1. The document outlines Andrea Wheeler's background, teaching interests, and research focus on sustainable school design and participatory methods. 2. Her research examines the relationship between building design and user behavior to reduce energy consumption, and involves conducting post-occupancy evaluations with students. 3. Wheeler is interested in bringing her experience in teaching, research success, and interests in interdisciplinary and social media-enhanced learning to the Iowa School of Architecture.

1. Sustainable School Design:
participation and post-occupancy
evaluation
...including my past work experience, skills and aspirations for research and why
am suited to teach here...
School of Architecture
IOWA State University
Andrea Wheeler
BA(Hons) Dip Arch (Oxford)
MPhil (Mech. Eng.) PhD (Architecture)
11 March 2013

2. Outline
About Me
Teaching
Research
Administration and Teaching Innovation

3. About Me
The journey so far…

4. PRIZE WINNING
STUDENT
BA (Hons) Architecture, Second year prize for outstanding achievement
National Diploma in Art and Design. Fine Art/ Studio Practice
(Distinction)
Graduate Diploma in Architecture – Prizes for Graphics and Dissertation
MPhil Mechanical Engineering (Timber Repair) TRADA Technology
Scholarship
PhD Architecture (Arts and Humanities Research Council Scholarship)

6. Ethics in the built environment.
Wheeler, Andrea (2008) "About
being-two in an architectural
perspective". In Conversations,
Luce Irigaray (ed.) Continuum. pp.
53 – 72
Wheeler, Andrea (2008)
"Architectural Issues in Building
Community through Luce
Irigaray's Perspective on being-
two". In, Teaching Luce Irigaray
(ed.) Continuum. pp. 61- 68

8. Post Doctoral Research –
Success in Research Funding
1.Post doctoral UK Energy Research Council/ESRC , 3 year
Interdisciplinary Early Careers Fellowship , The University of
Nottingham (£220,000 over 3 years)
2.Universitas 21 (consortium of international Universities) lecture series
3.UK Energy Research Council “The Meeting Place” Oxford,
dissemination body for the UK Energy Research Council.

10. Research Question
How do you explore a different relation, a non-
exploitative, non-appropriative relation to the world and to
others? How does this translate into a design for a school
– what does it look like?

11. Commercial Experience
Architects, Engineers, Planning Consultants and Policy
Defra (Department of Environment
Food and Rural Affairs) ,
London (Policy)
Walker Troup, Architects
Shere Consulting Ltd., (Planning)
Redmak Architects, Nottingham
Derek Latham Architects, Derby
Regeneration East Midlands (Planning)
March and Grochowski, Nottingham (Architects)
Design Group Cambridge (Architects)
Holder and Mathias Alcock, Architects, Cardiff

15. So, why IOWA State
University?
Strong architectural design
Strong student community
Interdisciplinary design
History of community engagement

16. What I am bringing to
IOWA School of
Architecture…
• Experience in teaching at Masters level.
• Teaching innovation – social media
• Publications
• Success in research funding
• Interest in interdisciplinary research
• Skilled administrator/ education researcher
(technologies) at the Centre for Engineering and
Design Education (research, teaching development,
software development)

17. TEACHING

18. 18
18
St Benedicts School, London

19. Teaching sustainable school design :
individual presentations coursework/ “live”
design project

20. Teaching interests
• Degree Programme
– Building Science and Technology
– Human Behaviour and Environmental Theory
• Master of Science (graduate level research)
– Sustainable Design
– Design Inquiry
– Architectural and Construction History
– Building Science and Construction

23. Robin Nicholson, Partner, Edward Cullinan Architect “Do we need visions for a
low energy future?” (SLIDESHARE)

24. What do we need for a low carbon future?
Lecture summary
• 1. Conserving energy over building conservation regulations
• 2. Better knowledge of building physics amongst construction
professionals
• 3. Better building skills amongst the green building sector.
• 4. Controls that real people can understand.
• 5. Financial incentives.
• 6. People being on board.
• 7. How we behave.
• 8. Collective energy initiatives – community owned renewable energy.
• 9. Cradle to cradle economies.
• 10. Measurement and the publication of energy data.
•

