The Nuckolls Fund Grant was formed in 1989 with a mission “to help already-established lighting programs expand their offerings and undertake innovative educational ideas.”  The Baker Lighting Lab, under the direction of Siobhan Rockcastle as PI, was awarded this grant for their proposal to develop and teach a ‘Virtual Lighting Design’ course in collaboration with Nathaniel Jones, ZGF, and Luma Lighting.  The Nuckolls Fund Grant awards $20,ooo for the development of technology workflows, hardware, and software for student use.  This course will be taught in Winter Term 2019 at the University of Oregon.  Go here to learn more about the grant.

Assistant Professor Siobhan Rockcastle recently travelled to TU Delft to present her paper, titled ‘OCUVIS:  A Web-Based Visualizer for Simulated Daylight Performance’ at the 2018 SimAUD conference.  Siobhan was also a Scientific Chair and organizer for the conference, chaired a special session on ‘The Centrality of the User,’ and led a workshop titled ‘Simulating Circadian Effects’ with researchers from TU Berlin, EPFL, and Solemma.  The abstract for her paper, authored with Maria Amundadottir & Marilyne Andersen, is included below.

Abstract:

This paper introduces an interactive web-based visualizer for multi-metric daylight simulation results, named OCUVIS. It is able to display simulation-based results for a diverse range of ocular human-centric metrics such as non-visual health potential (nvR_D), daylight-related visual interest (mSC₅) and visual comfort (DGP with Ev), as well as horizontal illumination metrics such as spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE) and Daylight Factor (DF)).  To provide a holistic representation of performance across a multi-directional field-of-view, OCUVIS creates an interactive visualization of results over time and across space, linking temporal and 3D graphics. This allows the user to explore the impacts of dynamic sky conditions, view position, view direction and program use on localized and building scale performance.  OCUVIS bridges the gap between human and building-scale daylight potential to offer a more holistic and intuitive representation of daylight performance in buildings.

In the developed world, we spend 90% of our lives and 40% of the total energy we consume in buildings. Decisions we make about how buildings and cities are designed, constructed, and managed have significant implications for our own health and for the health of our planet.

Collaborating with communities, municipalities, and academic and industry partners to make those decisions, the University of Oregon’s new Institute for Health in the Built Environment—which leverages the expertise of three research centers in the College of Design—advances, integrates, and applies new knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines to support a healthy, thriving community and planet. Baker Lighting Lab joins the Energy Studies in Buildings Lab and the Biology in the Built Environment Center as a founding partner in this endeavor.  See the news about this here.

Associate Professor of Architecture, Virginia Cartwright, is teaching an advanced tech. elective on daylighting during spring term, 2018! Open for 20 students, this 3-4 credit course will explore daylighting as an element of architectural design. The course will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 pm – 7:20 pm. Sign up for Daylighting this spring!

Siobhan Rockcastle of Baker Lighting Lab will join Marilyne Andersen from EPFL, Aicha Diakte and Martine Knoop from TU Berlin, and Jon Sargent from Solemma (developer of Alpha and Diva for Rhino) to present a 3-hour workshop at SimAUD 2018 in Delft, the Netherlands.  If you’d like to learn more about simulating spectral distribution and/or  circadian lighting effects, stay tuned for more information on registration.

To learn more about SimAUD workshops, please visit the website here.