Lighting/ Electrical Proposal

This proposal contains information about the proposed body of work for the redesign of some of the engineering systems of the addition to the student recreation center for the University of California, Riverside.  The systems to be investigated are lighting, electrical, structural, mechanical, and enclosure.  The four lighting spaces to be investigated are listed below.

• Entrance/Courtyard
• Lobby
• Rock Wall
• Gymnasium

The lighting design for each of these spaces will form one cohesive design, reinforcing the University’s goal to make this building a place of health, both physical and mental.  The design will also strive to use as little energy as possible while still completing the design goals.

MAE Breadth: Daylighting

The gymnasium is an internal space that has solid walls separating it from the rest of the building’s mostly open floor plan.  There are small windows that provide some light from the track above into the space but this light is most likely to be electric light because of how far into the space they are located.  A skylight system will be implemented in the gymnasium to provide natural light in the space and reduce energy costs.  This will be integrated into the building system with the new lighting system that will be more easily dimmed.  Design strategies and tools used in AE 565, Daylighting, will be used to perform the analysis of the space.

Breadth 1: Structural

The photovoltaic system that will be installed as part of the electrical analysis will put an additional load on the roof framing system.  The structural system will be analyzed to ensure that the existing beams can support the weight of the solar panels.  Dead and live loads will be calculated and used to analyze the existing structure and to resize members if necessary.

Breadth 2: Mechanical

The mechanical loads on the gymnasium will also change as a result of the new skylight system.  The addition of daylight will increase the thermal load in the space and the material, construction and number of the skylights will affect how heat is conducted into and out of the space.  The new loads will need to be determined and equipment may need to be resized depending on the analysis of the space.

View Dan's thesis proposal here.

View Dan's updated thesis proposal here.

View Dan's second updated thesis proposal here.