No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Effects of office environment on employee satisfaction: A new analysis
Abstract
Two large and detailed field studies of the effect of office environment parameters on aspects of environmental and job satisfaction were conducted. The first study focused on open-plan offices in nine conventional buildings, whereas the second encompassed open-plan and private offices in 24 buildings (12 green and 12 conventional). The data collection for these studies was separated by approximately a decade, but the data collection methods, contexts and analysis procedures were very similar. This offered the opportunity to compare the results of the studies at the workstation level, with the goal of identifying parameters consistent in affecting occupant satisfaction, and of exploring the effects of office type (open-plan versus private) and building type (green versus conventional). Satisfaction with acoustics and privacy was most strongly affected by workstation size and office type; satisfaction with lighting was most strongly affected by window access and glare conditions; and satisfaction with ventilation and temperature was most strongly affected by pollutant concentration. Occupants of green buildings rated all aspects of environmental satisfaction more highly. Finally, job satisfaction was most strongly affected by pollutant concentration and office type.
... With the expansion of the global influence of LEED, which is an important green building rating system (GBRS), academic research on LEED is increasing year by year. For example, the comparative study of GBRSs [6][7][8], the occupant satisfaction in LEED buildings [9][10][11], the rent premium of LEED-certified buildings [12][13][14], and so on. ...
... Regarding the satisfaction of occupants, the literature usually concludes that the occupants of LEED-certified green buildings have a high evaluation of all aspects of environmental satisfaction. Notably, due to the different levels of importance of various aspects of occupant satisfaction, in some cases, the actual difference in occupant satisfaction between non-green buildings and green buildings is very small [9]. Some of the literature has studied this issue [10,11]. ...
... Among the above research areas, researchers have conducted their studies through different methods. The main methodologies involved are comparative research [7], data survey and statistical analysis [8][9][10]12], development of optimization models [36,39], development of conceptual frameworks and case validation [40], and literature review with scientometric methods [19]. Although CiteSpace's visual network cannot directly reflect the research methodologies involved in papers, the addition of research methodologies can help present a more comprehensive view of the LEED research area. ...
With the promotion of the concept of sustainable development and green buildings, green building rating systems are beginning to emerge and gradually attract more attention. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a widely used and influential rating system worldwide, and research on it has shown an increasing trend year by year. To establish a comprehensive understanding of the LEED research field, this article visualizes and analyzes the LEED research literature by CiteSpace to obtain journal, author, institution, and country collaboration networks, reference co-citations and clusters, keyword co-occurrence networks and citation bursts. The study found the relationships among journals, authors, institutions, countries, research frontiers, research hotspots, and research processes in the field of LEED research. A framework of the knowledge system of LEED research was constructed based on these findings to present the current status and future trends and provide a reference for future research.
... Additionally, the literature has several studies in which Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) was used to assess occupants' satisfaction with IEQ factors, economic value, and environmental performance [27]. Among these studies, several studies were conducted in the office building environment [7,16,21,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Although these studies are very important, there is still a need to conduct more studies about IEQ in governmental buildings aiming at understanding the relationship between IEQ and occupants' satisfaction in this type of buildings, with their primary occupants being the governmental employees. ...
... Accordingly, it is useful to assess the satisfaction of employees as occupants of the buildings. In addition, the use of questionnaires as a data collection tool is common in the studies of POE and occupants' satisfaction [21,29,30,[35][36][37][52][53][54][55]. ...
... Gender [21,29,33,[35][36][37][56][57][58][59] Age [21,29,33,[35][36][37]58,59] Office Layout [21,[31][32][33][34][35][36]43,60] Job category [21,33,35,36] Duration of working in the building [21,29] Duration of working at the present workspace [21,29,35] Time spent at workspace per week Workstation's distance from a window [21,35,36] Ventilation system [21] IEQ factors Temperature [30,34] Headquarter. Most of these buildings are not new. ...
Satisfaction is a very important factor in improving productivity and performance in the work environment. This study aims to investigate the levels of occupants’ satisfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in the governmental buildings in the Kingdom of Bahrain and to investigate the impact of occupants’ demographics and building attributes (non-IEQ factors) on these levels. For these purposes, the study used a questionnaire that has 17 indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors in addition to a group of non-IEQ factors. The questionnaire was distributed by hand or using email to 279 employees in the Bahraini governmental sector. The findings of the study revealed that occupants in the Bahraini governmental buildings are not strongly satisfied with IEQ factors, especially with sound privacy, followed by visual privacy and amount of space, and then noise levels. The findings also showed that for most IEQ factors, men are more satisfied than women are, those who work in enclosed private offices are more satisfied than those who work in open-plan offices, and those who have central air-conditioning at their workplace are more than those who have a wall-mounted air conditioner. The impact of age, nature of work, duration of working in the current building and at the current workstation, weekly working hours, and proximity to the window were also investigated. Accordingly, a group of recommendations was suggested aiming to improve the levels of occupants’ satisfaction.
... Design features that support privacy fit are rooms or stand-alone environmental barriers such as single walls, partitions, planters, and columns ( Duvall-Early & Benedict, 1992 ;Johnson, 1991 ;Leder, Newsham, Veitch, Mancini, & Charles, 2016 ;Sundstrom, 1986 ). Although postulated to be of key importance to privacy fit, findings on numbers of partitions enclosing a work space are conflicting ( Weber, 2019 ). ...
... Although postulated to be of key importance to privacy fit, findings on numbers of partitions enclosing a work space are conflicting ( Weber, 2019 ). Single findings concern atmospheric properties (light levels, Goodrich, 1982 ; olfactory elements, Davis, 1990 ;calmness, Weber, 2019 ), the symbolic value of spatial elements that suggest privacy ( Johnson, 1991 ), the shape of rooms ( Zeisel, 1984 ), lines of sight ( Mehrabian, 1977 ), spatial density ( Oldham, 1988 ), workstation size ( Leder et al., 2016 ), and seating arrangements (workspaces located away from the main traffic flow, Johnson, 1991 ;Weber, 2019 ). ...
... This finding is consistent across studies using different operationalisations of privacy. Examples include general privacy ( Sundstrom, 1986 ); acoustical and visual privacy ( Kim & de Dear, 2013 ;Klitzman & Stellman, 1989 ;Stokols & Scharf, 1990 ;Zalesny & Farace, 1987 ); speech privacy and task privacy ( Oldham, 1988 ); general privacy, speech privacy, and interrup tions ( Sundstrom, 1986 ); acoustical privacy, interruptions, and visual privacy ( Leder et al., 2016 ;Veitch, Charles, Farley, & Newsham, 2007 ); general privacy, speech privacy, and visual privacy ( O'Neill & Carayon, 1993 ); and the new conceptualisation by Weber (2019 ). Scholars have acknowledged that frequent disturbances, interruptions, and the feeling of being observed can hinder workflow and increase arousal as well as cognitive load, which creates additional demands for the worker, resulting in dissatisfaction ( Brennan et al., 2002 ;Brill, Margulis, Konar, & BOSTI, 1984 ;Geen & Gange, 1977 ;Haynes, 2007 ;Kim & de Dear, 2013 ;Kupritz, 1998 ;Laurence et al., 2013 ;Sundstrom, 1986 ). ...
An extensive literature consistently identifies a lack of privacy as the key source of dissatisfaction among workers, particularly for those occupying open office structures. However, theoretical perspectives on work privacy vary greatly, and there is little agreement on what work privacy constitutes. As a result, the available evidence lacks comparability and undermines the ability to draw conclusions that could serve as a guide to workplace design and management.
This chapter gives an overview on different conceptualisations of work privacy, highlighting inconsistencies, and introduces a new multidimensional conceptualisation and corresponding measure of work privacy fit. To highlight the relevance of the work privacy theory and its applicability to workplace research, the chapter discusses environmental and social predictors of privacy fit and privacy desires as well as health- and work-related consequences of poor privacy fit. Further, the chapter gives an overview on quantitative and qualitative methods to study work privacy, such as the new measure of privacy fit (PAW). Theoretical and methodological limitations are pointed out, and avenues of future research are suggested. The relevance of work privacy theory to practice is discussed.
... Meulenbroek, 2022 [24] √ ※ ※ ※ Tiara, 2021 [25] ※ ※ Agyekum, 2021 [26] √ ※ ※ Yıldırım, 2021 [27] √ ※ Woo, 2021 [28] √ ※ ※ ※ ※ Albuainain, 2021 [18] √ ※ ※ Agyekum, 2021 [29] √ ※ Johnson, 2021 [30] ※ Cheung, 2021 [21] √ ※ ※ √ Sailer, 2021 [31] ※ ※ ※ Chen, 2020 [20] √ √ √ Hopland, 2020 [32] ※ Tekce, 2020 [33] √ √ ※ Sadick, 2020 [34] √ ※ √ √ Riratanaphong, 2020 [35] √ ※ ※ Ko, 2020 [36] √ ※ Kim, 2020 [37] √ ※ √ ※ Khoshbakht, 2020 [38] √ ※ √ [46] √ ※ ※ Middlehurst, 2018 [47] √ ※ ※ Han, 2018 [48] √ √ ※ Hartog, 2018 [49] √ √ √ Hassanain, 2018 [50] √ √ ※ Budie, 2018 [10] √ ※ ※ Samani, 2017 [51] √ √ ※ Choi, 2017 [52] √ ※ Kang, 2017 [53] √ √ ※ Chokor, 2016 [54] √ ※ Herbig, 2016 [55] √ ※ Kim, 2016 [22] √ ※ ※ Sakellaris, 2016 [56] √ ※ ※ Leder, 2016 [57] √ ※ √ ※ Brunia, 2016 [58] √ ※ ※ Keeling, 2015 [59] ※ ※ Kim, 2014 [60] √ ※ Schiavon, 2014 [61] ※ ※ Frontczak, 2012 [62] √ ※ ※ √ Kim, 2012 [63] √ ※ Sailer, 2012 [64] ※ ※ Lee, 2010 [17] √ ※ Lee, 2010 [65] √ ※ Ozdemir, 2010 [66] √ √ ※ Lee, 2009 [67] √ ※ Dinç, 2009 [68] √ ※ Yildirim, 2007 [69] ※ Kwon, 2019 (review) [16] √ ※ ※ Horr, 2016 (review) [70] √ ※ ※ Haynes, 2008 (review) [13] √ ※ Croon, 2005 (review) [71] ※ ※ ※ Note: √ represents the literature containing relevant contents. ※ represents the literature drawing relevant conclusions. ...
