Impact of biomimetic window system on building energy consumption and occupants' perception in the educational environment

Although people are spending more time indoors, their perception of the indoor environment is not improved; meanwhile, building energy consumption continues to rise. About 40 percent of all U.S. energy was consumed by residential and commercial sectors whereas educational buildings consumed 11 percent and 13 percent of total electricity and natural gas consumption, respectively. These days, extensive studies have sought to reduce building energy consumption through various mechanical methods. However, these methods focus exclusively on building energy. Therefore, other methods need to be proposed to enhance the perception of the building occupants.The purpose of this study was to examine the enhancement of energy consumption and occupants' perception by using strategies that adopt the characteristics of nature, called biomimetic design. In this study, the biomimetic solutions were designed to bring daylight into an interior space in educational buildings, where daylight generally cannot reach. Specifically, this study investigated how the daylight achieved through biomimetic windows affected building energy consumption and students' perceptions in educational spaces. Therefore, this study looked for biomimetic approaches that could bring more daylight into the interior space and determined that such approaches changed the energy consumption and perception of occupants in the educational building.This study investigated the positive effects of daylight on people and found a strategy from biomimicry methods. This study proposed a new biomimetic window system based on the fur of polar bears, which reflects daylight. This research had two research phases. Through computer simulations, this study examined how the new biomimetic window system saved building energy consumption. This study created a 3D model which is the currently existing MSU main library and compared its energy consumption and actual energy consumption. Using the created 3D model, this study conducted simulations only for the basement floor, which does not have windows. When the simulations were conducted with the basement floor, about 13 percent of energy was saved from the installation of a biomimetic window system. The second phase of the study was to collect occupants' perceptions in virtual reality spaces with biomimetic windows using an experimental research approach. Three major findings need to be highlighted. First, students were more satisfied with an area where daylight entered through the biomimetic window system than the one without a window. Second, when the biomimetic window system was installed, students preferred an enclosed space over an open space. Third, their seating preference depending on the average study time of students did not vary much whether there is the biomimetic window system. However, there was weak relationship between students' average study time and their perception with spaces.Using a biomimetic solution to utilize daylight, this study found practical ways to reduce building energy consumptions for indoor lighting by using actual daylight. Using this nature-inspired new method, this study proposed a way to reduce energy consumption in educational buildings while simultaneously improving occupants' perception and satisfaction. The results of this study will be a milestone for developing a biomimetic window system and helping energy saving in the educational building environment while improving occupants' perceptions therein.