As part of our project, there is a large greenhouse enclosure with a floor area reserved for smaller private classroom gatherings and demonstrations, and a larger area devoted to a plant exhibit for pubic viewing. Attached to, and accessible through, the greenhouse are ten small classrooms, each with a view into the greenhouse. These classrooms will be heated and cooled with conventional mechanical system. We have shown the wall between greenhouse and classrooms to be insulated and detailed as an exterior wall. The greenhouse walls will have many operable windows controlled by the greenhouse controls system. These controls will also operate a misting/fogging system, to maintain humidity levels for the plants, and fin tube heating and fans to control temperature in the greenhouse to about ten degrees above outside temperature in the summer and down to no less than fifty degrees in the winter. In calculating perimeter wall and window quantities for EQ6.1, which wall should we consider to be the perimeter wall to satisfy this credit - between greenhouse and classrooms, or at the perimeter of the greenhouse?
Operable windows between the classroom and greenhouse space would not meet the intent of the credit to allow for ventilation control by individual occupants. Bringing greenhouse air into the classroom space is not adequate ventilation, unless the greenhouse and classrooms are designed with natural ventilation per section 5.1 of ASHRAE 62.1-2004. The application of Credits 6.1 & 6.2 to the classrooms should be guided by the \'Group Multi-occupant Space Calculations for Credits 6.1 and 6.2\' in the Reference Guide. For this calculation, perimeter wall should be considered that facing the outside, natural environment, not the greenhouse. Additionally, operable windows should be considered as those that open to outside. Additionally, the greenhouse is assumed to be process-dedicated in which lighting, temperature, and ventilation are controlled to meet the needs of the plants rather than the needs of occupants. If that is the case, Credits 6.1 and 6.2 would not apply to this space. The space seems to be occupied regularly by educational classes and other groups, but if there is good justification to consider this space as \'non-regularly occupied\' then the space would be exempt. Applicable Internationally.