25. Centre of Expertise on Influencing Behaviours, (Centre for
Sustainable Behaviours) Defra March 2010 – August 2010

27. RESEARCH

28. SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL
DESIGN: PARTICIPATION AND
POST-OCCUPANCY
EVALUATION

29. different ways of being
emergent
technologies
But which
is the
most
significant?
29

30. Innovative technology is not enough:
Engagement, behaviour and “rebound” effects
Technology will not be sufficient to transform housing to reduce its impact on the
environment as it will not challenge the way in which this impact is created (Seyfang 2012,
Reid and Houston 2013).
Research has demonstrated that occupants of low carbon homes have found methods to
bypass low carbon solutions in order to prevent the curtailment of their activities (Gill et al.
2010)

31. Architecture and the
Avant-Guard
“Environmentalism was born from the avant-garde cultural movement in America and is
now in the hands of environmental technologists. I think it’s a problem that
environmentalists believe the happiness of man depends on the square metres of grass
available to them, and that our habitat should be based solely around energy
consumption.”
“Post environmentalism will come of age when environmentalists re-establish contact with
the avant-garde, with innovation, experimentation and aesthetic concerns. Only then will it
become an important historical movement”
Peruccio, Pier Paolo and Elena Formia (2013) “The designer as revolutionary” [Interview with Andrea Branzi] In Special Report:
Design. The Art Newspaper Section 2 Number 243, February 2013, p. 16).

33. Participation in School Design:
Building Schools for the Future
programme 2005 - 2010
How to develop schools that are ‘sustainable’ through the relationship of
the building design and the behaviour of the children (Blair, A, 2004).
(Context at that time)
Critical position on the role of children’s participation in the design of
schools was proposed as key element of the Building Schools for the
Future programme.

34. Publication
Wheeler, Andrea (2010) “An interview with Harry Shier: Contrasting
children’s participation in the UK Building Schools for the Future
programme with the Nicaraguan context” International Journal of
Children’s Rights Vol. 18/3, 457-474 (translated into Spanish for
Nicaraguan readers available at:
http://www.harryshier.110mb.com/docs/Wheeler_Entrevista_a_Harry_S
hier.pdf ).

35. Workshops with Children

36. Conclusions
•Children and young people have to have the right within our existing
educational systems to be able to encounter all the complexities this involves.
•Sustainability requires a critical engagement with questions of living and being.
•Who is this historical human being characterised by his/her exploitation of the
natural environment? How do we understand his or her rights?
•sustainable lifestyle relates directly to the traditions of philosophical and
political discourse and this cannot be absent from teaching in schools in the
context of sustainable development.

37. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DESIGN
PROCESS - POST OCCUPANCY
Research question 2010 - 2011
There is a mismatch between predicted and actual energy
use in building. How do we understand this? School
buildings were our case studies.

38. The problem of method and of evaluation
– questions about post-occupancy
(theories we wanted to test)
Users of the building have an impact on energy demand and
performance data.
School “culture” influences energy behaviours.
Post-occupancy evaluation is an educational opportunity and provides a
platform to motivate change.

39. Adapted a method: Including children in
post-occupancy requires appropriate
methods
Open discussion
Walk-throughs with video
Quizzes
Drawings
Big group design maps and conversation

42. “We like to sit under
the stairs where there
is carpet and a
radiator, but we’re not
allowed. We just like
to sit there because it
is inside. We just like
having a quieter area
you can sit and just be
with your friends [...]
They should have little
benches [outside]
people can sit on and
a shelter in the winter.
I know it is cold but I
do like to go outside to
get some fresh air.
And also the lads
when they play
football would have
somewhere for their
bags” (Year 10 pupil).

