Firm Profile

LOISOS + UBBELOHDE ASSOCIATES provides architectural design, research and consulting services. We focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, specializing in daylighting, energy analysis, and evaluation of building performance. Clients include architects and engineers, institutional and commercial developers, state agencies, and public utilities. Our consulting projects, both domestic and international, are diverse, ranging from the Oberlin College Environmental Studies Center, to Johnson International Headquarters, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, San Francisco International Airport Terminal, and NIKE European Headquarters.

We emphasize a collaborative relationship with our clients to create buildings with minimal ecological impact that use both traditional and innovative technologies to achieve energy efficiency objectives and establish comfortable, high quality environments.

We consult at all stages of the design process from initial design conceptualization through construction administration. We also provide services in building commissioning and assessment of building performance, including LEED certification. The firm has the capacity for advanced daylight simulation using both computer simulation and physical models. We use the artificial sky simulators in the Building Science Laboratory facilities at the University of California, Berkeley, and the video-equipped heliodon at the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco. We also provide hour-by-hour thermal and energy use simulation and on-site monitoring of weather conditions and interior comfort conditions.

We bring a unique perspective to a project, integrating both architectural and engineering approaches to building design and implementation. For over 15 years, the firm’s partners have been at the forefront of ongoing university and industry-sponsored research activities in daylighting application, energy simulation techniques, and climate response. They also participate on a variety of technical review committees and are frequent lecturers at educational conferences for technical and design professionals. All firm members have advanced degrees with architectural practice and research experience.

Current consulting projects include the following:

Oakland International Airport Main Terminal, Oakland, CA: daylighting and energy efficiency consulting, including thermal and daylight performance simulations, electric lighting and mechanical coordination, shading and glazing specification, to Master Architect Joint Venture including Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Architects.

Petaluma School District, Petaluma, CA: daylighting and lighting controls consulting on new construction throughout the district for AIM Associates.

State Compensation Insurance Fund, San Francisco, CA: energy and daylighting consulting, including performance simulations, electric lighting, mechanical coordination and shading to Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Architects. (300,000 sq. ft.)

Apple Computer Flagship Retail Store, Los Angeles, CA: Daylighting consulting including performance simulations and associated shading and thermal issues, for Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

CalTrans District Headquarters, Los Angeles, CA: daylighting performance, shading and glazing specifications for Kroll+4 and Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT) Architects (600,000 sq. ft.).

York County Museum, Rock Hill, SC: Daylighting performance including curatorial, thermal, shading and glazing issues for environmental history museum on the Catawba River for William McDonough + Partners (99,000 sq. ft.)

FuturePlex Office Complex, South San Francisco, CA: energy and daylighting consulting, including wind turbines, photovoltaics, and LEED certification, on gateway complex of multiple atria, for Adèle Naudé Santos and Associates (1 million sq. ft.).

The Computer History Museum, Moffett Field, CA: daylighting and energy consulting on museum design and implementation, with an emphasis on gallery lighting, for Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis (EHDD) Architecture (40,000 sq. ft.).

Johnson International Headquarters, Racine, WI: consulting on daylighting, lighting controls, glazing, shade specifications and protocols for new corporate headquarters building for William McDonough+Partners (occupancy summer 2002) (180,000 sq. ft.)

Recent award-winning projects:

Oberlin College Environmental Studies Center, Oberlin, OH: daylighting performance and shading studies, including physical model and computer simulation on building designed as showcase for sustainable design, for William McDonough+Partners, 1997-98

The Chicago Athæneum American Architecture Award, 1999
AIA Committee on Architecture for Education Honor Award, 1999
AIA Committee on the Environment Award, 2002

The GAP Corporate Campus, 901 Cherry, San Bruno, CA: daylighting performance consulting for William McDonough+Partners, 1995-96

Business Week/Architectural Record Design Award, 1998
Savings By Design Award, 2000

PAST PROJECTS

Palm Corporate Campus, San Jose, CA. Daylighting, thermal interaction, lighting controls and shade controls for 700,000 square feet office in five buildings for William McDonough + Partners with HOK. 2000-present.

Aragon Elementary School, Los Angeles, CA. Daylighting and shading consulting on elementary school design for John Friedman Alice Kim Architects. 2001

American Canyon Hotel, Napa, CA. Ecological, comfort and energy consulting on a Green Hotel including photovoltaics, hydronic heating, solar domestic hot water and sod roof strategies to Surf Beach, LLC and Mickey Muennig, Architect. 2000 - present.

Santa Monica Park Buildings, Santa Monica, CA. Ecological and green technologies integrated with the design of park structures with Daly Genik Architects. 2000 - present.

Johnson International Headquarters, Racine WI. Consulting on daylighting, lighting controls, glazing, shade specifications and protocols for the new corporate headquarters building to William McDonough + Partners, 2000.

Patagonia Corporate Campus, Ventura, California. Design for the renovation of the historic Lost Arrow building for improved lighting quality, solar control and energy savings without compromising the aesthetic of the original design. 1998-99.