... The discussion frequency of workstation density (54.2%) is relatively high among the five factors. Many studies have confirmed that workstation density has the greatest effect among the physical environment indicators [21,37,62,63], which significantly affects the user experience of privacy, interaction and satisfaction [57,59]. The crowdedness on the floor has caused the most frequent complaints [18,24,28,34,40], but some studies indicated that an increase in the personal area might cause negative effects, mainly including a reduction in social interaction [51] and collaborative productivity [31]. ...
The layout of an office significantly affects human health, well-being and productivity in multi-occupancy offices, while the relationship and prioritization of various office layout factors have not been clarified. This study conducts a thorough investigation of office layout factors on occupant satisfaction. Existing pieces of literature were deconstructed and reorganized to extract five office layout factors. For a comparative investigation, an analytic hierarchy process-based online survey and a post-occupancy evaluation-based field survey focusing on academic buildings were implemented in China. The influence mechanisms in the satisfied and dissatisfied groups were explored together with the demographic differences by introducing the Kano model. The influence mechanism differences of the office layout factors between the priori and posteriori processes are emphasized. The results indicate that in academic buildings, the influence of a workstation location on satisfaction tends to be overestimated in the design stage, while the influence of space size tends to be underestimated in the design stage. Workstation orientation is a significant factor that is easily overlooked. Generally, an office layout design should focus more on ensuring the basic needs of all employees rather than creating design highlights. This study provides a new perspective to examine the gaps between actual satisfaction and expected satisfaction, and the obtained results can be directly used to guide user-centered office interior design.
... Occupant and end-user enablers The enablers identified under this category include improved occupants' health, well-being and satisfaction, improved productivity, increased comfort levels and increased societal status. At the core of IEQ is the health, comfort, satisfaction and productivity of occupants within the building envelope (Frontczak et al., 2012;Leder et al., 2016). All other design enablers of quality indoor environment are subsidiary to this principle and as such forms the central driver to which all other enablers connect. ...
... The choice of building materials and design techniques are geared towards enhancing the quality of the indoor environment to make it comfortable for occupants at any time of the day, regardless of the climatic region all year round. For designers concerned with achieving sustainable design, ensuring the quality of the indoor environment for occupants is a key concern (Lui et al., 2012; Leder et al., 2016). A successful sustainable design should thus guarantee the basic external and internal enclosure which comprise of air and acoustic control, heat and moisture control, sustainable enclosure and structural design, and the ultimate IEQ in order to be certified as a green building (Kibert, 2016). ...
Purpose
The aim of this study was to identify these enablers in literature and subsume them under broad categories for the development of a framework showing the interrelationships among the enablers.
Design/methodology/approach
Fifty-four (54) relevant articles were desk reviewed from different construction peer-reviewed journals and published conference proceedings to identify 20 core enablers of incorporating indoor environmental quality (IEQ) into building designs.
Findings
The identified enablers include improved occupants' health, well-being and satisfaction, environmental conservation, high return on investments and co-operative methods of design and construction management among others. To better understand the enablers identified, they were classified into seven main interconnected categories: economic enablers, environmental enablers, occupant and end-user enablers, process enablers, corporate image, culture and vision enablers, client-related enablers and external enablers.
Research limitations/implications
The interconnectedness brought to the fore a subtler appreciation of the drivers of IEQ, which could help expand current knowledge outside the narrow scope of isolated drivers. The fact that the papers selected in this study are not limited geographically underscores the wide applicability of the findings to the global construction industry.
Practical implications
Understanding that the enablers will enhance the adoption and design of quality indoor environments, help in building the capacity of consultants to adopt the design of quality IEs and reduce the impact of construction on the environment.
Social implications
These identified enablers are not limited geographically and thus could promote the design of quality indoor environments globally, particularly in green building design. To the global construction community, this review presents a list of enablers that would expedite the adoption of principles of IEQ designs in buildings thus taking the global construction industry one more step towards sustainable built forms. Promoting the identified enablers would ultimately steer stakeholders to design and build better indoor environments.
Originality/value
The fact that the papers selected in this study are not limited geographically underscores the wide applicability of the findings to the global construction industry.
... Visual comfort Daylighting [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23] Artificial lighting [7], [8], [24], [10], [25], [12], [13], [14], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [20], [31], [32], [21], [22], [33], [23], [34] Glare [7], [35], [10], [36], [11], [37], [12], [15], [16], [27], [28], [38], [39], [17], [18], [20], [32], [21], [40] Reflection [37] Visual privacy [12], [16], [39], [41], [20], [21], [33] View [42], [14], [15], [16], [38], [43], [18], [20], [32], [21], [44] As a result of frequency analysis and normative refinement processes, visual comfort criteria were identified as (1) daylight, (2) artificial light, (3) glare, (4) reflection, (5) visual privacy and (6) view. [46] defines visual comfort as the lighting conditions and the views from ones workspace. ...
... Visual comfort Daylighting [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23] Artificial lighting [7], [8], [24], [10], [25], [12], [13], [14], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [20], [31], [32], [21], [22], [33], [23], [34] Glare [7], [35], [10], [36], [11], [37], [12], [15], [16], [27], [28], [38], [39], [17], [18], [20], [32], [21], [40] Reflection [37] Visual privacy [12], [16], [39], [41], [20], [21], [33] View [42], [14], [15], [16], [38], [43], [18], [20], [32], [21], [44] As a result of frequency analysis and normative refinement processes, visual comfort criteria were identified as (1) daylight, (2) artificial light, (3) glare, (4) reflection, (5) visual privacy and (6) view. [46] defines visual comfort as the lighting conditions and the views from ones workspace. ...
Visual comfort is an important indicator of both occupant satisfaction and work performance. The main goal of this study is to present the visual comfort-related factors that influence occupant satisfaction. To achieve this goal, a detailed literature analysis was conducted to determine the main factors that can be used to evaluate the effect of visual comfort on the satisfaction of office workers. Afterward, interviews were conducted with 12 facility managers, and related work orders created by the facility management teams were investigated to determine visual comfort-related complaint types. Based on the collected data, a hierarchical structure of visual comfort factors was created. Finally, 308 office workers were surveyed to determine (1) the number of respondents with complaints related to each visual comfort factor, (2) the level of importance of the visual comfort related factors, and (3) office worker’s satisfaction levels for each factor. The findings reveal that the largest gap between the perceived importance and satisfaction appears in daylighting and visual privacy. The designers, facility managers, and renovators need to think of design strategies to provide more privacy and access to daylight to occupants in their working environments.
... COVID-19 has not only led to a forced migration from classic work environments to new environments, which can often overlap with the home environment, but has caused the restructuring of these environments, adapting them to the various work-related activities. Research has long highlighted the importance of the person-work environment fit and how physical-spatial elements can contribute to productivity and occupational and organizational well-being, both in offices [104][105][106][107] or other kinds of workplaces (such as hospitals and residential facilities) [108,109], and those environments dedicated to remote work [71,110]. Creating the first specific indicator for this type of context can be helpful for researchers interested in studying the consequences of the person-environment misfit. ...
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more organizations have implemented remote working, resulting in a partial overlap between home and work environments. This study aimed to develop a tool named Perceived RemoteWorkplace Environment Quality Indicators (PRWEQIs) to study the impact of the remote work environment on worker well-being. A preliminary 20-item version was developed. In Study 1, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted on a sample of remote students (N = 521); the results were confirmed in Study 2 through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on a sample of remote workers (N = 463). The final 15-item PRWEQIs include five indicators, Acoustic comfort, Visual comfort, Quality of the furnishings, Safety, and Space usability, and a second-order factor referring to General perceived comfort. The scale constitutes an initial instrument for assessing the perception of the physical-spatial qualities of the remote working environment.
... These resources have been extensively analysed by researchers to generate a snapshot of occupant satisfaction in buildings. Some examples include green and non-green buildings (Altomonte et al. 2017;Altomonte & Schiavon 2013), different heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system types (Brager & Baker 2009;Karmann et al. 2017;Kim & de Dear 2012), different spatial configurations (Kim & de Dear 2013;Leder et al. 2016), determinants of overall satisfaction (Frontczak et al. 2012), and occupant demographics (Choi et al. 2010;Kim et al. 2013). ...
Previously unpublished data from over 600 office buildings in the Center for the Built Environment (CBE) Occupant Survey database are used to perform a systematic analysis of dissatisfaction in contemporary workspaces. A total of 81% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with at least one aspect of their workspace, and 67% with more than one. Acoustics were the most common source of dissatisfaction, particularly related to people talking, speech privacy, and phones. Other challenges included a perceived lack of control over the temperature and insufficient space, along with other associated problems of densely populated offices. The analysis shows that context matters when understanding occupant dissatisfaction. Occupants of open-plan offices with low or no partitions were almost twice as likely to complain about their workspace than someone in a private, enclosed office. Being near a window decreased the likelihood of dissatisfaction compared with those who were not near a window. There was a clear relationship between self-perceived performance and satisfaction with the indoor environment. Dissatisfaction profiles found that acoustics, space, and privacy-related items co-occur for many occupants dissatisfied with more than one workspace aspect.
Practical relevance
Post-occupancy surveys are a useful tool for evaluating whether an office environment supports occupants while conducting their work. While highlighting the successes is important, complaints from dissatisfied occupants can identify issues and pinpoint reasons why spaces do not meet expectations. The reported challenges generally relate to the simultaneous reduction in control and personalization with increasingly open and densely populated layouts. Occupant dissatisfaction may impact performance given the reported relationship between satisfaction with the environment and feeling supported by the workspace to complete work tasks. The themes emerging from this analysis identify common dissatisfaction sources that can serve as an empirical basis to identify common problems in contemporary workspace designs.
