DEVELOPING A CASE STUDY

What Is A Case Study?

For both students and practicing professionals alike there is little available information documenting the physical performance of actual buildings. Case studies are an effective way to generate and contribute information about the impact of design solutions on energy performance and occupant well being. The case study model developed by the Vital Signs Project asks students to seek information about performance issues of buildings through field investigation. The building case study is not unlike the metaphor of a medical work-up, where doctors chart and diagnose various systems and vital signs of the human body. Typically, a selected case study building will offer many interesting paths for investigation. The key to a successful case study is to form a clear question and then define the scope of the investigation.

The aggregate of information collected in the building can be divided into the Case Study Report and the Case Study Dossier. The Report is the narrative and graphic portion of the building case study, and is the essence of the building’s "story". A Case Study Report provides a summary of the field work and discussion of the findings. It represents the portion of your investigation that is submitted to the Competition, and is intended for distribution via newsletters and the World Wide Web.

Case Study Dossiers are collections of selected "raw" materials from a field investigation, such as a box containing blueprints, photographs, interview notes, survey data, simulation results and measured data generated by the study. Materials in the Case Study Dossiers are not intended for mass distribution or for submission to the competition. We suggest the materials be kept by the faculty advisor and made available to others upon request. For further discussion see Appendix A: Vital Signs Case Study Reports and Dossiers.

Selecting a Building to Study

Students are encouraged to make submissions that include buildings from the following categories:

• Buildings of historical importance such as the Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright, Crown Hall by Mies van der Rohe, or the Wainright Building by Louis Sullivan.
• Widely known and influential contemporary buildings such as the High Museum by Richard Meier, the United Airlines Terminal in Chicago by Helmut Jahn or the Portland Building by Michael Graves.
• Buildings known for energy efficiency and environmental responsiveness such as the Audubon Building in New York City by the Croxton Collaborative, the Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, California by Van Der Ryn Architects, or the Institute for Asian Research at the University of British Columbia by Matsuzaki/Wright Architects.

These categories do not represent an exclusive pool of case study candidates. Creative submissions that look at unknown but interesting buildings are encouraged as well. The top three winning entries from the 1996 Vital Signs Case Study Competition can be viewed on the Internet at http://www-archfp.ced.berkeley.edu/vitalsigns/bld/cs.html.

The Case Study Method

Selecting a building and a topic go hand in hand. Each building will pose many questions for investigation. The Competition particularly seeks submissions which focus on energy use, architectural space-making, and occupant well-being. These questions may stem from curiosity about a particular aspect or quality of a building. For example, the Logan House in Tampa, Florida, was often cited in the early 1980's as an exemplar of passive cooling in a hot humid climate. Has the design been successful? Is the building still naturally ventilated or has it been sealed and air-conditioned? Similarly, the Douglas House by Richard Meier has been widely published. How comfortable is the building with its three stories of west-facing glass?

Curriculum materials covering nine building performance topics were developed by the Vital Signs Project and distributed as sets of Resource Packages to all ACSA member schools of architecture in the United States and Canada in May of1996. A tenth Resource Package was recently completed. Copies of these materials can be downloaded from the internet at http://www-archfp.ced.berkeley.edu/vitalsigns/inf/rps.html. These materials are not intended to cover all building performance topics, but are offered as a starting point for possible investigations. Creative submissions focusing on other building performance topics and methods related to energy-use, architectural space-making, and occupant well-being are encouraged. Submittals that use the exercises contained in the Vital Signs Resource Packages will not receive preference over those that do not. Whatever the topic of investigation, it is particularly important that a case study focus on the actual performance of a building as measured by direct experience, rather than solely upon the intent of the designer or a simulation produced using a computer.

When developing a plan of action for a case study, a key step is to establish a "doable" project, one that can successfully be brought to closure. Once a topic is selected, developing a clearly stated hypothesis is essential to successfully framing the investigation. An hypothesis is a hunch or proposition about the outcome of your question of inquiry. For example, a case study could look at a building with a central atrium where ceiling mounted light fixtures had been installed on a 8' X 8' grid throughout much of the building. The topics of investigation would be related to daylight, electric lighting, energy use and occupant perception. The questions: Are the electric lights required at all times to provide the quality of light necessary for the tasks being performed? Do the electric lights play a role in architectural spacemaking? The hypothesis: The electric lights are not needed during many times of day. Furthermore, they create a bland environment that lessens the qualities of the space. If daylight sensors that dimmed or turned off fixtures were installed, energy performance would improve. The quality of light as experienced by the users would increase.

It is important that your method is appropriately planned to collect the information necessary to answer your question, or prove your hypothesis right or wrong. Examples of methods of investigation include observation, interview, survey, and physical measurement. Competition evaluation will not favor one type of investigation over another. The important factors will be a match between your hypothes(es) and the methods selected to investigate them, a careful and critical analysis of the information collected, and a clear presentation of the results.

New miniature, microprocessor-based data acquisition systems have greatly increased the ease and power of performance monitoring. The microcomputer interface to some of these data acquisition systems allows an automated process requiring little specialized skill on the user’s part. See the section on Resources for more information sources for equipment. One handy device is the Hobo datalogger by Onset Computer. This matchbox-sized device costs approximately $100 and is capable of measuring and storing temperature, light, voltage, or humidity data for a designated period of time, when launched from a MAC or PC computer.

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All contents copyright (C) 1998. Vital Signs Project. All rights reserved.

Created: 10/08/97

http://www-archfp.ced.berkeley.edu/vitalsigns/act/1998comp/three.html