San Francisco Airport International Terminal. Consulting to SOM on visual comfort, sun penetration and reflection pattern studies for the new International and Gateway terminal. 1998

Fort Baker Plan. Provided consulting on energy source, energy procurement, energy efficiency in developing plan for re-use and development of For Baker, Marin County, California. 1998.

NIKE European Headquarters, Hilversum, The Netherlands. Daylighting, sun penetration and arcade materials simulations using RADIANCE for William McDonough + Partners. 1997-98

Sonoma State Environmental Technology Center, Sonoma, CA. Daylighting and related energy efficiency simulations and design consulting to AIM Associates, 1997.

MacDonalds Prototype Sustainable Restaurant. Assisted in development of new corporate architectural and HVAC standards for energy efficient fast food restaurants, including testing of these standards in the design and construction of a demonstration building in northern California. 1996.

University of California, Berkeley. Chemistry laboratory HVAC controls. The UCB Chemistry building, tied into the campus-wide energy management system , was modeled for energy flows to examine control protocols to manage the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) of this building. A detailed computer model including all building loads, HVAC loads, occupant loads, etc. Was overlaid with the appropriate schedules and produced detailed dynamic thermal and performance simulation. This enabled us to answer a series of performance issues according to control scenarios and assisted in the location of sensors for optimal building control. In addition due to the flexibility, accuracy and the large number of variables included in the simulations, the model was also used to explore conditions which cannot be tested during a regular commissioning process.1994-95

University of California San Diego. Detailed energy-conservation campus retrofit planning including daylighting and lighting controls issues. This project involved determining the feasibility and retrofit economics for ten existing campus buildings, including offices, classroom buildings, auditoriums, teaching laboratories, research laboratories, medical research laboratories and a library, to design detailed energy efficient retrofit projects. The buildings were monitored in the field and audited, then modeled using computer simulation software to identify primary and secondary energy use contributors. Possible retrofits were simulated for energy conservation and economic savings potential. The savings generated ranged from $2 to $3.37 per square foot with simple paybacks in the range of zero to six years, the average being two years. 1993-94.

University of Minnesota. Total energy use simulation and design assistance for university buildings including medical research laboratories. The University building stock includes over 200 buildings totaling 16 million square feet with an annual energy expenditure of $29 million. The University initiated a program to reduce energy costs by 30% within 5 years which included three parallel activities: a fast payback path, a detailed analysis path, and a design assistance path. The Design Assistance Path worked with project architects and engineers providing analysis of building designs and offering alternatives based on energy savings and associated economic savings for the University. Annual energy savings were calculated at $2.6 million for the design assistance portion alone. 1990-1993.

Weisman Art Museum University of Minnesota. Daylighting consulting to architect Frank Gehry included physical modeling and computer simulations for the daylighting-intensive program requirements of the award-winning art museum. 1991-92.

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS

Microclimate Analysis and Design Criteria for The Design Yard. Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, 1986.
Solar Access and Shading for the Proposed CDR Development. City of Richfield, MN, 1986.
Carlson Center: Solar Access and Transit Studies. Trammell Crow Co., 1987.
Windows and Energy. Computer simulations, data analysis and final report. The Weidt Group, 1988.
Rokko Island Competition: Schematic Energy Strategies. Adèle Naudé Santos, Architect. 1991 - 1992.
Daylighting/Energy Efficiency Design Consulting to Lake/Flato Architects:
University of Texas-Houston School of Nursing Competition Entry. 1996
Bartlit Residence. 1997
Electronic Imaging Inc. Office Building. 1997
Albemarle County High School, Charlottesville, VA. 1995-96
Chattanooga Trade Center, Chattanooga, TN. 1997
The GAP Office Building 850 Cherry San Bruno, CA. 1998

MEMBERS OF THE FIRM

PARTNERS

George Loisos, Principal, is a licensed architect who has practiced in the United States and Europe since 1980. In 1984, he became one of the two founding partners of Loisos+Ubbelohde, providing energy and daylighting consulting services for a wide range of domestic and international projects including commercial office buildings, school, day care, and university facilities, laboratories, sustainable demonstration buildings, and convention centers.

As the architectural program coordinator for Pacific Gas & Electric’s Energy Center in San Francisco, CA, from 1994-2000, Mr. Loisos created, administered and delivered programs and lectures on energy conservation and sustainable practices in design, and provided extensive project-specific consultations to the regional architectural community. In conjunction with the Energy Center, Mr. Loisos directed over $1 million per year in funded research projects in daylighting design. He presently is a lead researcher on the Alternatives to Compressor Cooling Program for the California Energy Commission, which involves architectural design and mechanical coordination of demonstration houses for residential development.

Mr. Loisos has led projects in daylighting design and research in building energy use at the University of California, San Diego, and at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where he ran the design assistance program for the university’s Building Energy Efficiency Program. At both institutions, he coordinated teams of architects, engineers and other technical consultants to analyze building energy use. The team examined the economic implications of design alternatives and identified opportunities to lower energy costs in existing and planned new structures. Other research-related activities have included the design and constructions of the artificial sky simulator at the University of California, Berkeley, and PG&E’s Daylighting Initiative to reintroduce daylighting practices to the architectural profession.