Keywords: dissatisfaction, indoor environmental quality, occupants, offices, open plan, post-occupancy evaluation, privacy, satisfaction, workplace, workspace design
How to Cite: Parkinson, T., Schiavon, S., Kim, J., & Betti, G. (2023). Common sources of occupant dissatisfaction with workspace environments in 600 office buildings. Buildings and Cities, 4(1), 17–35. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/bc.274
... Workstation type can influence employee's perceived privacy as well as, downstream, their ability to focus and be productive (Goel et al., 2021, Leder et al., 2016. While relatively few studies have assessed focus in relation to workstation type directly, emerging evidence links workstation type to distraction or privacy-centered workplace satisfaction. ...
The current study adds to the emerging interest in workplace person-environmental associations by exploring the interaction between employee personality traits and office workstation type (open bench seating, cubicle, private office) in predicting on-task focus and happiness. To capture an ecologically valid assessment of such interactions, 231 federal office workers completed momentary and global, one-time surveys. While global focus ratings were highest for private offices workers, there were no differences between workstation types in momentary focus ratings. Open bench seating was more beneficial to momentary focus and happiness for employees high in extraversion, while detrimental to momentary focus for those high on neuroticism. These results illustrate the importance of considering personality when designing work spaces that improve employee focus and happiness.
... The COVID-19 pandemic has required many governments to adjust labor regulations worldwide. In Kuwait, work in all ministries and the public sector was suspended [40]. The Government of Kuwait released a document, namely the "Remote Work Guideline for the Public Sector" [41]. ...
The pandemic is fast-moving, accelerating rapid changes that lead to new challenges and impacting organizations. A big mark has been left on the workplaces—places where we do business—because the ongoing change to remote work challenges the role of the office. It is highly possible that as the change progresses, the workplace will not only change its design but also the way in which work will be planned, organized, performed and controlled. However, as the restrictions ease up, questions arise: What is the potential of office sustainability? How has the perception of flexible office space changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? This paper used an online survey as a quantitative research method. In this paper, we looked at the employer’s vision of the office. We investigated employers’ perspectives of where and in what settings the work will be performed in the post-pandemic time. Specifically, we discussed the changes employers will apply in terms of the work environment and office layout. The findings suggest that an increasing mobile workforce and expansion of the new work style will not mean an office exodus but will certainly have an impact on office utilization.
... For instance, Lamb and Shraiky (2013) reviewed post-occupancy data of healthcare classroom environments and identified common design concepts common to facilities that enhance collaboration amongst its users. Leder et al. (2016) evaluated employee and project client satisfaction of green office buildings and found on increased satisfaction when certain green design principals were utilized. Uusitalo et al.(2021) evaluated the impact of design issues and quality to trust, collaboration, and overall communication. ...
... Poppel [42] defined office as the section that employs some of the lowest paid staff and, in general, its functions are not recognized as central to an employer's activities or as a place where the files are lost and where it always takes longer than anyone expects to find them again. This type of arrangement provides the benefits of space policy, health due to the lower concentration of no more people and increased job satisfaction of employees [30,9,20]. Disadvantages can include the closure and unavailability of the employee, in terms of economic factors; it is a very expensive workplace layout for employers [50]. ...
The pandemic is fast moving, accelerating rapid changes that lead to new challenges and making organizations suffer an impact. A big mark has been left on the workplaces-places where we do business, because an ongoing change to remote work challenges the role of the office. It is highly possible that as the change is progressing, it is not only the workplace that will change its design, but also the way in which work will be planned, organized, done and controlled. However, as the restrictions ease up questions appear: What is the potential of office sustainability? How has the perception of flexible office space changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? This paper used an online survey as a quantitative research method. In this paper, we looked at the employer's vision of the office. We investigated employers' perspectives of where and in what settings the work will be done in the post-pandemic time. Specifically, we discussed the changes employers will apply in terms of work environment and office layout. The findings suggest that an increasing mobile workforce and expansion of the new workstyle will not mean an office exodus, but will certainly have an impact on office utilization.
... The broader debate on postoccupancy assessment, occupant satisfaction, usercentred design and constructivist theories in the design and control of buildings (e.g. Parkinson et al., 2017;Hartog et al., 2018;Leder et al., 2016) shows that female workers are typically less satisfied with the physical features of the work environment, especially for what concerns air quality and temperature. Nevertheless, the effects of the physical working environment on equality issues at work remain blurred. ...
This study undertakes a systematic literature review (SLR) on how the workspace influences female workers and, more generally, gender equality. Within the broader context of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) matters, gender issues have attracted ample attention from scholars and policymakers. However, research on the specific topic of this SLR is sparse and fragmented, especially for what concerns the implications on workplace design and management. This paper systematizes the actual knowledge on the subject by reviewing 68 articles published in the last 10 years. Authors critically analyze these articles according to two vital spatial elements: workspace typologies and workspace interiors. The reviewed articles document a general convincement shared by different scientific fields that the workspace affects women and men differently. The results show that space is a crucial element for enhancing gender equality in the workplace. Although the reviewed articles cover multiple disciplines, an interdisciplinary approach is still missing. The concluding section proposes a future research agenda, novel theoretical approaches and methodological advancements, while highlighting practical implications.
... Mold in moisture-damaged buildings is another risk that may have an impact on the IAQ and susceptible people (e.g., with asthma symptoms) (Zhang et al. 2012). Other office-related factor could have an impact in symptoms and occupants' health: for example, generally, more dissatisfaction and increase of adverse health effects are reported in crowded offices (Bergström et al. 2015;Leder et al. 2016). ...
Since multiple studies have addressed IAQ and associated exposure-related symptoms in office workers, a careful assessment and management of indoor air quality (IAQ) in office-like environments is important for the protection of human health and to ensure optimal comfort and well-being for office workers. For this purpose, the development of appropriate monitoring strategies is crucial to properly characterize the chemical and physical complexity of IAQ dynamics and subsequent potential impacts on office occupants. To obtain comprehensive and representative conclusions about IAQ problems in office-like environments, and to prioritize the order of management interventions, a multilevel approach should be implemented. The assessment process should include a general survey of the building and of the offices, occupants’ questionnaire surveys (concerning IAQ, symptoms, and psychosocial working aspects), and environmental mea�surements. IAQ monitoring and assessment, combined with source identification
and control and adjustment of ventilation rates, has been recognized as the prioritized strategy for improving IAQ in office-like environments and reducing the combined health risks associated with indoor exposures.
... In 2018, International Interior Design Association (IIDA, 2018) and Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA, 2018) revealed a strong positive relationship between the building design and occupants' mental health. Another study has revealed that how building design features such as acoustic, indoor air quality, layout, thermal, size, and ventilation also exhibited a higher level of performance Geng et al., 2017;Leder et al., 2016), it protects the employee from unwanted noise through acoustical design (Jahncke, 2012), social distance between the employees by providing sufficient space and a building can also connect us to the nature (Da Silva et al., 2015). As we know that COVID-19 is a severe respiratory disease, and a building design with a sound ventilation system, good air quality, and sufficient workspace help to reduce statistically significant 23-76% in respiratory infections among the building occupants (Fisk, 2000). ...
In the COVID-19 pandemic, the employee realized the importance of a healthy workplace. A healthy workplace provides natural protection against respiratory disease and reduces exposure to viruses. Therefore, the current COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call to understand the importance of building design and a dress rehearsal for future challenges because building-based prevention and control measures have become one of the most significant ways of fighting against the epidemic. This study investigates the role of hotel building design in employee health and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered the LEED-certified hotel building in India. The formulated Hypothesis was tested empirically by the structural equation modeling (SEM) for determining the potential of the hotel building design. It was obtained from the study that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel building design of the hospitality industry had a more significant influence on employee performance, followed by employee health.
... Likewise, Yildirim et al. 39 stated that due to environmental factors, such as lighting and privacy, the location of the workstation and its proximity to windows affect the perceptual evaluation of employees. Leder et al. 40 reported in their study that access to windows in an openoffice environment was an important factor, which affected user pleasure. Choi and Moon 41 reported that when visual factors were considered, workers sitting next to a window or wall reacted more positively to ventilation and lighting than interior workers. ...
This study aimed to determine how light direction, window proximity and window dimensions could affect students' perceptual evaluations in design studios. The design studios of the Nuh Naci Yazgan University in Kayseri were selected as the research setting. The ‘semantic differential scale’ composed of 10 adjective pairs was used for determining subjects’ perceptual evaluations of design studios having two different window dimensions. According to the results obtained, when making drawings, right-handed students who received light from a window on the left side were determined to perceive the physical environmental factors of design studios more positively compared to students who received light from a window on the right side. In addition, students sitting near a window in design studios were observed to generally perceive the physical environmental factors more positively than those sitting in the middle close to the window, in the middle away from the window and inside. Furthermore, students who sat in an area with floor to ceiling window were determined to perceive the place more positively compared to those who sat in an area with parapet to ceiling window. These results generally confirmed that light direction, window proximity and window dimensions in design studios are effective on students’ perceptual evaluations.
Keywords :design studio, light direction, window proximity, window dimensions, perception
... Reaching similar conclusions, Leder, Newsham, Veitch, Mancini, and Charles [35] also conducted a large field study, collecting data in green and conventional buildings. They reported that they determined that people working in green buildings where they collected data had higher levels of environmental satisfaction generally and that this was highly desirable as enhanced indoor environments have been tied to more positive scores on job satisfaction and other organizational performance measures. ...
Architects and designers, along with their corporate clients, generally embrace the importance of environmental stewardship, saving the earth’s ecosystem, and sustainable design. However, research is needed to link sustainable design with relevant human behavior (e.g., in corporate offices and educational settings) to ensure its enduring legacy. Regarding changing people’s behavior, the majority of human experience results from unconscious processes, i.e., brain–environment interactions not available to awareness; thus, in general, people cannot articulate the nature of these associations. Using theoretical roots stemming from William James and running through ecological psychology (e.g., James J. Gibson to Roger Barker), Harry Heft has argued that the influence of environmental design precedes conscious awareness and information processing. Assuming Heft’s conjecture, this implies that—if informed by biologically influential signals (e.g., biophilic design)—the design of the ambient physical environment may positively ‘nudge’ human behavior in ways useful to sustainability and sensitivity to the environment—although relevant critical perspectives suggest that dynamic conditions and contextual complexity may modify the potential of nudge theory applications. Still, could it be that sustainable design can improve human health and well-being? Research suggests that environmentally responsible and biophilic design may accomplish at least a few elements of this goal and perhaps also enhance some aspects of cognitive performance. Could this approach support environmental sustainability by linking sustainable design to its potential economic benefits via worker productivity or student success? If so, then the strategy of improving positive well-being through design aligns well with the goal of maintaining the long-term viability of the earth’s ecosystem.
