A STUDY OF THE ENGINEERING SYSTEMS IN SHERRERD HALL AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND A REDESIGN OF SEVERAL SYSTEMS, EMPHASIS ON LIGHTING AND ELECTRICAL DESIGN
Open Access
- Author:
- Devenger, Jamie Rose
- Area of Honors:
- Architectural Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Architectural Engineering
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Richard George Mistrick, Thesis Supervisor
Richard George Mistrick, Thesis Honors Advisor
M Kevin Parfitt, Thesis Supervisor
Chinemelu Jidenka Anumba, Faculty Reader
Richard George Mistrick, Thesis Supervisor - Keywords:
- Sherrerd Hall
Princeton Universitiy
lighting
electrical - Abstract:
- Sherrerd Hall, located at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, is a campus building housing the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering. The building is metaphorically a bridge housing two departments that promote collaboration across conventionally distinct disciplines. The architecture enhances this concept of collaboration across disciplines with transparency throughout. The building essentially appears as a large glass box that reflects the surroundings and thus blends seamlessly into the campus. In the evening, however, the interior spaces become visible to passerby, and this reversal of visibility serves as a metaphor for the flow of people and ideas into and out of this place of learning. The central focus of this report was to research and redesign the lighting and electrical systems in five distinct spaces within the building: a graduate bullpen, a lecture hall, an open work space and lounge, the central building core atrium, lobby, and open stair, and the northwest façade and adjacent offices. The building enclosure was considered extensively for daylighting purposes and consists of an expansive curtainwall system comprised of transparent glass panels with ceramic fritting as well as translucent and opaque spandrel panels. The lighting redesign for the building considers the single unifying concept of collaboration and crosspollination enhanced by transparency and a sense of movement and energy which is manifested in the lighting design for each individual space. The design for many of the spaces was guided by IESNA lighting recommendations, as well as ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 Energy code requirements using the space‐by‐space method. Although the existing design provides an adequate solution in most of the spaces, there is room for improvement related to lighting quality throughout the building. The existing electrical design was altered to accommodate for the lighting redesign. Modifications were made to the power distribution system, including the addition of an advanced digital control system. Two additional electrical studies included with this report are a copper versus aluminum feeder study and the design of an onsite generator to serve as backup to the existing campus area generator that feeds into the building. Two breadth studies were also completed in relation to the lighting redesign. A structural analysis to accommodate for changes to the roof framing system as a result of the skylight resizing was completed using simple hand calculations. It was determined that the skylight resizing has minimal impact on the framing system. Additionally, in order to determine the thermal impact of modifications to the curtainwall system and atrium skylight, a load study was completed. New materials were recommended for the curtainwall fenestration to improve the thermal performance and balance daylighting energy savings with thermal gains and losses. The following report provides the details, process, and conclusions of a range of research and system studies, and the proposed design solutions would serve to improve the building performance and aesthetics.