Our project is a building containing social service offices and residential units. In order to insure that we meet the intent of this credit we request the following clarifications: 1. One of the perimeter spaces in the project is a roughly 1,000-square-foot waiting area/lobby for a Food Bank. There are no full-time occupants in this space. The hours this space is occupied are: Tuesdays 10am to 11am Wednesdays 4pm to 7pm Thursdays 10am to 1pm During these hours there are approximately 30 families per hour who pass through the space to pick up food. At other times the space is not occupied. The current design has a number of fixed windows. Are we required to provide operable windows and lighting controls that meet the requirements for IEQ Credit 6.1 for this space (i.e. is this waiting area considered a regularly occupied space)? 2. One of the office spaces in the building is technically within 15-feet of the exterior, but there is a partially enclosed, concrete stair between the outside wall of the office and the exterior wall of the stair. We would argue that because of this, the space essentially does not share "a physical connection with the building exterior." Furthermore, placing a window in the small remaining portion (just above the stair treads beyond, and more than 6-feet high within the office) seems to go against the intent of this credit; that is, to "promote the productivity, comfort and well-being of building occupants" because of noise pollution from resident use, etc. Should this office instead be considered non-perimeter space? 3. One of the spaces in the office portion of the building is a thick, T-shape, with the upper portion of the "T" connecting to the exterior via door and windows on each side. The lower portion of the "T" is slightly thicker and, aside from the above, is not directly connected to the exterior (offices less than 15-feet wide, and possessing full-height walls, fill in the space on either side). Finally, this space has no full-time occupants, but serves as a waiting area for several offices when the need arises. Is this a "regularly occupied space" requiring adherence to the calculations of this credit? If so, should we separate the space into the upper- and lower-portions of the "T," or strictly follow the 15-foot offset rule even though this means including portions of the space with no direct connection to the exterior?
This request contains three questions related to the definition of regularly occupied and perimeter spaces. 1. With respect to the waiting room/lobby and the described functionality, it may be excluded from the regularly occupied spaces. 2. With respect to the office in question, it should be treated as non-perimeter space since it is separated from the perimeter by an interior wall. 3. With respect to the T-shaped space, not enough information has been provided to provide a definitive ruling. It is recommended that the project team first evaluate the use of this area relative to the definition of regularly occupied space. If it is determined to be regularly occupied, then the entire room should be considered perimeter space if 75% of that room is within 15 feet of the perimeter wall.