Reflections

LIGHTWELL: Energy and Health is a comprehensive conversation about Multi-generational Housing in Oakland, CA. According to me, the project was successful in incorporating Net-Zero Energy and a Healthy Living Environment. An already complicated narrative of Multigenerational Living, this project struggled to find its unique quality in the initial phases and could not justify the need for net zero Energy. But, as narrative progressed it was successfully able to find a synergy between NZE and Health.

I believe that every problem, be it architectural or general, has a synergistic solution that paves the way for an optimistic path. In this project, daylighting was that optimistic path that helped the narrative positively, and even though the project was focused on NZE and Healthy Living Environment, daylighting turned out to be the focus of research and analysis.

This project also addresses the deliberate duality in architecture in recent times about expression versus energy. The narrative that NZE projects lack architectural quality is ignorant and needs to change. This project tries to bridge that duality and create an understanding of a holistic solution.