Interior Design assistant professor, Dr. Negar Matin, has published a study that advanced the application of data-driven design for minimizing discomfort glare in high-performance sustainable buildings. This study indicates that using responsive facade systems with hourly adaptive control strategies can significantly maintain daylight glare factors such as Daylight Glare Probability (DGPs) within an imperceptible range (<0.35) for an entire year across different design scenarios including different facade configurations, building orientations, and climate zones.
Simulated office diagram from Matin et al.
In this study, computational models were developed by incorporating hourly daylight glare probability (DGP) with occupants’ spatial data and facade active variables to minimize discomfort glare for responsive facades. To consider all possible scenarios, the proposed computational models have been tested 20,736,200 times, and daylight glare probability values at 34,995,328,000 points in the simulated test room were calculated.
This project was funded by the Faculty Investment Program provided by the Vice President for Research and Partnership and the Program for Research Enhancement of the Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. The project has been conducted in the OU High-Performance Interior Architecture Laboratory in close collaboration with research partners from the GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology at Eastern Michigan University, including Dr. Ali Eydgahi.
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition Vollendorf in Oklahoma: The Architecture of Dean Bryant Vollendorf during the Spring 2025 semester. It will be on display in Gould Hall, on the OU-Norman Campus, from February 16, 2026 - March 13, 2026.
On November 21, 2025, the Mainsite Contemporary Art gallery was transformed into a showcase of innovation and craftsmanship for the University of Oklahoma’s furniture design build studio exhibition, “Purpose in Form.”
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.