Vivian Loftness

Expertise

Topics:  Changing Nature of Work, Environmental Quality, Environmental Design, Sustainability, Energy, Advanced Building Systems Integration, Health and Productivity

Industries: Architecture and Planning, Design, Energy

Vivian Loftness is an internationally renowned researcher, author and educator with over 30 years of focus on environmental design and sustainability, advanced building systems integration, climate and regionalism in architecture, and design for performance in the workplace of the future. Her areas of expertise include: architecture/urbanism and climate change and resilience, architecture/urbanism and energy/carbon, indoor environmental quality, health and productivity, the changing nature of work, and advanced building systems and systems integration for environmental quality and health.

Media Experience

How to Slay Energy Vampires with Smart Power Strips  — EnergyPortal.eu
To combat these energy vampires, Vivian Loftness, a professor and former head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, suggests unplugging them. However, constantly plugging and unplugging devices can be inconvenient. That’s where smart power strips come in.

Solar Windows? New Tech Could Change How You Power Your Home  — CNET
"I don't actually see in the next 10 years that we will think of [solar] windows as an alternative to rooftop photovoltaic," Vivian Loftness, a professor at Carnegie Mellon's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, told CNET. Loftness, the former head of the university's School of Architecture, has decades of experience in environmental design and sustainability.

New Smart Surfaces Guidebook Makes Adoption of Cost-Effective Heat Reduction Strategies Widely Available to City Planners, Architects, and Engineers  — GreenRoofs.com
Vivian Loftness, Professor, and Former Head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University noted the importance of the guidebook saying, “investments are made every day that could significantly improve the quality of our cities and towns. Designing smarter surfaces for our roofs, parking lots, streets and sidewalks can significantly reduce summer temperatures and flooding in our neighborhoods, while adding landscapes for walkability and solar collection for low carbon energy. This Smart Surface Guidebook provides beautiful illustrations and quantifies how we can update our neighborhood surfaces for a more sustainable future.”

A ‘postcard from the future,’ Oak Park building is one of three in the state to prove it creates as much energy as it uses  — Chicago Tribune
“A net zero building is absolutely where we have to go,” said Vivian Loftness, a professor and co-director of the Center for Building Performance & Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Future Of Office Work  — Carnegie Mellon University
oftness (right), an architecture professor, anticipates that the lessons we've learned in quarantine will change the way we work. Design for less density, working from home or masking in the office when you have a cold, as well as increasing ventilation and wiping down surfaces offers healthier workplaces that should be the norm, she said. Ergonomics will be more important for working at home, and videoconferencing and collaboration tools, like Zoom, are here to stay. She also believes that confidence has grown in worker productivity from home, and employees will have more flexibility to work remotely.