With housing the annual post occupancy investigation for the 700
solar houses completed has enabled the design theories and
practices to be refined so the practice remains at the cutting edge
of sustainable design. Monitoring of temperatures, evaluation
of new products and systems and feedback for the consumer.
Numerous studies and analyses have been carried out over the years
and papers written on built examples.
A professional service of post occupancy is recommended to
government and industry where a building type may be
repeated. Improvements to generic briefs and standard model
designs can then be improved over time as this adaptive management
approach is applied, and the standards of the built environment
improved in a sensible evolutionary manner.
A typical case in point is the monitoring and evaluation that
occurred with the Russell centre Offices in 1988, as part of Garry
Baverstock's MSc program (studied part time) and a joint
investigation carried out with senior lecturer Denny McGeorge at
the time for Curtin University.
This was a complete report on all environmental performance such
as temperature, acoustics and natural light. The Joint paper
written by Garry and Denny presented a life cycle analysis and
payback period for the investment. Energy savings and
increased rentals paid back the total investment in 7 years!
Sustainability was viable even then! The
Ecotect-Architects body of knowledge and expertise has been
developed and improved greatly by this hands-on approach to
learning, not just relying on the reported experience of
others.