Lighting Simulation Laboratory: A Networked/Distributed Computing Facility for Design Decision Making

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This project is to develop a "lighting simulation laboratory" to facilitate interactive, project- oriented learning of principles of design, evaluation, and analysis of visual and qualitative aspects of the built environment for undergraduate students of architecture and interior design. It provides opportunities to apply advanced visual computing technologies iteratively and fluidly for creative design. We propose to use Radiosity-based visualization techniques on high-end desk-top computers to predict lighting performance in built spaces as a basis for design decisions. Radiosity represents a fundamental advance in computer graphic technology because it allows accurate simulations based on the physical characteristics of light and materials. The proposed lighting simulation laboratory will augment the current facilities in our Architecture Design and Visualization Laboratory (ADVisLab), funded in part by a prior ILI-IP grant from NSF, by utilizing high-end desktop computers to facilitate visual engineering approaches to design. The added capabilities brought by this laboratory setup will enable our undergraduate students to do what they cannot do with other existing software programs or physical modeling alternatives: to visualize their lighting designs scientificallv and accuratelv rather than illustrating desired lighting effects intuitively without a sound photometric basis. This project will have a direct and profound effect on the learning experiences of beginning undergraduate students in the department by incorporating advanced technologies in introducing fundamental skills of design representation and exploration (80 students per year) at the introductory level. It will also have a broader curriculum-wide effect by enriching the learning experiences of upper-level students by allowing them to achieve proficiency in the use advanced technologies through CAAD studios (30 students per year) and technology electives (about 60 students per year). This facility will al so be used during summer semester by Miami University's undergraduate research scholars, as well as area minority high school students. The equipment will include fifteen networked high-end desktop computers with appropriate software and peripherals for lighting simulation.