Research
My research focuses on quantifying, modeling, and simulating the dynamic interaction between occupants and buildings towards harmonizing occupant well-being and building sustainability. It addresses the need to raise occupant awareness of their psycho-physiological state towards improved knowledge work productivity and for buildings to dynamically support this effort in a sustainable manner.
Dissertation
Space-Mate: A Framework to Harmonize Occupant Well-being and Building Sustainability
Abstract
Knowledge workers are a company's greatest asset. The following are key drivers for this study: (1) Poor health, lost productivity and active disengagement of knowledge workers cost the U.S. economy over $1.3 trillion dollars per year. (2) Knowledge workers spend 90% of their time indoors in buildings. (3) Buildings consume 73% of U.S. electricity and generate 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. How can we harmonize the knowledge worker's well-being and the building's sustainable performance?
Traditionally, the interaction between occupants and buildings has been represented using occupant comfort models and building performance simulation tools. These comfort models are discrete, deterministic and based on aggregated, qualitative survey data. Building performance models consider occupants as part of a building's internal loads. Therefore, quantifying the impacts of occupants on the building is discrete, deterministic, and based on generic occupant schedules. Neither consider quantitative occupant psycho-physiological state- and well-being variables, nor the relation between these occupant variables, and the building's performance in support of the occupant's activities.
To address these challenges, I formalized my research questions:
- How can we dynamically track occupant spatial, temporal, psycho-physiological states?
- How can we model variations in the occupant state?
- How can we model the interaction between the occupant state and the building state?
- How can we simulate the dynamic interaction data flow between the occupant and the building towards harmonizing occupant well-being and building performance?
Space-Mate presents a comprehensive framework and simulation prototype that represents the dynamic interaction between an occupant's psycho-physiological state and well-being, and the building's sustainable performance during typical knowledge work activities. To develop Space-Mate, I assign agency to both occupant and building room and leverage a 3-step methodology: (1) Monitor, (2) Model, and (3) Simulate.
The simulation prototype results indicate that Space-Mate's decision-making framework can lead up to a 40% improvement in occupant well-being, and when the occupant and building work together we can achieve similar results with up to 50% less energy consumption.
Space-Mate contributes to the built environment, affective computing and physiology fields of research by proposing novel monitoring strategies, models, and a comprehensive simulation and decision-making framework that considers the occupant psycho-physiological state, the building state, and the occupant's influence on building state transitions, during typical, low-intensity, knowledge work activities.
Publications
Peer Reviewed Conference Papers
- Grey, F. and Fruchter, R. (2017) Modelling the Dynamic Interaction Between Building Performance and Occupant Well-being, ASCE International ASCE Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Seattle, W., June 2017
- Fruchter, R., Katz, G., and Grey, F. (2016) Transforming the BIM Mindset, ICCCBE-XVI 16th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Osaka, July 2016
- Fruchter, R., Grey, F., Badasyan, N., Russell-Smith, S., Castillo, F. (2015) Integrated Target Value Approach Engaging Project Teams in an Iterative Process of Exploration and Decision Making to Provide Clients with the Highest Value, International ASCE Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Austin, TX, June 2015
- Roedel, H., Aubuchon, P., Desai, S., Grey, F., Havelia, P., Nowacki, C., Lepech, M., and Loftus, D.J. (2014) Life cycle assessment of protein-bonded composites for sustainable construction, Proc. ISSST, http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/ m9.figshare.1157525
Book Chapter
- Fruchter, R., Katz, G., and Grey, F. (2016) From Technical, to Tactical, to Strategic BIM Coordination in Support of Model-based Decision Making, in Transforming Engineering Education through Innovative Computer Mediated Learning Technologies, eds. I.Mutis, R. Fruchter, and C. Menassa, ASCE Press.
Pipeline
- Grey, F., Fruchter, R. (2018). Detecting Indoor CO2 Variability and its Correlation with Knowledge Work Activities and Productivity. Submitted to journal and in review process.
- Grey, F., Fruchter, R. (2019). Space-Mate. A Framework to Harmonize Occupant Well-being and Building Sustainability. In progress.
Invited Presentations
- Grey, F., Space-Mate: A Framework to Harmonize Occupant Well-being and Building Sustainability, Research Highlights, Stanford Construction Institute, May 10th, 2019
- Grey, F., Alexander, S., Sathiaram, D., Bullock-Jones, C., Vagal, R., Golubovic, M., JG, G. LEED and Human Health, Greenbuild International Conference, Chicago, November 14th, 2018
- Grey, F. Modelling the Dynamic Interaction Between Building Performance and Occupant Well-being, Atelier Ten, San Francisco, April 10th, 2018
- Grey, F., Bailey, D., Chen, H., and Fischer, B. Be a Force of Nature: Landing and Environmental Job, Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University, January 11th, 2018
- Grey, F. and Fruchter, R., Modelling the Dynamic Interaction Between Building Performance and Occupant Well-being, ASCE International ASCE Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Seattle, W., June 26th, 2017
- Grey, F., Stevenson-Won, A., Laha, B., Boin, J., and Truong, A-H., Looking Towards the Future, The Experience of Immersion Conference, mediaX, Stanford University, November 16th, 2015
- Grey, F., Building a Sustainable Mexico, Engineering, Innovation and Design for Sustainability Conference, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico, October 7th, 2015
Invention Disclosure - Stanford Office of Technology Licensing
- Grey, F., Jiao, Y., Wozniak, A., Frykman, C., Kyungki, K., Carter, B., Widen, E. Pacific Fog: building-embedded fog water harvesting and utilization system. Submitted to Stanford Office of Technology Licensing March, 2015.
