The greatest challenge so far in this research has been locating suitable buildings to do performance monitoring on. The initial search was focused on the Boston area. Interviews with architects and building engineers revealed that there are no recently constructed naturally ventilated commerical buildings in the Boston area. Attention was then focused on older naturally ventilated buildings. A Massachusetts Audubon Society nature center approximately 15 miles from MIT was located.
With the prospects of finding other naturally ventilated buildings near MIT fairly dim, the building search was been extended to the entire northeast corridor, including the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Eventually, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center located in Annapolis, MD, was selected for evaluation.
| New England Wild Flower Society | Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary Nature Center | Philip Merrill Environmental Center | Simmons Hall |
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January through May 2002— Thesis write-up.
February through December 2001 — Monitoring on at least three buildings, airflow modeling.
January 2001 —Final Thesis and Monitoring Proposals.
September through December 2000 — Search for naturally ventilated buildings in the US, release of Europe Trip report.
August 2000 — Natural ventilation tour of Europe.
May 2000 — Committment to natural ventilation research with Professor Leon R. Glicksman.