Vital Signs
Case Study Library

This section contains case studies undertaken by students from around the country. The authors range from first year architecture students to graduate students in building science. Naturally, the studies vary in length and scope. We believe all of the studies here have something to offer - either as a pedagogic model for architectural educators, or as a step in building a shared knowledge base on how buildings really perform and are experienced by their users.

Candidate Buildings

This section contains pages describing buildings we are curious about and that would make great candidates for investigation.

Case Study Components: Building Workups vs.
Case Study Dossiers

Two complementary artifacts make up a Vital Signs case study: a Building Workup and Case Study Dossier. This page offers a description of each.

Performing a Case Study

This page explains the makeup of a case study and suggests types of buildings worth studying. It also provides some guidelines to help focus a study on an interesting question and then to develop a hypothesis and course of study to test it.

Style Guide for Case-Study Web Pages

This style guide contains design guidelines and HTML code to use when creating case-study web pages. Should you create case-study reports to post on your own web page or school's web page, you'll find the style guide offers useful suggestions and examples to follow.

Publishing a Case Study

This page describes the two different paths available to publish your case study on the web. It outlines the process for each.