scholarly journals A Novel Approach for the Definition of an Integrated Visual Quality Index for Residential Buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zanon ◽  
Callegaro ◽  
Albatici
Keyword(s):  
Quality Index ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Weighted Average ◽  
Visual Quality ◽  
Color Temperature ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Definition Of

Visual quality is an important component of indoor environment quality and greatly affects inhabitants’ perception of the living space. Nevertheless, the lighting design of residential buildings is usually underestimated by both designers and standards. This paper presents an integrated index for evaluating the visual quality of an indoor environment in residential buildings. The main parameters considered are daylight access, probability of glare from daylight and electric illumination, maintained illuminance, and color temperature. These aspects are evaluated throughout a whole year using a fixed set of metrics and are combined using relative weights. It was decided to also consider qualitative parameters in order to give more importance to some psychological aspects of visual comfort. Finally, the building visual quality index is obtained by a weighted average of the results of each room with the addition of the qualitative parameters. The applicability of the index was tested through the simulation of a dwelling that will be built and monitored in the context of the Comfort for Sustainable Buildings in the Alps (CASA) research project. The building visual quality index proved to be useful during the design process, allowing for improvements in both electric illumination and daylight access through a comparison of different solutions. This study could represent a step towards the holistic evaluation of indoor environment quality.

scholarly journals Perceived Acoustic Quality and Effect on Occupants’ Satisfaction in Green and Conventional Residential Buildings

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Zalejska-Jonsson
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
General Satisfaction ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Environmental Profile ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Acoustic Quality ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Very High

The study presented in this paper focuses on the subjective opinions of occupants of multistory residential buildings by examining the relationship between occupants’ satisfaction and indoor environment quality, and analysing the effect the problems experienced with noise level may have on general satisfaction and the perceived acoustic quality. The analysis is based on data collected through surveys addressed to adults living in green and conventional buildings. The results show that occupants are very satisfied with their apartments, and subjectively rated acoustic quality received very high scores. The responses indicate that noise from neighbours has been experienced relatively seldom by occupants; however, the analysis shows that it is the factor that has the strongest effect on satisfaction with acoustic quality. We have found that the environmental profile of a building has a significant effect on general satisfaction expressed by occupants; however, this effect has not been confirmed for acoustic quality.

scholarly journals Human Factors in Green Building: Building Types and Users’ Needs

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhonghua Gou
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Natural Ventilation ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality

The Special Issue on “Human Factors in Green Building” addresses the design of indoor environment quality for users’ needs. The collected papers cover various building types and the research highlights the different needs of users. In working environments, employees’ stress is the main concern in the workplace design, especially for open plan offices where lack of privacy and over exposure to environmental stress have been reported. In residential environments, residents have great opportunities to adjust their environments to suit their needs; therefore, passive design such as natural ventilation is explored in residential buildings with climates such as cold or humid tropical. In healthcare environments, the papers in this issue are concerned with the needs of patients, especially the older adults who require special care. In learning environments, thermal and visual aspects are investigated for optimal comfort conditions and learning outcomes. The special issue demonstrates insightful critical thinking of indoor environment quality and proposes a new understanding for more practical design solutions. This editorial note is a brief review of the 12 papers, concluding with reflections about design of built environments to meet users’ needs.

Parameters contributing to occupants’ satisfaction

Facilities ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 411-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Zalejska-Jonsson
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Physical Measurements ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
The Difference

Purpose – The aims of this paper is to investigate the overall satisfaction of occupants of green and conventional residential buildings and their perception of indoor environment quality (IEQ) and to study factors that may cause occupants’ dissatisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey sent to occupants of comparable green and conventional multi-family buildings. The difference in responses between occupants of green and conventional buildings was analysed using Mann–Whitney (rank sum) test. The ordered logistic models were applied to the data to test whether the overall satisfaction changes depending on the level of acceptance of indoor environment quality and whether the building environmental profile and the apartment tenure affect occupant satisfaction. Findings – The results show that both categories of occupants are very satisfied with their apartments and that there is no statistically significant difference between the stated overall satisfaction of occupants living in green and conventional buildings, although a difference was found in the acceptance level for thermal and sound quality. The research highlights the importance of occupant feedback, user-friendly technical installations and the ability to control indoor environment. This knowledge is important for designers, engineers and developers alike in enabling them to improve dwelling quality and minimize post-occupancy problems. Research limitations/implications – It was not possible to include physical measurements of IEQ parameters; the analysis is based only on occupants’ responses, which may carry a certain subjectivity. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the understanding of IEQ from occupant perspective and to knowledge on green building performance.

scholarly journals EPIQR-TOBUS: a new generation of refurbishment decision aid methods / EPIQR-TOBUS: eine neue Generation von Entscheidungshilfen für das Bauinstandsetzen

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-554
Author(s):  
F. Flourentzos ◽  
J.-L. Genre ◽  
C.-A. Roulet ◽  
T. Stôckli
Keyword(s):  
Decision Aid ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Set Up ◽  
New Generation

Abstract In a large majority of European countries, the amount of maintenance and refurbishment works represents nearly 50% of the total amount spent in the building sector. New requirements are being added to the necessity of maintaining or re-establishing the building stock's usage value. They are linked to the determination to reduce energy consumption, pollutant emissions, work site wastes, to improve the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) and all the modern conveniences inside buildings. Two European projects, EPIQR (réf. nr.: JOR3-CT96-0044) and TOBUS (réf. nr.: JOR3-CT98-Û235), developed in the IIIrd and IVth framework programs put the foundations of a new generation of refurbishment decision aid tools. A structured diagnosis scheme covering the state of deterioration of the building elements, energy performance, indoor environment quality, functional obsolescence offer a new concept which helps architects and engineers to approach the building refurbishment with a global view of the whole process, to take informed decisions, to construct coherent refurbishment scenarii and calculate a reasonable investment budget in the very first stage of the refurbishment project. EPIQR project addresses residential buildings and it has been finished in 1998, TOBUS addresses office buildings and it is still in course. The support of these methods is a multimedia computer program. Several modules help the users to treat the data collected during a diagnosis survey, to set up refurbishment scenarii and calculate their cost or energy performance, and finally to visualise the results in a comprehensive way and to prepare quality reports. This paper presents the structure and the main features of the method and software

A Report on The Acoustic Conditions of IEQ Laboratory Using ISO 3382-3

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26
Author(s):  
Jason Obadiah
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
The Future ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

Recently, many facilities have completed new laboratories that may be used to assess various measures of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in office spaces. Also recently, a new standard, ISO 3382-3, was released for assessing the effects of speech on IEQ in open plan offices. The aim of this report is to assess one room of the IEQ lab using the ISO 3382-3 standard. It is expected that the data gained will be of help to researchers using the facility in the future. Keywords: ISO 3382-3, Indoor Environment Quality, Acoustics

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