43. School culture and user behaviours
There’s a lot of difficulties working with them [the construction company] ...If there is a
problem with the school, it’s the schools fault. [...] If there’s a problem they will blame the
school... it ends up just being a frustration. [...] And then obviously on the purchasing side,
whenever anything needs to be changed, if we need a new gat e or pathway, whatever it
is, we have to go through them and the costs are so significantly high” (Building Manager)
“On our first day they sat us down and told us what we couldn’t do in the school – from the
start it made us feel it wasn’t ours .

44. Children and Energy
“I think we should stop lighting the school in the day as the sun lights it up a lot and we’re
wasting electricity” (Final ‘design’ session, Year 8 pupil).
“Are the lights movement sensitive? I don’t think in the corridors they are. They could be
movement sensitive, but even just a switch”
Sometimes they [the classrooms] are really warm and the windows don’t open. None of
the windows open. Only the lower ones. In the summer it’s really hot” (Year 7 pupil.)
Researcher 1: “Are there things you think the architect could have done better?” “Just the
windows.”

45. “But you can’t open them and you get too hot... But then you have air conditioning. But
you only have it in ICT but when you do it’s nice and cool and then it gets too cold
[different voice]. In normal classrooms you have this thing that brings air in form outside,
but if it’s hot outside it’s just bringing in hot air.”
“I don't even think we are trying. It feels like they don't even think they care. But
they are always banging on about it. They are always telling us to save energy but
why not them”.

46. RESULTS
1.Contradictions between what adults say and what they tell children to do. A mismatch
between designers intention and teachers ability to manage the behaviours of pupils –
(many examples – dining biggest issue)
2.Poorly functioning building features (windows, heating and ventilation systems,
circulation, dining spaces) and either over provision or under provision of space and
facilities, together with teachers prohibiting use of facilities (toilets locked, .
3.Lack of ownership of PFI buildings
4.Lack of understanding of the ‘sustainable’ design features of the new school building –
solar heating panels
5.Convoluted facilities management procedures where prohibitions did nothing towards
children establishing their own “authentic” relationship to the environment and a deep or
lasting critical perspective on the problems of sustainable development.

47. MOTIVATING CHANGE
The School plans to enter into discussion with the local authority to
gain responsibility for paying their own bills and putting measures in
place to save 20%.
Schools setting up children “Eco-groups”.

48. ADMINISTRATION AND
TEACHING DEVELOPMENT
And what else do I bring?

49. 49

50. School Design Futures Conference
UKERC funded “The Meeting Place” University
of Oxford, St Hugh’s College

51. MEGS-KT: Teaching
development and Business and
Community Engagement
(towards low carbon
economies):
MEGS-KT: How to develop a
relevant, up-to-date desirable
platform for “CFD” opportunities,
opening up University resources
and allowing SMEs in the
renewable energy sector to share
their knowledge.
SASIE, Micro-Business,
Nottingham, UK

52. Building a Community of Practice,
“catalytic Individuals” and the small business
community.
17/10/2012 Robin Nicholson, Edward Cullinan Architects
24/10/2012 Russell Smith, Parity Projects
14/11/2012 Terry McGivern, The Institute for Sustainability and the
Flash Programme
05/12/2012 John Davis, Domestic Green Deal Assessor
16/01/2012 Carl Benfield, Prescient Power
30/01/2012 Keyur Vadodaria, Researcher, CALEBRE project
20/02/2012 Rich Cartwright, RDC Energy , Jonathan Gilbert, The
Rapid technology Transfer Group, and Tracy Thomas

