. The presentation will summarize the findings of over 80 commercial building studies undertaken by faculty and students in the Carnegie Mellon Center for Building Performance & Diagnostics in collaboration with government and corporate property owners. Drawing upon extensive research, the discussion will highlight strategies for utilizing POE findings to iteratively improve building systems and operations, ultimately fostering greater occupant well-being and productivity. This session will also touch upon available measurement toolkits and affordable field assessment strategies.
Learning Objectives
Assess the critical technical attributes of building systems that should be recorded to iteratively improve spatial, thermal, air, visual, and acoustic quality in commercial buildings.
Critique the different methodologies for capturing short-term and long-term user satisfaction related to spatial, thermal, air, visual, and acoustic quality, as well as occupant perceptions of well-being, health, and productivity within commercial environments.
Investigate available measurement toolkits and cost-effective strategies for conducting both short-term and long-term field assessments of thermal, air, light, and acoustic quality in commercial buildings.
Explore various approaches for establishing correlations between design choices in building systems (such as façade, HVAC, lighting, and interior layouts) and both measured indoor environmental conditions and user satisfaction in commercial buildings.
Presented in partnership with the Building Performance Knowledge Community (BPKC).
Vivian Loftness, FAIA, LEEDFellow, is University Professor and Paul Mellon Chair in Sustainability, serving a decade as Head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon. With over 35 years of industry and government funding, she is a key member of Carnegie Mellon’s leadership in sustainability, author of eight book chapters and editor of the Springer Reference Encyclopedia Sustainable Built Environments. Vivian Loftness has a Bachelors of Science and a Masters of Architecture from MIT.
Anushree Parkhi is a board member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) – National Building Performance Knowledge Community (BPKC). With a background in architecture and a strong passion for high-performance buildings and enclosure design, she is particularly focused on bridging aesthetics, performance, and constructability in the built environment.
She earned her Master’s degree in Architecture with a concentration in Building Performance from the University of Illinois in May 2024. Following graduation, she joined Heintges as a Technical Façade Designer, where she contributed to a range of complex curtain wall and cladding systems. Currently, she continues her work in the field of high-performing façades as a Junior Building Physicist at Island Facades, where she supports the integration of building science principles into envelope design and analysis.
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