Mr. Loisos has taught daylight modeling and design at the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India, and environmental technology in the School of Architecture at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee. He has lectured publicly on environmental technology and design issues at colleges, universities and professional conferences around the United States and presents workshops in these areas for architectural and engineering firms.

M. Susan Ubbelohde, Principal, is a tenured faculty member of the architecture department at the University of California, Berkeley, and a founding partner of Loisos+Ubbelohde, with a background in both urban studies and architecture. She has a 20-year track record in research and consulting to architectural firms, developers, and planning agencies on building, environmental, and technical design, focusing on energy use, daylighting, and climate response. As a principal investigator, Ms. Ubbelohde has directed nearly $1 million in funded research, including projects for the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Minnesota, the National Science Foundation, the University of California Energy Institute, and the California Institute for Energy Efficiency.

Ms. Ubbelohde’s research includes the development and evaluation of design tools as well as building performance prediction and field evaluation. She has examined the use of daylighting technology to reduce peak electrical demands, monitored thermal performance of buildings in India and the United States, and performed extensive evaluation and development of daylighting software. She presently is a lead researcher on the Alternatives to Compressor Cooling Program for the California Energy Commission, which involves architectural design and mechanical coordination of demonstration houses for residential development.

In addition to her regular teaching and research activities at the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. Ubbelohde runs the artificial sky simulator in the university’s Building Science Laboratory. Previously, she was director of the Regional Daylighting Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Ms. Ubbelohde has been invited to deliver lecture programs as a visiting professor in the architecture schools of institutions including the University of Washington, Seattle, the University of Oregon, Eugene, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, and the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India. She has received the Progressive Architecture Research Award and an award for undergraduate teaching. Other academic honors include the CIES/Fulbright Indo-American Fellowship to support research on buildings’ thermal performance in India, and a Humanities Research Fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ms. Ubbelohde has written numerous articles for professional conferences and scholarly publications on daylighting, solar access and energy efficiency, and design procedures for passive environmental technologies. She also participates on a variety of technical review committees, and lectures on environmental design and energy-related topics at building science, energy and architecture conferences throughout the United States.

ASSOCIATED PROFESSIONALS

Santosh Philip is an architect and software specialist, holding professional degrees from the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India, and the University of Minnesota. Working with Loisos+Ubbelohde since 1994, he develops computer simulations of thermal performance and energy use in new and retrofit architectural designs. Mr. Philip’s energy research activities include development of a daylighting software package, updating of energy software used to qualify buildings under Title 24, the California Energy Code, interface development for advanced daylighting software and a graphic interface with energy simulation software packages. He also is the author of proprietary software programs that allow detailed energy simulations of complex buildings.

Mr. Philip worked on the Building Energy Use Project at the University of California, San Diego, for which he organized and executed the energy simulation runs. While at the University of Minnesota, he was a research assistant for the Regional Daylighting Center, where he developed software used to test and calibrate artificial skies, plot daylighting contours, and study topography. Mr. Philip has received honors for publication of an outstanding thesis on software for daylighting from CEPT, as well as the Gold Medal from the Gujarat Institute of Architects and Civil Engineers. His architectural projects have included residences, university buildings, and office complexes.

Christian Humann is a designer and software specialist with an advanced professional degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. In his five years with Loisos+Ubbelohde, he has specialized in daylight modeling through computational and physical models and in development of related software. Mr. Humann also has extensive experience in evaluation of energy and CAD software. He is recognized as an expert in accurately modeling complex buildings with RADIANCE, a research grade light simulation software.

Mr. Humann has been actively engaged in energy research, including comparative analysis of daylighting software for the Center of Environmental Design and Research at the University of California, Berkeley. He also has examined alternative energy options for residential buildings with the Southface Energy Institute, Atlanta, and has participated as a team analyst on the Alternatives to Compressor Cooling Program for the California Energy Commission. Mr. Humann received special recognition in the 15th Annual Interiors Awards from Interiors magazine for custom lighting he designed and built for an award winning office renovation. Other architectural projects have included residential, office and commercial retrofits and work with Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri.

Paul LaBerge, with a long experience in building science, daylighting systems and tools, holds an advanced professional degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. In his work with Loisos+Ubbelohde, Mr. LaBerge specializes in physical modeling and optical systems. As a senior research associate for over five years with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he designed and prototyped energy efficient windrows and window systems. He is co-designer of the Pacific Energy Center Heliodon in San Francisco, and of the renovation lighting system for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Sky Simulator. Mr. LaBerge also is a frequent speaker on topics involving daylighting and shading systems.

Leslie J. Gold is responsible for client communications, public information, and media relations at Loisos+Ubbelohde. She joins the firm as communications director after 18 years as a legal affairs reporter and senior editor at the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., in Washington, D.C. Ms. Gold holds undergraduate and professional degrees from Oberlin College and the George Washington University Law School, respectively.