56. We built a an online community
Community (50 participants over 7 workshops (9 speakers))
Catalytic Individuals /Fellows: Robin Nicholson (Award Winning
Architect, ex- Vice President RIBA), Parity Projects (Award Winning SME),
Institute for Sustainability (Training Centre), John Davis (Green Deal
Assessor), Saucy Horse (Social Networking Business Champion). Carl
Benfield (Prescient Energy [Solar and Wind]), Keyur Vadodaria
(Researcher/ Architect), Richard Cartright (Engineer, RDC Energy Ltd,
[Heat Pumps]) Jonathan Gilbert (Rapid Technology Transfer Group
[Innovative Technologies]) Tracy Thomas (Saucy Horse, Social Media
Marketing)
PhD students/Researchers (Loughborough University, Nottingham
University) Enrique Centelles, Kate Simpson, Sergey Fomin, Paula Cosar,
Becky Gough, Philip Leicester, Sven Hallin
Academics: Professor Jacqui Glass, Dr Paul Rowley, Dr Steven Firth,
Zulfikar Adamu

57. Catalytic Individuals and Our Social
Media Fellow Tracy Thomas

58. LinkedIn Community (50+
additional members in the East
Midlands)

59. Twitter Group 920 Followers

62. Why is this important as a BCE
project for the University?
Small businesses represent a supply chain that will allow us to design
and build low cost low energy and sustainable buildings.

63. The Community Views
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Xx602KnOiFM (3 mins)

64. “Correspondents” and the
purpose of evaluation
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=35IDWaB_X98 (1 min)

65. What emerges as a result of
participation?
A community trying to work together?

66. The E-MENTORING Pilot : “Improving
Student Employability Through E-
Mentoring”.
(February 2012 – June 2012)
• Awarded HEA Departmental Grant
• Recruited mentors and mentees. Mentors
were young, 2- 7 years post qualification.
Mentees from the School of Civil and
Building Engineering (without placement
experience).
• Invited to a launch meeting to meet
mentors/mentees and have some training
(all online).
• Left to get on with it. Some emails. Some
invitations to feedback via online
questionnaires.
• June – August interviews.
• September, review of programme and
revision ahead of pilot 2.

67. Anticipating a changing working world and how
technology is reshaping work, education and society
Extreme longevity
Globally connected media and communication tools
Robotics
Greater computational power
The role of social media to create new forms of production

68. Example experience of e-
mentoring
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McS_C_ausPY (3
min)

69. The benefits of e-mentoring and
the benefits of virtual mentoring/
collaboration in the studio?
• Unique relationship (from our project)
• Benefits beyond simply employability
(from our project)
• Expanding horizons and work practices
(from our project)

70. New ICT Enhanced Approaches to
Teaching and Learning
Virtual mentoring with practitioners (architects) or International
academics using Skype, Google meeting.
Virtual Mentoring/ Collaboration (design studio courses): with other
schools of architecture (in term projects) with other disciplines
(interdisciplinary studio) Peers (international) twitter

71. CONCLUSION
So why am I here? What am I about? And why might you
want me to teach here?

72. RESEARCH AND TEACHING
DEVELOPMENT INTERESTS
• Sustainable design, participation and post-occupancy as a learning
opportunity for better design and as a means of motivating
behavioural change amongst users
• Interdisciplinary research between fine art and architecture/
participation
• Pedagogic research and social enhanced teaching methods

73. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION
PLANS
Publication/ book on sustainable schools and participation addressing fine art
theory. “Space to ponder”
Grant funding for design for behaviour change/ motivating sustainable lifestyles
- how innovative technologies and controls can support behavioural change.
Grant funding for pedagogic research into social media and ICT enhance
mentoring in the studio.

74. HOW DO WE KNOW THE
FUTURE? HOW CAN WE
DESIGN FOR THE NEEDS OF
FUTURE OTHERS?
If the world is going to be different in 50 years, how can we
decide what is meant by sustainable design? Sustainable
design comments on the now. For architects it is a question
of ethics, we can act in good faith.

75. Is this sustainable design?

76. THANK YOU
…ANY
QUESTIONS?
a.s.wheeler@lboro.ac.uk