Optimization of Medical Office Building
Manchester, England
as Team Manager/Architectural
First Place
2025 Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design Competition
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
An entry to the 2025 ASHRAE Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design Student Competition, the NJIT team proposed modifications to an existing design for a medical office building located in Manchester, England to approach net zero energy use. We sought to design a high-performance building that addresses holistic notions of sustainability, including lifecycle impacts and occupant wellbeing.
Utilizing an integrated design process in Revit and data-driven design decision-making, the team accomplished a net-positive operational energy building, meeting all prescriptive requirements of ASHRAE Standard 189.1-2020 (a LEED equivalent) and partially complying with the WELL Building Standard.
The complete 52-page technical report is available upon request.
Project Team: Jacob Swanson (Team Manager), Minkyeong Park, Jeongseo Lee, Austin Chen, and Mingzhe Li.
Advisor: Hyojin Kim, PhD; New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Acknowledgements: Sudiksha Sahu for contributions to the project’s early stages and Sara Wang at Gensler New York for progress review feedback.
Press:
“NJIT Students Win First Place in International Net Zero Energy Design Competition.” NJIT News, September 25, 2025.
Jacob Swanson 