DDes, Educator, Researcher, Architect
Featured Speaking Engagements
Beyond Energy Savings: Investigating the Co-Benefits of Heat Resilient Architecture
Optimal Control of HVAC and Window Systems for Natural Ventilation through Reinforcement Learning
Additional Publications
Parametric Energy Simulation in Early Design: High-Rise Residential Buildings in
Urban Contexts
Housing as a Critical Determinant of Heat Vulnerability and Health
Co-Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings
Holly’s work explores how buildings can mitigate the effects of climate change while enhancing the well-being of their occupants. Through innovative research and cross-disciplinary collaboration, she addresses the urgent challenges of thermal resilience, energy efficiency, and the future of building design in a rapidly changing world.
Holly Samuelson is an Associate Professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where her teaching and research focus on the intersection of building design, human health, and climate change mitigation. Holly leads the Human and Planetary Health Group at Harvard, and her research contributions include over 40 peer-reviewed publications. Prior to joining Harvard, Holly worked as an architect and a technical consultant to other building professionals.
Featured Projects and Publications
The Human and Planetary Health Group at Harvard Graduate School of Design conducts research to enhance the health of buildings for both occupants and the ecosystem.
We are committed to transforming indoor air quality monitoring and ventilation with our smart sensor, which detects over 20 harmful volatile organic compounds, promotes healthy environments, saves energy, and aligns with LEED standards. SNIFFIA is a National Science Foundation funded project and start-up.
Learn More at www.sniffia.com.
This paper presents a framework for early-design guidance for architects and policymakers using parametric whole-building energy simulation. It introduces a simplified sensitivity analysis to pinpoint key architectural design parameters impacting energy use, while also identifying synergies and trade-offs between energy and health objectives.
This study uses physics-based simulations of 92,000 housing prototypes to demonstrate that housing design is a critical determinant of indoor heat-related health risks. We show that current heat vulnerability indices overlook housing characteristics, particularly the nuanced effects of building age and air conditioning functionality, and propose methods to address these gaps.
In this paper, we investigate how building design decisions interact across three heat-related factors: energy use/carbon emissions, passive survivability, and heat rejection in urban climates. We demonstrate that architectural design and related policies can leverage synergies between these climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
This paper examines a proposed public housing project in Phoenix, AZ, using several tools to calculate economic, environmental, and health metrics across three energy efficiency levels. We find that avoided health and climate costs could represent about 40% of direct utility savings. Additionally, we quantify how energy-saving strategies can cool the neighborhood, enhance heat resilience, improve indoor air quality, and reduce airborne disease transmission, leading to future cost savings.
This paper, awarded a Best Paper Award in Energy and Buildings (one of the top ten out of over 3,800 from 2018-2022), addresses the challenge of effectively integrating natural ventilation with HVAC systems. It introduces a reinforcement learning control strategy that optimizes HVAC and window operations to substantially reducing energy consumption and thermal discomfort.