... Finally, our results showed no statistical difference in IEQ satisfaction between female and male office workers at home. Among the various IEQ parameters, the literature heavily focuses on gender differences in terms of thermal comfort and satisfaction; previous work found that female office workers were less satisfied and comfortable with their office indoor temperature in comparison to their male coworkers [70]. Traditional offices do not take these individual preferences into consideration which results in thermal satisfaction differences across gender. ...
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 virus forced office workers to conduct their daily work activities from home over an extended period. Given this unique situation, an opportunity emerged to study the satisfaction of office workers with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors of their houses where work activities took place and associate these factors with mental and physical health. We designed and administered a questionnaire that was open for 45 days during the COVID-19 pandemic and received valid data from 988 respondents. The results show that low satisfaction with natural lighting, glare and humidity predicted eye related symptoms, while low satisfaction with noise was a strong predictor of fatigue or tiredness, headaches or migraines, anxiety, and depression or sadness. Nose and throat related symptoms and skin related symptoms were only uniquely predicted by low satisfaction with humidity. Low satisfaction with glare uniquely predicted an increase in musculoskeletal discomfort. Symptoms related to mental stress, rumination or worry were predicted by low satisfaction with air quality and noise. Finally, low satisfaction with noise and indoor temperature predicted the prevalence of symptoms related to trouble concentrating, maintaining attention or focus. Workers with higher income were more satisfied with humidity, air quality and indoor temperature and had better overall mental health. Older individuals had increased satisfaction with natural lighting, humidity, air quality, noise, and indoor temperature. Findings from this study can inform future design practices that focus on hybrid home-work environments by highlighting the impact of IEQ factors on occupant well-being.
... The positive effect of restorativeness and job satisfaction and work engagement have been already documented (Bellini et al., 2015a(Bellini et al., ,b, 2019. Organizational outcomes are also affected by the quality of the physical aspects of workplace (Leder et al., 2016). A possible explanation, considering the psychological mechanisms behind this relationship, is the mediation role of restorativeness in the relationship between physical characteristics of the workplace and well-being at work. ...
Exposure to environmental stressors has physical and psychological consequences. A demanding physical environment involves the allocation of additional attentional resources and an increase in psycho-physical stress. This study illustrates the process of a research-intervention aimed at designing a workplace, using a participatory design approach, and considering the beneficial effect of restorative environments in reducing stressful elements and improving well-being at work. Stressful situations occur daily, compromising proper functioning while causing the occurrence of physiological and/or psychological disorders. To be able to safeguard their psycho-physical well-being, people normally adopt coping strategies, i.e., remedies that allow them to cope and manage situations that generate stress. One of these strategies is the exposure to natural environments, which promotes recovery and sustains psycho-physical well-being. The restorative properties of natural environments have been scientifically proven. However, even built spaces can be thought of as restorative environments, in particular when certain conditions are granted. An applied science, known as biophilic design, provides useful indications from this perspective. This project involved 57 employees of the Italian site of an international non-governmental organization, in the transition from a site no longer adequate to a new site requiring renovation. In a first phase, a survey was conducted, to verify the perceived quality of the current workplace and to detect the unmet workers' needs, and to assess some other important psychological constructs connected with perception of restorativeness and well-being. In a second phase, the findings emerged from the survey was analyzed in depth through a participatory interior design process, together with an interdisciplinary team of architects, technicians of the organization and environmental psychology researchers. The team, together with some representatives of employees, worked together through possible scenarios, adopting a biophilic design approach, to design the new workplace. At the end, the same survey of the first phase was conducted, to detect differences in perceived quality in the new workplace compared to the previous one.
... Regarding gender, several studies found that women were more negatively affected by the openplan settings than men. They were more likely to report health issues and to take sick leave [11,44,55], more bothered by noise [29,48], and less satisfied with open-plan office design [30,56]. One study, however, found that men were more negatively affected by hot desks [22], ascribing the difference to concerns with status associated with having one's own desk among men. ...
BACKGROUND: Several recent reports conclude that open-plan offices negatively impact workers across a variety of outcome measures. This contrasts to a corporate trend to move from cellular to open-plan layouts, often justified by the same outcomes. Two explanations for this paradox are proposed: (1) the results are more complicated than critical reports suggest, and (2) methodological biases make open-plan layouts look more negative than they are.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the proposed explanations using a systematic literature review.
METHODS: Google Scholar was used to find original research on the relationship between office openness and worker outcomes. 89 articles were coded for the variables and methods they used, and conclusions about the relationship between layout and outcomes were evaluated.
RESULTS: The proposed explanations were partly supported. The relationship between layout openness and worker outcomes depends on the variables considered and the methods used, and a small subset of methods was used far more often than others. That said, more research is needed to evaluate impact of open-plan offices on worker outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between office openness and worker outcomes varies widely depending on how it is measured. Several promising areas for future research may help clarify this relationship.
Keywords: workplace performance, office type, shared office space, job satisfaction
... Buildings, whether during construction or occupation, are among the highest consumers of energy and the top contributors to the adverse impacts on the environment (Berardi 2017;IPCC 2014;Jones et al. 2016;Monahan and Powell 2011), accounting for 36% of global energy use and nearly 40% of related carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in 2017 (IEA and UNEP 2018). Building rating systems have accordingly been recognized as being quite influential in achieving the to define the major factors of IEQ that affect occupants' satisfaction and productivity (Astolfi and Pellerey 2008;Humphreys and Nicol 2007;Leder et al. 2016). Indoor air quality, thermal comfort, interior lighting and acoustic performance have been determined as the most essential aspects of IEQ, emphasized in building rating systems as a means for improving workplace efficiency and experience (USGBC 2017). ...
The applicability of building rating systems has gained attention for achieving indoor environmental quality. Considering the wider internationalized recognition of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and other rating systems, the case of Jordan provides a sense of particularity in consideration to its rather recent history in acknowledging these progressive standards. Utilizing a mixed approach based on paired comparisons between local LEED and non-LEED certified buildings, this research paper explores the level of satisfaction pertaining to Indoor Environmental Quality of building occupants. While it touches on the generality of such satisfaction, it proceeds to unpack and investigate how it resonates with the sustainability of the building measured through various means. The research outcomes reflected an overall appeal of LEED certified buildings and a decent level of comfort of their dwellers. Yet, it conveyed a vague, rather sporadic relation when comparing the subjective perception to the objective measures due to multiple potential reasons. The paper concludes by stressing the need for further appropriation of international environmental codes to better suit the local context. It lays a reliable foundation for further research, utilizing more case studies and exploring the applicability of rating systems in Jordan.
... The broader debate on postoccupancy assessment, occupant satisfaction, usercentred design and constructivist theories in the design and control of buildings (e.g. Parkinson et al., 2017;Hartog et al., 2018;Leder et al., 2016) shows that female workers are typically less satisfied with the physical features of the work environment, especially for what concerns air quality and temperature. Nevertheless, the effects of the physical working environment on equality issues at work remain blurred. ...
... There is ample empirical evidence associating privacy with job as well as workplace satisfaction, which is consistent across studies using different and often reductionist operationalisations of privacy (e.g. Brunia et al., 2016;Hoendervanger et al., 2019;Kim and de Dear, 2013;Leder et al., 2016;Oldham, 1988;Sundstrom, 1986), as well as multidimensional operationalisations ([reference to be added after review]). P-E fit theory lends itself to explaining this relationship. ...
Introduction:
Privacy fit is a frequently reported issue in open office environments, yet its context, predictors and consequences remain understudied.
Theory:
This study builds on Altman’s (1975) privacy regulation model and the cognitive appraisal theory as a transactional model of stress to examine the effect of an office move (and associated changes in settings, protocols and autonomy) on changes in privacy fit, privacy-related coping appraisal, as well as changes in satisfaction and fatigue.
Methods:
Data was collected over two points of measurement from 61 office workers who moved from a standard open-plan office to an office that is activity based. The first questionnaire was distributed six weeks prior to the office move and the follow-up questionnaire approximately eight months after. With its longitudinal design, this study extends past research by demonstrating the changing nature of privacy fit and revealing predictors of change in privacy fit and coping appraisal.
Results:
Cross-lagged autoregression analysis of change confirmed suggested predictors such as increase in variety of settings and in adherence of others to protocols that positively influenced post-move privacy fit. Further, change in coping appraisal post move was predicted by an increase in perceived environmental and behavioural flexibility. Changes in privacy fit and appraisal were associated with increases in job and workplace satisfaction and decreases in emotional and mental work fatigue post move.
Originality/Value:
Results could inform physical workplace design as well as cultural interventions in organisations. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the psychological process of privacy experience by using a transactional model of stress.
... Given that students spend a considerable amount of time within classrooms to learn knowledge, generate new thoughts and ideas to increase their abilities towards affective learning, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) of classrooms plays an important role in their learning process (Leder et al., 2015;van Duijnhoven et al., 2019). Of four IEQ parametersdthermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort and acoustic comfortdlighting has an important impact on learning performance and well-being (Ricciardi and Buratti, 2018). ...
This paper presents a field study that explores lighting qualities within higher educational classrooms in Singapore. Eight classrooms of three types—computer labs, collaborative learning spaces and lecture halls—are studied. Lighting simulation models are calibrated and validated by measurements taken onsite and utilized to generate both instantaneous and annual physical lighting data. A questionnaire survey is distributed to 333 participants to gather subjective responses to current lighting perception. The results show that electrically lit lecture halls present more uniform distributions of lighting environments, while daylit computer labs and daylit collaborative learning spaces present relatively lower daylighting conditions. For daylit computer labs, horizontal illuminance is an effective predictor in terms of controlling lighting levels; For electrically lit lecture halls, the mean luminance of the horizontal 40° band is an effective predictor in terms of subjective lighting comfort.
