Lisa Heschong is a retired architect and former principal of the Heschong Mahone Group, writing and speaking on daylighting design, windows and views, nighttime lighting, circadian and human factors in building design. She lives in Santa Cruz, California. Her most recent book is "Visual Delight in Architecture: Daylight, Vison and View," Routledge Publishers, 2021
This thesis examines the broad range of influences that thermal qualities have on architectural s... more This thesis examines the broad range of influences that thermal qualities have on architectural space and peoples ' response to it. It begins with the observation that proper thermal conditions are necessary for all life forms, and examines the various strategies used by plants and animals to survive in spite of adverse thermal conditions. Human beings have available to them the widest range of thermal strategies. These include the skillful use of building technologies to create favorable microclimates, and the use of ar-tificial power to maintain a comfortable thermal environment. Survival strategies and the provision of thermal comfort are only the most basic levels of our relationship to the thermal en-vironment. Our experience of the world is through our senses, in-cluding the thermal sense. Many examples demonstrate the relation-ship of the thermal sense to the other senses. The more sensory input we experience, and the more varied the contrasts, the richer
Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to provide illumination in interior environmen... more Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to provide illumination in interior environments. Fifty years ago, practically all schools and workplaces used daylight as the primary illumination source. With the advent of inexpensive electricity and widespread use of fluorescent lighting in the 1950s and 1960s, states began to abandon requirements for minimum daylight illumination in their building codes. As energy costs soared, starting with the energy crises of the 1970s, the glazed areas of buildings came to be regarded by many as an energy liability, seen as increasing heating and cooling loads. Since cooling loads typically dominate in non-residential buildings, solar gain through windows became a driving concern.
This thesis examines the broad range of influences that thermal qualities have on architectural s... more This thesis examines the broad range of influences that thermal qualities have on architectural space and peoples ' response to it. It begins with the observation that proper thermal conditions are necessary for all life forms, and examines the various strategies used by plants and animals to survive in spite of adverse thermal conditions. Human beings have available to them the widest range of thermal strategies. These include the skillful use of building technologies to create favorable microclimates, and the use of ar-tificial power to maintain a comfortable thermal environment. Survival strategies and the provision of thermal comfort are only the most basic levels of our relationship to the thermal en-vironment. Our experience of the world is through our senses, in-cluding the thermal sense. Many examples demonstrate the relation-ship of the thermal sense to the other senses. The more sensory input we experience, and the more varied the contrasts, the richer
Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to provide illumination in interior environmen... more Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to provide illumination in interior environments. Fifty years ago, practically all schools and workplaces used daylight as the primary illumination source. With the advent of inexpensive electricity and widespread use of fluorescent lighting in the 1950s and 1960s, states began to abandon requirements for minimum daylight illumination in their building codes. As energy costs soared, starting with the energy crises of the 1970s, the glazed areas of buildings came to be regarded by many as an energy liability, seen as increasing heating and cooling loads. Since cooling loads typically dominate in non-residential buildings, solar gain through windows became a driving concern.
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Papers by Lisa Heschong