scholarly journals The Impact of Certification Systems for Architectural Solutions in Green Office Buildings in the Perspective of Occupant Well-Being

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 659
Author(s):  
Magdalena Grzegorzewska ◽  
Paweł Kirschke

The green building certification system has long-lasting benefits by improving building efficiency and sustainability. The ultimate goal of such classification is to promote the preservation of the global environment as well as the occupants’ well-being and their health. In this paper, we present examples of buildings that have been designed and built in Poland and have been certified with BREEAM, LEED and WELL. Our study investigates human factors in certification systems and examines the WELL Building Standard as a supplement to other green systems, which will probably be the most popular in the future. The green building movement should prioritize pro-human factors and the associated environmental beliefs to improve indoor environment quality for users’ needs. We present this matter on the example of the Polish office space market, providing statistics and analyzing the architecture of six certified office buildings from Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław. They are a representative sample of buildings designed following the certification regime. It was demonstrated how this aids in improving work comfort, enhances the program of office spaces and the organization of service spaces within buildings, which increases the rank of this architecture and positively affects the urban environment.

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhonghua Gou

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.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracie J Reed ◽  
Peggi L Clouston ◽  
Simi Hoque ◽  
Paul R Fisette

This study examines the differences between two environmental assessment methods for the K-12 education sector: the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Schools Version 3.0 and the British Research Establishment's (BRE) BREEAM Education issue 2.0. Credit requirements are compared side-by-side and against recommendations from researchers in areas such as acoustics, lighting and indoor environment quality. Strengths in the two schemes and areas for improvement are highlighted, with acknowledgement that each scheme offers components and techniques from which the other could benefit.


Author(s):  
Aneta Wierzbicka ◽  
Eja Pedersen ◽  
Roger Persson ◽  
Birgitta Nordquist ◽  
Kristian Stålne ◽  
...  

Indoor environments have a large impact on health and well-being, so it is important to understand what makes them healthy and sustainable. There is substantial knowledge on individual factors and their effects, though understanding how factors interact and what role occupants play in these interactions (both causative and receptive) is lacking. We aimed to: (i) explore interactions between factors and potential risks if these are not considered from holistic perspective; and (ii) identify components needed to advance research on indoor environments. The paper is based on collaboration between researchers from disciplines covering technical, behavioural, and medical perspectives. Outcomes were identified through literature reviews, discussions and workshops with invited experts and representatives from various stakeholder groups. Four themes emerged and were discussed with an emphasis on occupant health: (a) the bio-psycho-social aspects of health; (b) interaction between occupants, buildings and indoor environment; (c) climate change and its impact on indoor environment quality, thermal comfort and health; and (d) energy efficiency measures and indoor environment. To advance the relevant research, the indoor environment must be considered a dynamic and complex system with multiple interactions. This calls for a transdisciplinary and holistic approach and effective collaboration with various stakeholders.


2012 ◽  
Vol 433-440 ◽  
pp. 5821-5827
Author(s):  
Hafsa Al Omari ◽  
E. Luma Al Dabbagh

The green building or green architecture has come to light as a strong architectural movement at the end of 1990's and as a main trend in architectural practice. The architectural green is a modern architectural philosophy which deals with the competent relationship between the functional constructive systems and its vital environmental, by controlling the inputs and outputs of this system with the least negative effects on the environment and occupant's health, and the least energy consumption during the various stages of the building ( construction, operation, maintenance and destruction ) to achieve the functional activities and the inventive and efficient architectural structures. The importance of this movement lies in trying to achieve the sustainable development in its environmental, social and economic aspects because of the problems that developed and developing countries ( e.g. Iraq ) face such as energy consumption and pollution. Several international standards of different classifications, depending on local context of each country, has been appeared. Some of these tools are (BREEAM, LEED, CO-CHPS Colorado, GBTool, CASBEE) which aim to assess the performance of the building from green Architecture's perspective. Although there is a similarity in the classification levels including the sustainable location, how to use (water, energy and atmosphere, materials, resources) effectively, indoor environment quality and the design's innovation, they differ in other aspects that its importance relies on the environmental and local context. The problem of our research was the absence of the practical evaluation tool of the green building ( school buildings ) for the Iraq's local context in general and Mosul in particular, compatibly with the city climate. The research aims at making theoretical construction to identify the assessment indicators of the school buildings from green architecture's perspective, in order to create suitable and general assessment tool for schools building in Mosul city which can help improving the performance of these schools, decreasing the effect on the health, sparing energy coasts, and other benefits in the stages of the project ( pre-construction, construction, post-construction ). The research supposes that the multi-dimensional designing strategy is an active tool used in establishing the tool classification of assessment. For reaching goals, the research adopts the theoretical method and questionnaire. Finally, the research provides an assessment tool for school building in Mosul from the green architecture's perspective (AGBS) Green Building Assessment Tool for school ) in conformity with the local context of the city for enabling the designer to follow it in order to achieve the investment within his school architectural products. Results indicate six categories for assessment tool. First Sustainable Sites category (SS) which have the greatest weight 25.7%, , then Indoor Environment Quality(IEQ) 24.35667%. then Materials & Resources (M&R), Energy & Atomosphere (A&E), Water Efficiency(WE),and Innovotion in design (ID), have 17.32% ، 10.5% ، 3.987181% , Respectively.


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