... The workplace conditions greatly influence the degree to which environmental conditions influence occupants' satisfaction, well-being, and health (Aries, Veitch, & Newsham, 2010;Jamrozik et al., 2019). Therefore, the workplace should be treated with due importance, for it is the immediate surroundings of man which he controls for his survival (Al horr et al., 2016;Frontczak & Wargocki, 2011;Leder, Newsham, Veitch, Mancini, & Charles, 2016;Madu, Asawo, & Gabriel, 2017). ...
Office occupants’ have always preferred workplaces that have windows that connects them to the outside. Window access to the outside can influence occupants’ satisfaction with the combination of other workplace features. This study aims to identify the window and view factors relationship in the workplace, to confirm the reliability and validity of the measurement and structural model. Adopting a cross-sectional survey design, primary data from five offices in the Kogi State of Nigeria with 267 respondents were collected by using the convenience sampling method and analysis was performed with the Statistical Package for Social Science version 23 and AMOS 22.0 version as the modelling tool. The study identified eleven vital factors that are interrelated in the relationship between windows and view in the workplace. They are referred to as latent construct namely; Window distance (WDB), Seating arrangement (SAB), Room height (FHB), Office size (OSB), Window position (WPB), Window Sill level (WLC), Window size (SWC), Window type (TWC), View content (CVC), View satisfaction (VSC), and Occupants’ satisfaction (SAT). The result showed a valid model using the Structural Equation Model, and the effect of the current workplace negligence on occupants’. This study improves the existing knowledge on the window and view relationship in the workplace, and provide suggestions for Facility Managers, Architects, and Interior Designers on maintaining a healthy workplace environment
... It is regarded as a reason of apparently high occurrence of illness in the inhabitants of closed places, where fresh air do not circulate 5,6 . It is also termed as building related illness, which is related to the man-made eco-system [7][8][9] . Job performance assesses whether a person performs a job well which is an important criterion for organizational outcomes and success. ...
Objective: To investigate the relationship between sick building syndrome (SBS) and job performance of women factory workers.
Methodology: This was a correlational study. A sample of 200 women working in different industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals, hosiery, polyester fiber, and stitching units was recruited with purposive sampling technique,. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)1 was employed to assess sick building syndrome while Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ)2 was used to assess job performance.
Results: Results for correlation analyses revealed significant relationship between SBS and job performance while demographic variables including age, family system, working hours as negatively correlated with SBS and job performance. Moreover, SBS was found to be a significant negative predictor of job performance, while age was found to be a significant negative predictor of contextual and adaptive performance domains of job performance.
Conclusion: It was concluded that SBS negatively affects the performance level of the factory workers.
... 6 Research on the psychological effects of light, including window access, has revealed effects of visual qualities on objects and the distribution of light in a space can impact work satisfaction and engagement. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Previous studies reported that office workers who perceive lighting positively also recognize visual comfort and perceive the atmosphere as more attractive. 14,15 The positive lighting also led to better mood, higher work satisfaction, and greater overall engagement in their work. ...
The experiment was targeted to develop design strategies and methods by testing the complex interplay between the dynamics of daylight and electrical lighting in an office. The double dynamic lighting design concept is based on the idea of adding task lighting, with a directionality referring to the daylight inflow and a variation on direct/diffuse lighting and respective changes in colour temperature respond to sky conditions and daylight levels. The experiment was conducted in an office space at Aalborg University in Copenhagen from September to December 2019. Four participants moved in and worked in the office with four-week periods of respective standard static lighting as a baseline, and dynamic lighting. In a parallel mixed method approach with interviews and questionnaires, the dynamic lighting was compared to the baseline and to a control group. The results indicate that the dynamic lighting periods had a positive effect on visual comfort, perceived atmosphere and work engagement. The studies helped to develop the definition of five dynamic light settings. Seasonal changes, time of day, dynamic sunscreens and individual needs for task lighting can be implemented in future field experiments as additional dynamic parameters to meet individual needs and circadian potentials for double dynamic light.
... Such studies have included window size as an important factor for the perception of spaciousness (Inui and Miyata 1973;Keighley 1973b;Moscoso et al. 2015), investigations of window shape indicating preference of wider windows than tall (Keighley 1973a;Matusiak 2006), and window-to-wall ratio in relation to the sum of the energy use for heating, cooling, and lighting (Goia 2016). Similar studies pertaining to window access have also focused on occupants' psychological well-being (Boubekri et al. 1991;Leder et al. 2016;Ulrich et al. 1991;Veitch and Galasiu 2012), or perception of space (Moscoso et al. 2020(Moscoso et al. , 2015Ozdemir 2010;Stamps and Krishnan 2006). ...
The size of window openings is widely acknowledged as an important factor in our spatial perception. However, little is known about how the perception and preference of windows changes between countries, leaving a gap of knowledge regarding the applicability of research findings across latitudes. This article presents the outcomes of a study investigating regional differences in the perception of spaces with varying window size (small, medium, and large), space size (small and large), spatial context (working and social), and sky type (overcast and two types of clear sky). As the regional differences were the main studied factor, the study was performed in Norway, Switzerland, and Greece, representing northern, central, and southern European latitudes, respectively, and used virtual reality as a means to replicate the same experiment in different locations. In total, 406 participants evaluated eight spatial attributes using an 11-point Likert-type scale. Results indicated that regional differences could be observed in the participants’ responses, with significant differences in how pleasant and calm the space was perceived, found not only between participants in Greece and Norway in all the studied window sizes, but also between Greece and Switzerland for the medium and large windows, indicating that even small variations in latitude within Europe can affect the spatial perception. The findings of this study reveal that spaces with specific fenestration characteristics might not induce the same response across different latitudes in Europe, and thus, have important implications for daylighting and architectural design, which would motivate the use of region-specific parameters.
... Alagbari (2003) drew attention to the lack of research on job satisfaction among headteachers, both globally and in Saudi Arabia. Whilst empirical research which focuses on job satisfaction has increased in educational sectors across different countries such as Norway (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011) and Pakistan (Khalid, et al, 2012;Nawab & Bhatti, 2011), and in the UK (Evans, 1998;Noordin & Jusoff 2009;Leder et al, 2016), there is limited research that examines the job satisfaction of headteachers as a group within education. ...
This thesis investigated factors that influence job satisfaction in the eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, based on a case study of female headteachers. This investigation has focused only on female headteachers as the laws and social circumstances of the country forbid cross-gender socialising outide of the immediate family. Instead, the research on headteachers in Saudi Arabia undertaken in this study was aimed at discovering what factors influenced their job satisfaction, bearing in mind that gender specific issues were limited by the context in which the investigation took place. General research on headteachers in the Kingdom was found to be an underexplored topic, but in contrast to previous Saudi studies, the sample used in this study was not restricted to one stage of school. In order to evaluate participants responses, this study used a sequential exploratory strategy employing a mixed methods approach. Building on semi-structured interviews, the first sample of the study gathered data from 20 head teachers to determine which factors led to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The research investigated various contributory factors such as rewards i.e. pay, recognition, promotion and training; the female environment and the relationship with workload and work-life-balance; the working environment i.e. school condition, school location and student headcount); relationships with teachers, students and parents; supervision, authority and autonomy; age and experience, and school-level issues. These factors were subsequently used to build a questionnaire, which was intended to be sent to 664 schools (numbers provided by the Ministry of Education). When starting the research, however, it was found that 186 of these schools did not have a headteacher in post. Consequently, the final sample size was 478 headteachers. Finally, in the third stage of the sequential research, semi-structured interviews were held with nine headteachers to verify the results of the survey. The overall level of job satisfaction for elementary, middle and high schools headteachers in the Eastern Province was generally low average. However, it was found that factors causing high and average job satisfaction derive from multiple demographic isues or independent causes in the workplace. Specifically, this study has identified several factors related to job satisfaction in the Eastern Province that have not been previously found in previous research in Saudi Arabia: work/life balance, the female leadership-environment, location, financial rewards and transportation. This study’s findings could inform the work of educational planners, helping them to improve their understanding of the most important aspects of the career of headteachers. In addition, this research provides a contribution that could assist public policy development in education; furthermore, it provides an understanding of what to avoid and what works most effectively. Future policy could be better informed by understanding the factors that affect levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and implementing more appropriate policy objectives that deploy resources more effectively.
... Furthermore, a scenario's severity is described by the percentage of productivity decrease that it is associated with. Diff erences in scenarios' severity are mostly based on the result of fi ve diff erent studies on the relative importance of various determinants on workers' self-rated satisfaction with the physical work environment (see Kim and de Dear, 2013;Leder et al., 2016;O'Neill, 1994;Sakellaris et al., 2016;Veitch et al., 2007). ...
The current usage of natural resources cannot be maintained forever – our resources are depleting. A substantial share of resource usage, and therefore the problem, is related to the construction sector. Meanwhile, there are signs that buildings are being demolished prematurely. This premature demolition of buildings is a waste of resources. This dissertation’s end goal is to contribute towards mitigating the problem of resource depletion. Changeability has been selected as the means through which to pursue this goal. This research aims to both understand design and to create support to help improve design, specifically regarding the topic of design for change in relation to sustainable resource usage.
In Chapter 2, i.e. “Resource depletion, where is an intervention most effective?”, the topic of resource depletion is dealt with. Chapter 2’s aim is to rank areas of the resource system, according to how much of an impact can be expected from interventions in the area, in relation to the problem of depleting resources. Firstly, principles of Structured Analysis are used to model the process of resource usage, and, from this model, five intervention areas are defined. Secondly, these intervention areas are ranked in terms of effectiveness, through the use of Analytic Hierarchy Process. To be most effective, one must prioritize intervention areas as follows: (1) material inputs to the operation phase; (2a) process inputs to the operation phase and (2b) products’ longevity; (4) process inputs to the manufacturing phase; and (5) material inputs to the manufacturing phase. In this study, changeability is not pursued for the sake of changeability. Changeability is pursued for the sake of mitigating the problem of resource depletion. Chapter 2’s outcome can guide this pursuit of changeability in the right direction.
