An applied framework to evaluate the impact of indoor office environmental factors on occupants' comfort and working conditions. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Andargie, Maedot S.; Azar, Elie
• Is Part Of: Sustainable cities and society. Volume 46(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Indoor environmental conditions -- Comfort -- Productivity -- Happiness -- Demographics -- United Arab Emirates (UAE); Sustainable urban development -- Periodicals; Sustainable buildings -- Periodicals; Urban ecology (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 307.76
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2019.101447
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2210-6707

Abstract

Highlights: A framework is proposed to evaluate the impact of building conditions on occupants. Thermal, lighting, and acoustic conditions are monitored for 156 building users. The effects on occupants' comfort, happiness, and working conditions are quantified. Results confirm the significant effect of building indoor conditions on occupants. Occupant demographics are determinants of the results and should be studied further. Abstract: This paper presents an integrated data collection and analysis framework to comprehensively evaluate the impact of office indoor building environment on occupants' comfort, satisfaction, and work performance. The latter includes the perceived productivity level of respondents as well as an objective measure of basic cognitive thinking skills. The framework consists of five main stages, which include: 1) development of a survey for the subjective evaluation of comfort levels of occupants with various indoor environmental metrics, 2) development of a performance test for an objective evaluation of productivity, 3) assembly and calibration of an indoor environmental monitoring station, 4) data collection using the tools developed in the first three stages, and 5) data analysis using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rank correlations, and ordinal logistic regression models. The framework is applied and validated through a case study of a green university campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where data was collected from 156 building users. Results show that both environmental conditions and occupants' personal characteristics have significant impacts on how occupants perceive their indoor environment, affecting their overall satisfaction, reported happiness, reported productivity levels, and basic cognitive abilities. In parallel, demographical factors such as gender and age are significant determinants of most of the studied comfort and performance metrics, confirming the need to further account for the personal characteristics of occupants when assessing the performance of the built environment.