Solar Farm, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

ARCC hosted its Fall 2020 ‘In Progress’ Colloquium on Saturday, November 21st. The virtual colloquium provided an opportunity for faculty, researchers and designers to share their work and receive feedback on specific research projects currently on the table.

Acknowledging the gap in evaluative methods between architectural design and public health, Traci Rider at NC State is seeking to compare and identify potential overlaps or similarities in Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) methods in architecture with Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methods in public health.  Accounting for solar irradiation, aspect, elevation and building footprint, Stephen Mainzier and Travis Flohr at Penn State are evaluating building rooftop solar capacity across an urban-rural spectrum in light of the ‘cultural divide’ between growing food and producing electricity across rural Pennsylvania. Given the real impact of Covid-19 on learning, PhD candidate Helia Taheri at NC State is examining effective data integration methods to improve comfort levels in primary schools through increased cognition and interaction between teachers, students and their school facilities. Recognizing the quantity of rampant unchecked development and growing inequities across American cities,  Mark Storch at NC State is using data driven imagery and financial mapping models to explore ‘coded language’ obscuring systemic racism in the built environment.

Many thanks to Professor Alexandra Staub for leading this new ARCC initiative. Anticipate forthcoming information and dates on ARCC’s Spring 2021 ‘In Progress’ Colloquium in early January.