In Chapter 3, i.e. “The evolution of ordinary houses, does it justify demolition?”, the topic of longevity in relation to change is dealt with. Chapter 3’s aim is to determine how the ordinary house, in the Netherlands, has changed throughout the last 100 years. This information is then used to discuss: to what extent the house’s evolution justifies demolition. A non-random sampling method is used to select 68 housing projects from the city of Nijmegen. These projects contain a total of 8270 housing units (≈10% of Nijmegen’s housing stock). Of each project, a standard housing unit is analysed in terms of: (1) length and width; (2) floor-to-ceiling height; (3) utilitarian rooms; (4) spatial layout; (5) type of structure; (6) roof structure; (7) insulation; and (8) separating wall’s thickness. Chapter 3’s outcome provides a first indication of to what extent a building’s longevity is determined by its design. This knowledge contributes to a more valid assessment of changeability’s contribution towards mitigating the problem of resource depletion.
In Chapter 4, i.e. “How to set up criteria for evaluating a building’s changeability?”, the topic of changeability is dealt with. In Chapter 4, a method is proposed in which: (1) scenarios are developed to identify potential problems; and (2) evaluation criteria are based on design solutions to those potential problems. To support and guide the development of both scenarios and design solutions, changeability levels and types of design tactics are defined. A top-down approach is used to define changeability levels, while a bottom-up approach, i.e. the constant comparative method, is used to define types of design tactics. This research’s main contribution is that it provides a method for unpacking the black box of design for change. This method is presented in Chapter 4.
In Chapter 5, i.e. “How adjustable is the Environmental Building?”, the application of the evaluation method, that has been presented in Chapter 4, is tested. To do so, the Environmental Building’s adjustability is evaluated by following the steps described in this method. Adjustability is the first of four changeability levels, as defined in Chapter 4. The Environmental Building has the ability to comply with changing requirements of the individual in terms of indoor climate conditions. However, it lacks the ability to comply with changing requirements of the individual in terms of space, privacy and interaction. Chapter 5 demonstrates that by using this method, specific strengths and weaknesses of the building’s design can be identified.
... This is related to the impact that illuminance and CCT levels have on occupants' alertness and ability to concentrate [3,[30][31][32][33][34], as well as sleep, which impacts subsequent performance and productivity the next day [35][36][37]. Moreover, illuminance and CCT can also affect occupants' satisfaction with and comfort in the environment [30,38,39]. Improved satisfaction with environmental conditions is associated with improved job satisfaction [40], which is in turn associated with improved job performance [41,42]. ...
As a critical factor in the built environment, lighting presents considerable influence on occupants. Previous research across static lighting conditions has found that both illuminance and correlated color temperature (CCT) affect occupants' physiological and psychological functioning. However, little research has been conducted on the non-visual impacts of dynamic lighting with daily variation in illuminance and CCT levels. The purpose of this study is to better understand the impact of dynamic lighting on office occupants' health, well-being and experience at a living lab. Fifteen participants were recruited to work in three office modules for four months. Four lighting conditions were designed and implemented in this study, including two static lighting conditions and two dynamic lighting conditions with a specific predefined control scheme. A prototype lighting system with enhanced control capabilities was configured and implemented to ensure the desired lighting environment protocol. Both objective methods and subjective surveys were used to assess the behavioral and physiological outcomes of interest, including mental stress, sleep, productivity, satisfaction, mood, visual comfort and perceived naturalness. The results showed that the daytime behavioral impacts were either positive or mixed. Specifically, a significant alertness increase was observed in the afternoon, indicating a potential solution to reduce the natural feelings of sleepiness during the workday. There was also a marginal benefit for mood. The nighttime impacts include a significant decrease in perceived sleep quality and sleep time after subjects were exposed to dynamic lighting. No significant differences were observed for mental stress, productivity, visual comfort, or perceived naturalness. The findings present additional insights into the non-visual impacts of dynamic lighting and give recommendations for further investigations.
The objective of this study is to examine the influence of building design on office occupants by analysing empirical data on their satisfaction levels and prevalent complaints. A methodology involving literature review, expert interviews, and a field survey with 308 office employees was adopted to acquire the empirical data. The findings reveal that office occupants think Amount of Space as the most important parameter, followed by Layout, and Furniture. On the other hand, occupants are least satisfied by Amount of Space, followed by Interior Design and Layout. Insufficient social areas, insufficient work space, and layout of the work environment, distraction caused by human circulation due to office layout, and ergonomics of the furniture are the most common complaints. The results show that average importance level in each building design parameter is higher than or equal to the average satisfaction level. The largest gap between the perceived importance and satisfaction appears in Amount of Space and Layout. The results are expected to provide insight to designers, facility managers, and renovators of office buildings on how office occupants perceive office building design and frequent complaints encountered in the offices.
The traditional construction industry has a significant and far-reaching impact on the environment, economy, and society. Green-certified buildings, with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), DGNB (Deutsches Gütesiegel Nachhaltiges Bauen), or other certifications during the design stage, have great potential for increasing the effective use of resources and energy, reducing pollution, etc., and so their number has increased greatly in recent years. The post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of green buildings involves assessing whether they meet expected performance during the in-use phase and comprises four steps: (i) carrying out the research purpose/goal; (ii) determining the research objectives; (iii) conducting data collection, analysis, and visualization; and (iv) obtaining the results and drawing conclusions. However, there is a lack of reviews of POE research and analysis of reasons for actual performance gaps. In response and through a comprehensive literature review/analysis, this article summarizes the actual performance gaps of various greencertified projects, analyzes the reasons for failures, and proposes potential solutions. It is found that 74%, 12%, and 14% of the projects perform better, similar, and worse, respectively, than their non-green counterparts. Future POE green building projects can be optimized from the perspective of the building, user, and POE system. To optimize green building actual performance, it is important to ensure the sufficient education of installation and maintenance personnel and occupants’ green behavior, while interior design and decoration, the impact of user demographics, and POE performance indicators are key factors to be considered in green building design strategies and lifecycle evaluation systems.
Despite the awareness that employees spend at least half of their awake time at work, knowledge about how the physical office work environment (POWE) shapes employee wellbeing remains fragmented, inconsistent and scattered across disciplines. We provide a narrative review of the empirical literature to summarise the current state of the science and lay the groundwork for advancing a more holistic and nuanced theoretical understanding of the mediating mechanisms underlying the POWE‐wellbeing relationship. To do so, we propose an updated taxonomy of POWE features, incorporating a new dimension – exposure to nature, and use this extended taxonomy to examine the evidence base on the relationship between POWE features and five dimensions of wellbeing: affective, physical, social, cognitive and professional. Based on our findings, we extend a meta‐theoretical model which identifies three distinct theoretically‐driven mediating pathways – relatedness, energy and functional discomfort – through which POWE features differentially influence wellbeing dimensions. In doing so, we integrate the organizational behaviour theory of Job Demands‐Resources and the environmental psychology framework of POWE functions to argue that POWE functions can be both demands and resources‐generating, and can, therefore, have simultaneous positive and negative consequences for employee wellbeing. We conclude with a critical examination of theoretical, methodological and practical implications for future research.
High speech intelligibility in open-plan offices and thus a high changing-state character of the acoustic environment have been found to negatively influence cognitive performance. This is often attributed to the so-called irrelevant speech effect. Office workers lately use active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones to improve the acoustic situation by blocking unwanted sound. However, it is currently unknown if using ANC headphones in a noisy setting improves cognitive performance. Two studies were conducted to examine if ANC headphones improve cognitive performance and the subjective well-being of employees in an open-plan office. Cognitive performance was measured using a serial recall test. Subjective assessments were measured using a questionnaire. The participants were tested in silence, speech without headphones, speech with ANC headphones switched off and speech with ANC headphones switched on. No statistically significant differences were found between the conditions with ANC headphones switched on and off as well as without headphones for cognitive performance. However, ANC headphones statistically significantly improved subjective assessments such as perceived privacy and the assessment of the acoustic environment. The results provide a scientific basis for evaluating and planning the appropriate use of ANC headphones for concentration-intensive activities such as office work.
The Building environment and the performance of its systems directly impact the experience and comfort of a building occupant. This POE study examines the relationship between building and human performance. LEED-rated building was selected as a case study to analyze its performance after being in operation. The occupants’ satisfaction was evaluated in terms of the thermal comfort and human use with the application of online questionnaire. The environmental impact was determined through various measurements including room temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, lighting levels and carbon emission. The outcomes of this study identify the building systems efficiencies as well as the systems in need of retrofit. The POE results can help building designers address user needs more effectively and fine-tune the systems to improve sustainability.
This paper explores the possibility of combining sensory data of multiple individuals into a collective visualization. Using a smart cushion for office chairs that collects several stress-related parameters, namely: heart rate, respiratory rate, and heart-rate variability, individuals’ data can be aggregated into a collective stress visualization. Three different visualizations are designed which abstractly, grouped and aggregated, and metaphorically visualize the collective stress. Additionally, two more visualizations are explored for the ‘new way of working’ during the COVID-19 epidemic, where people work remotely and from the office. Through expert and user interviews, these visualizations are evaluated. Additionally, there is researched on whether measured heart-rate variability can predict perceived stress levels. The results found an inversed correlation than hypothesized.
this article suggests that eco-responsible manpower administration only attains its maximum capacity exclusively by thinking about workers in their either part as makers and customers. Workers gain various types of conduct not solely in the official environment, yet in addition to personal life. Seeing as complementary collaborations between official essence and personal essence happen, “eco-responsibility equilibrium between fun and serious stuff idea” is recommended to encourage harmless to the ecosystem stance in each of two living areas. The conception creates prospects towards climate, before now additionally on the route toward the association as well as their executives by extending, for specimen, job stimulant, and occupation sustainment. Notwithstanding hardships like workers ‘require to allow the communal consequence on personal essence must be looked after.
