Our building consists of four occupied floors above grade and one below. Offices and an art restoration studio-laboratory are distributed among the above-grade floors, and computer training and multi-media conference rooms are placed in the basement, which cannot have windows. Support areas are minimized on the above-grade floors and instead concentrated in the basement. Our goals included providing maximum access to views for the occupants, given that the program exceeded limitations on above-grade construction: for the four floors above grade, we achieve 98.6% view area for all spaces excluding circulation and toilets. Our question is whether the computer training and multi-media conference rooms must be considered regularly occupied or support spaces, which would bring the view area down to 87.3%-89.4%. These rooms serve those who otherwise work full-time in the view area; i.e., one might spend two hours in a room in the basement but all other hours with access to views and daylight. Moreover, these basement conference rooms are multi-media, so much of the time they are used, they require low light level; other conference rooms meant for conversation rather than presentation are placed on the upper floors and have full view access. The training room is always used for a projected presentation for people learning on computers and requires room darkening in its use. We feel we have met the intent of this credit by ensuring that everyone has an assigned place with view access so that they
As outlined in EQc8.1 CIR ruling dated 3/4/2003, the credit requirements for EQc8.1 specifically exclude non-regularly occupied spaces and spaces where tasks would be hindered by the use of daylight. This same ruling applies to EQc8.2. As such, these spaces can be excluded from the calculations. Please note that time of use is not part of the consideration for this credit. Only spaces hindered by the use of daylight or views can be excluded. Please clearly delineate the areas of the project being excluded from the calculations and provide a brief narrative describing the rationale and assumptions made for each excluded area in the certification documentation for this credit. Applicable internationally.