The AJLC was conceived as a demonstration project, testing ground, educational venue, and catalyst for the emerging field of ecological design. It was designed to be a building that would teach. Lessons embodied in its technology and design choices are intended to reinforce those taught in its classrooms. Indeed, the AJLC provides a fertile space that has attracted the focus of courses in a variety of disciplines, lecture series, student research, Winter Term and summer student projects, community groups, regional schools, and universities and professionals from abroad.

Given the range of objectives the AJLC was designed to achieve, its evaluation requires a multi-faceted effort. In the case of energy, current production and consumption, trends in performance over time, the degree to which feedback is used to inform decisions about new technologies and educate occupants and visitors all need to be considered. Opportunities for interdisciplinary scientific, social and psychological inquiry abound.

Efforts to research the AJLC's evolution are well underway, providing ongoing opportunities to educate a variety of audiences, including Oberlin College students, regional kindergarten through high school students, other university students and faculty, architecture and design professionals, and lay audiences.

The Program's systems ecologist, Dr. John Petersen, focuses in his work on the AJLC as a complex evolving ecological system and, in particular, on changes in the structure and the patterns of energy flow and material cycles over time. The data monitoring system is a large part of this work, providing a unique opportunity to quantify development of this ecologically designed building.

Our data indicate that the building is performing quite well relative to contemporary construction. More importantly, there is also evidence that the AJLC as a whole is fulfilling its educational mission. In keeping with ecological design principles, the AJLC will continuously be evaluated with regard to its objectives. The long-term success of the AJLC is contingent on the unflagging efforts of faculty and students to identify and correct design flaws and pursue new opportunities for increasing energy and material use efficiency.

Next: Evaluating Performance