Taiwan is located in a subtropical region with high temperatures and humidity. Office spaces are located in air-enclosed rooms in buildings, where doors and windows remain closed and only a central air-conditioning system provides temperature adjustment and ventilation. Most offices in this area have office seating areas, document storage areas on both sides of the office, and multi-function devices, which can cause sick office syndrome in the employees. This study applied environmental monitoring technology to analyze the architectural form and indoor and outdoor air quality to propose improvement strategies addressing indoor temperature, relative humidity and air quality. Quality indices were used created to evaluate the improvement efficiency. The analysis results showed that the indoor temperature and relative humidity in staff seating areas can be effectively improved. The statistical analysis results of improved efficiency for PM2.5, PM10 concentrations and total suspended particulates showed that the average indicator values have been raised from 0.05 to 1.5, 2.45 to 4.02 and 0.91 to 3.54, respectively, for staff seating area and −0.01 to 2.82, 0.15 to 3.91 and 1.25 to 7.25, respectively, for photocopier areas. The ambient air quality of this office space has been significantly improved. This study can serve as an example of air quality improvement in traditional common office spaces.
Background & objective: Proper lighting increases the productivity and efficiency of people in the workplace. This study aimed to translate and validate the office lighting survey questionnaire (OLS) to make it usable in Iran and to create a suitable tool for conducting research related to the qualitative study of workplace lighting.
Materials & Methods: The present study is an analytical study that was conducted to determine the validation of the Persian version of the OLS questionnaire on employees of one of the governmental offices in Kerman province. First, the Persian version of the questionnaire was prepared using the Backward-forward method and then the translated questionnaire was distributed among the 49 employees. CVI and CVR, and test-retest tests were used to measure validity and reliability respectively. Chi-square and Mann Whitey tests in SPSS version 26 were also used to analyze the data. Chi-square and Mann Whitey tests in SPSS version 26 were also used to analyze the data.
Results: In the validity analysis, Kappa's and Spearman's coefficients were used to analyze the agreement and correlation between the questions. Intra-class correlation coefficient in the reliability analysis was 0.949. It was found that there is a significant relationship between employees' job satisfaction with lighting and most questions of the OLS questionnaire.
Conclusion: The Persian version of the OLS questionnaire is a useful tool for assessing the quality of lighting in office environments that can be used as part of routine design and measurement programs for office environments and occupational care to prevent job dissatisfaction problems.
Keywords: Lighting, OLS questionnaire, office environment, validation
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) significantly affects human health and wellbeing. Therefore, continuous IEQ monitoring and feedback is of great concern in both the industrial and academic communities. However, most existing studies only focus on developing sensors that cost-effectively promote IEQ measurement while ignoring interactions between the human side and IEQ monitoring. In this study, an intelligent IEQ monitoring and feedback system (IBEM) is developed. Firstly, the IBEM hardware instrument integrates air temperature, relative humidity, CO2, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter no greater than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and illuminance sensors within a small device. The accuracy of this integrated device was tested through a co-location experiment with reference sensors; the device exhibited a strong correlation with the reference sensors, with a slight deviation (R² > 0.97 and slopes between 1.01 and 1.05). Secondly, a wireless data transmission module, a cloud storage module, and graphical user interfaces (i.e., a web platform and mobile interface) were built to establish a pathway for dataflow and interactive feedback with the occupants of the indoor environments. Thus, the IEQ parameters can be continuously monitored with a high spatiotemporal resolution, interactive feedback can be induced, and synchronous data collection on occupant satisfaction and objective environmental parameters can be realized. IBEM has been widely applied in 131 buildings in 18 cities in China, with 1188 sample locations. Among these applications, we report on the targeted IEQ diagnoses of two individual buildings and the exploration of relationships between subjective and objective IEQ data in detail here. This work demonstrates the great value of IBEM in both industrial and academic research.
Although indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and human health have been on the agenda of the green building industry, a new emphasis is being placed on building features that explicitly promote the experience of occupants. However, evidence of the performance of green-certified buildings from the occupant perspective remains inconsistent, with numerous questions on how to effectively design, assess and promote ‘healthy buildings’. Focusing on the key IEQ categories of indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics, this paper synthesises emerging knowledge related to IEQ and health; identifies research and practical challenges that may impede the performance of green-rated buildings; sets the foundations for researchers and green rating system developers to capture immediate and long-term opportunities; and proposes a new framework for green-certified buildings. The envisioned future of green buildings will need to be based on a thorough knowledge of the building and its users, their inter- and intra-individual variability, their spatiotemporal localisation, their activities, their history of exposures, together with a capacity of anticipation of the likelihood of future events and preparedness for them. A balanced, integrated, consideration of these factors can provide the basis for more effective green building certification systems. 'Practice relevance' The Covid-19 pandemic has focused attention on the importance of IEQ and highlighted the limitations of prevailing practice for promoting human experience, health and wellbeing. Most critically, the good intentions of project planning are often not reflected in real-world conditions, and establishedbest practiceshave not kept pace with advances in research. This paper provides a critical synthesis of the literature on the effectiveness of green building ratings systems for human experience. It identifies limitations and practical opportunities for improvement in the design and application of rating tools. These observations present specific, actionable, opportunities to improve the design and operation of green building rating systems. Rating system developers and practitioners can use this information to better align design intentions with outcomes. Explicit consideration is needed for differences in individual preferences, spatial and temporal variabilities of IEQ factors, occupant exposure history, and other factors impacting IEQ.
This paper aims to identify the contribution of temperature feedback and group perception feedback on the improvement of thermal comfort. A controlled thermal comfort experiment with a total of 158 subjects was conducted to figure out the impact. The results indicate that both have positive effects on occupants’ thermal comfort. Group perception feedback can improve thermal sensation by 0.23 under cooler winter conditions, while temperature feedback can improve occupants’ thermal sensation by 0.47 under warmer conditions. Thermal satisfaction increased 0.24 with temperature feedback, indicating that temperature feedback could eliminate the downward trend of satisfaction. Extreme votes in thermal sensation, defined as votes at which the deviation from the mean exceeds the standard deviation, had decreased by 69% (from 36/77 to 11/77) with group perception feedback. Expectation theory, representing occupants’ expectations of thermal environment, can effectively explain why thermal comfort was improved by feedback. The possible reason is that subjects were aware that extreme feedbacks cannot change the current environment since either air temperature or percentage of satisfied subjects meet the standard, so the subjects’ thermal expectations are lowered correspondingly. For practice, it is possible to appropriately turn down the heating set point under overheating conditions to improve energy efficiency, based on the temperature feedback. Furthermore, group perception feedback can improve the thermal comfort under conditions that are at the edge of meeting the comfort criteria in winter and minimize extreme votes as well to build a more comfortable environment.
Welche Faktoren sind zu beachten, wenn man Bürogebäude und -räume planen, bauen und betreiben will, die über den Lebenszyklus betrachtet nicht nur ökonomisch und ökologisch nachhaltig sind sondern auch den Nutzenden ganzjährig ein komfortables, gesundes und arbeitsunterstützendes Arbeitsumfeld bieten? Mit dieser Frage hat sich ein mehrjähriges interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt der Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, der ETH Zürich und der Chalmers University in Göteborg auseinander gesetzt. Das Herzstück des Projekts waren umfassende Datenerhebungen in 26 verschiedenartigen Schweizer Bürogebäuden. Natürlich wurde aber auch die umfangreiche relevante Forschungs- und Praxisliteratur gesichtet. Entstanden ist – auch in Zusammenarbeit mit Fachleuten aus der Praxis – der vorliegende webbasierte Leitfaden für nachhaltige Bürogebäude.
Die Datenanalysen förderten folgendes Ergebnis zu Tage, auf dem gleichzeitig auch die Hauptempfehlung dieses Leitfadens basiert: Weder bestimmte übergreifende Gebäudeeigenschaften (z.B. Art der Lüftung, Grad der Automatisierung, Zertifizierung) noch die Einhaltung von Normen und Empfehlungen zur Innenraumqualität (Raumtemperatur, CO2, Feuchte etc.) vermögen Komfort, Gesundheit, Arbeitsleistung und Arbeitszufriedenheit von Büronutzenden vorherzusagen. Vielmehr sind es die subjektiven Bewertungen bezüglich der Arbeitsumgebung, dem sozialen Arbeitsumfeld und der Arbeit, welche bedeutsame Prädiktoren von Komfort, Gesundheit, Arbeitsleistung und Arbeitszufriedenheit der Gebäudenutzenden sind.
Als Empfehlung für die Praxis lässt sich entsprechend formulieren: Die Zertifizierung von Bürogebäuden und die in der Schweiz meist vorhandene Einhaltung von Normen und Empfehlungen zur Innenraumqualität trägt sicherlich zur heute im internationalen Vergleich hohen Nutzungsqualität von Schweizer Bürogebäuden bei. Wenn es allerdings um die Ausschöpfung weiterer bislang ungenutzter Potenziale im Bereich Komfort sowie Gesundheits- und Leistungsförderlichkeit geht, so bedarf es zusätzlich sowohl in der Planung als auch im Betrieb von Bürogebäuden einer stärkeren Nutzerorientierung. Die Bedarfe der Nutzenden sollten früh im Planungsprozess systematisch erfasst und die daraus entstehende Büroqualität im Betrieb kontinuierlich evaluiert und optimiert werden. Denn letztlich hängt es vom Einbezug der Nutzenden und der daraus resultierenden ganz konkreten bürobereichsspezifischen Umsetzung von Aspekten wie Raumklima und Luftqualität, Beleuchtung, Aussicht, Privacy/ Lärm und Ästhetik ab, ob Nutzende ihr
Büro als komfortabel erleben und darin gesund und leistungsfähig bleiben. Die Erfüllung einiger Grundvoraussetzungen kann die Chancen auf eine solche Gestaltung markant verbessern:
Ausreichende Investitionen in mitarbeiterfreundliche Arbeitsumgebungen; kontinuierliche Orientierung an Nachhaltigkeitskriterien; Passung zwischen Gebäude und Nutzung; Optimierung der Kommunikation unter und zwischen Planern, Betreibern und Nutzern; Maximierung von Präferenzanpassungsmöglichkeiten und Nutzerakzeptanz. Zu allen oben genannten Punkten finden sich detaillierte Empfehlungen in diesem Leitfaden.
