Effective Daylighting With High-performance Facades: Emerging Design Practices

Kyle Konis, Ph.D, AIA is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California (https://arch.usc.edu/faculty/kkonis). His courses focus on techniques and measurable methods for integrating sustainable design principles into architectural practice and urban design.  Kyle’s research interests are centered on improving the feedback loop between design and the performance outcomes of buildings in use, with an emphasis on the experience of building occupants.

In 2011, Kyle received a Ph.D in Architecture with an emphasis in Building Science from U.C. Berkeley. His Ph.D dissertation extends into the realms of engineering, physical computing, product design and social science, with the goal of leveraging rich and granular occupant feedback data as a critical instrument for evaluating and improving the design and performance of low-energy commercial buildings.  While completing his Ph.D, Kyle worked for four years as a graduate researchassistant with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Windows and Daylighting Group on high performance facade research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission.  His research experience also includes examining the feasibility of net-zero energy homes and demand response (DR) enabling technology.  While at Berkeley, Kyle received the “Bears Breaking Boundaries” Award from the U.C. Berkeley Chancellor for Science and Technology.

Kyle is a registered architect in the state of Washington and has worked professionally for Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Seattle and for Sir Michael Hopkins and Long and Kentish Architects in London. Kyle holds a Masters of Architecture degree from Yale University where he received the Multon Andrus Award for Excellence in Art and Architecture in 2004.  Prior to coming to USC, Kyle held an appointment at Portland State University.

Kyle is a member of the IESNA Daylighting and Daylighting Metrics Committees. His research has been published in a number of prominent journals including Energy and Buildings, Building and Environment, Solar Energy, Intelligent Buildings International, and LEUKOS.

Stephen Selkowitz is Senior Advisor for Building Science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, now in a part-time research and strategic planning role after leading LBNL’s building performance teams in research, development, and deployment of energy efficient technologies and sustainable design practices.  An internationally recognized expert on window technologies, window software tools, façade systems, shading solutions, daylighting strategies, and integrated building systems solutions, he led the LBNL Windows Group for 40 years and the LBNL Building Technologies Department for 25 years, partnering with industry to develop and demonstrate new technologies, systems, processes and tools that address energy, sustainability and human factors. He serves as Scientific Advisor to several international building science programs that explore zero net energy building solutions, serves as a consultant to industry, has spoken at over 400 scientific, business and industry venues and authored over 170 publications, 4 books and holds 2 patents. He holds an AB in Physics from Harvard College and an MFA in Environmental Design from California Institute of the Arts. In 2012 he was the recipient of LBNL’s first “Lifetime Achievement Award for Societal Impact”; in 2014 he received McGraw Hill/ENR’s prestigious “Award of Excellence” for “relentlessly working to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and for moving the nation towards better building performance” and in 2016 was elected to the College of Fellows in the Façade Tectonics Institute.