Complex fenestration systems (CFS) have proven to enhance the daylight quality inside spaces when designed correctly. While research in this area focuses on assessing CFS performance accurately, the number of CFS daylight analysis frameworks are too complex for the building designer to use for selecting a suitable CFS. Also, some CFS design frameworks focus only on light redirection efficiency without considering the spatial or environmental context. The paper demonstrates a new framework to analyse CFS considering both architectural and environmental conditions. The framework is presented as a computational tool (CFStrace), which accepts parametric geometric input and uses forward raytracing to simulate the complex optical behaviour of CFS. The framework also introduces new metrics for the assessment of CFS, which are developed to suit the forward raytracing simulation technique, that predicts the uniformity of redirected sunlight in the built environment and ensures adequate visual comfort to the occupants. A comparison study is carried out to state the effectiveness of the metrics where various CFS designs from previous literature are tested. The comparative case study revealed which CFS designs would be more suitable at the specific setting and location and provided insight on metrics that can be used to assess the feasibility of one design over the other in terms of daylight performance. The new framework will involve less technical and modelling capabilities making it “architect-friendly” encouraging building designers to include CFS in their design process, especially in the early design phase, and pave the way for new CFS designs possibilities.
A high percentage of information-based work is now conducted in open-plan offices as opposed to traditional cellular offices. In this systematic review, we compare health, work, and social outcomes as well as employee outcomes for workers in the two environments. From a total of 10,242 papers reviewed, we identified 31 papers which met strict inclusion/exclusion criteria of allowing a direct comparison between the office types. The results showed that working in open-plan workplace designs is associated with more negative outcomes on many measures relating to health, satisfaction, productivity, and social relationship. Notable health outcomes included decreased overall health and increased stress. Environmental characteristics of particular concern included noise and distractions, poor privacy, lighting and glare, and poorer temperature control. Most studies indicated negative effects on social relationships and interactions. Overall, the findings showed that while open-plan workplace designs may offer financial benefits for management, these appear to be offset by the intangible costs associated with the negative effects on workers. The study encourages further focused investigations into design factors as well as employee characteristics that might contribute to better outcomes in open-plan designs.
Pakistan is the seventh worst country in the world in terms of access to basic sanitation facilities, with 1 in 3 schools in Pakistan lacking basic toilet provision. Evidence shows that quality environment and physical infrastructure is linked with improved educational outcomes, although literature quantifying the magnitude, or mechanism, of how a toilet facility at school can increase school participation is a recent area of interest. By using school-level data of over 17.000 schools in Pakistan from The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), this paper estimates the relationship between a school having a toilet facility and enrolment at school, between the years 2013 and 2018. We find a school with a toilet facility is correlated with increased enrolment. Gender-wise breakup of results suggests, that for girls only schools, having a toilet facility was linked with a higher enrolment. However, for boys only schools, and for mixed schools, no robust evidence of any such association between a toilet facility at school and enrolment was found. Future research should focus on quantifying the mechanism behind the heterogeneous effects across gender, as toilet facilities potentially serve as a safe space for girls against harassment, assault and sexual violence.
An office building in Malmö to be LEED and WELL certified, was chosen as a case study to investigate how daylight and electric lighting principles are to be integrated throughout the building design and certification processes.
Along the process, challenges when considering energy efficiency and the design of healthy environments were identified, including the need for international certification systems to implement local means for the representation of health and well-being to fit Nordic conditions, where latitude and climate play a major role. As a conclusion, working closely in interdisciplinary teams is crucial when creating lighting solutions that aim to be respectful to our environment and to provide the best possible lighting conditions, fitted for humans needs.
Post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) have been recognized for documenting occupants’ well-being and responses to indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors such as thermal, lighting, and acoustic conditions. The Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation Survey (SPOES), an online questionnaire, provides a quantitative analysis of occupants’ satisfaction in workplace, classroom, and residence hall buildings. This article analyzes occupants’ (n = 886) perceptions of daylighting and electric lighting from POE studies conducted across 13 workplace buildings. Further analysis was conducted to explore occupants’ perceptions of how daylighting and electric lighting affect their health and work performance. The results indicated that occupants were more satisfied with the amount of lighting than the adjustability of lighting and that the amount of lighting had a stronger association with overall lighting satisfaction than the adjustability of lighting. Regarding perception of work performance and health, the adjustability of lighting, visual comfort, and quality of task lighting are strongly associated. Lastly, the proximity of occupants’ primary workspaces to a window also affects lighting satisfaction. These results show that lighting as an IEQ factor is clearly related to the amount and adjustability of both daylighting and electric lighting.
This article addresses a post-occupancy evaluation of a sample of office buildings in Adelaide, South Australia, which compares Green Star-rated against non-Green Star-rated buildings. Internal environment monitoring and occupant surveys were conducted to assess the perceived thermal, visual, and aural comforts, as well as health and productivity. The results show that Green Star-rated buildings provide slightly higher satisfaction in some thermal comfort aspects, but lower satisfaction in a number of significant elements, such as lighting and noise. Current trends in office design are, in some cases, seen to accentuate these issues. The results indicate that improvement in the design of buildings is an ongoing process that needs to be supported with effective and comprehensive feedback systems, including evaluation of the product in use, a system that is currently lacking in the commercial built environment.
Green Building Challenge (GBC) was intended to advance the state-of-the-art of building performance assessment, through the development, testing, and discussion of an assessment framework, criteria and tool. The contributions of GBC to building performance assessment are considered through comparing similarities and differences with a selection of available assessment tools. Unlike national or proprietary assessment systems, GBC was not designed for application to specific commercial markets. Instead, it emphasized research and involved researchers and practitioners from many countries. Consequently, GBC has been in a unique position to test and adopt new ideas and implement step changes. GBC's roles over the past five years have been to provide a reference framework, method and tools that can be used to develop new systems or improve existing systems; provide a forum for discussion among researchers and practitioners worldwide; and raise awareness and credibility of assessment systems. GBC's role has evolved as the context in which it operates has changed. Based on the analysis on GBC's specific characteristics and strengths, its potential future roles are found to reside in a unique position. Its role as a reference system has become less important to many participants as they implement their own national assessment systems. However, GBC's role as a forum and catalyst for change has taken on greater importance as researchers and practitioners continue to wrestle with the most difficult issues in building performance assessment.
Multiple claims and some empirical findings suggest that ‘green’ buildings should be healthier (psychologically and physically) and promote greater productivity than conventional buildings. The empirical evidence in this regard over the last decade or so has been inconclusive suggesting either that the studies are flawed or that there are specific aspects of green buildings that promote wellbeing and productivity and others that do not. This study looks at a longitudinal comparison of two groups; a group that moved into South Africa’s first GreenStar-accredited building and a group that did not. Measures were taken before the move and six months later. Results demonstrated that the ‘green’ building did not produce significantly better physical or psychological wellbeing, or higher perceived productivity. These results are discussed in relation to suggestions for what design features to focus on that may produce significant results.
Open-plan office layout is commonly assumed to facilitate communication and interaction between co-workers, promoting workplace satisfaction and team-work effectiveness. On the other hand, open-plan layouts are widely acknowledged to be more disruptive due to uncontrollable noise and loss of privacy. Based on the occupant survey database from Center for the Built Environment (CBE), empirical analyses indicated that occupants assessed Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) issues in different ways depending on the spatial configuration (classified by the degree of enclosure) of their workspace. Enclosed private offices clearly outperformed open-plan layouts in most aspects of IEQ, particularly in acoustics, privacy and the proxemics issues. Benefits of enhanced ‘ease of interaction’ were smaller than the penalties of increased noise level and decreased privacy resulting from open-plan office configuration.
In this paper, the potential, limitations and applicability of the High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography technique are evaluated as a luminance mapping tool. Multiple exposure photographs of static scenes were taken with a commercially available digital camera to capture the wide luminance variation within the scenes. The camera response function was computationally derived by using Photosphere software, and was used to fuse the multiple photographs into an HDR image. The vignetting effects and point spread function of the camera and lens system were determined. Laboratory and field studies showed that the pixel values in the HDR photographs correspond to the physical quantity of luminance with reasonable precision and repeatability.
Organisations and their facilities managers are under pressure to reduce the space allocation to individuals in open-plan offices, as a means to reduce costs. The reduced space allocation, however, risks creating an unpleasant working environment, either directly through the creation of adverse physical conditions (e.g., more noise, added obstructions to air circulation), or indirectly through psychological processes such as privacy or stress. As part of a larger project concerning the design and operation of open plan offices, a field study was conducted to determine the effects of open-plan office design (particularly workstation size and partition height) on the indoor environment and on occupant satisfaction with that environment. The study is a pre-post renovation study of government office buildings that will undergo space-saving renovations to smaller cubicle sizes. This paper reports on time 1 data only (time 2 data will not be available until 2003). [Note: For the updated results, see: A Model of satisfaction with open-plan office conditions: COPE field findings, Veitch, J. A.; Charles, K. E.; Farley, K. M. J.; Newsham, G. R., Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27 (3), 2007-09-01, p. 177-189. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.04.002]
a b s t r a c t The design of modern work environments must anticipate high levels of spatial and technological change by providing responsive thermal and air quality delivery systems. Building occupants will require indoor environmental conditions to support computer-intensive activities as well as paper-based tasks. How-ever, the current standards and guidelines for indoor environments were predominantly developed without consideration for these modern office variables. This limitation may lead to an occupant's dissat-isfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) as well as unnecessary energy use. With support from the U.S. General Services Administration, a research team at Carnegie Mellon University performed a wide range of post-occupancy evaluation studies in Federal office buildings across the U.S. over 7 years. IEQ conditions were determined with spot and continuous measurements, while the building occupants' satisfaction with environmental attributes was surveyed simultaneously. Statistical analyses of over 400 workstations linked characteristics and environmental qualities to occupants' satisfaction. The results challenged the validity of current IEQ standards and guidelines. Specific recommendations for improving current standards and guidelines are outlined here to help enhance environmental conditions in work-places for future design projects. These include raising summer temperature set-points, separating task and ambient lighting requirements, and establishing minimum air flow rates at each workstation.
Are buildings designed for lower environmental impacts better from the occupants' point of view? Based on methodology developed in the UK by Building Use Studies and used for the Probe series of post- occupancy studies, the paper explores sources of occupant dissatisfaction, and whether or not green buildings are perceived as better by their users. Occupant surveys from 177 UK buildings are used for statistical comparisons between conventional and green buildings. Findings point to improvements in some areas, such as image and how needs are met, but green buildings are in danger of repeating past mistakes, especially if they are too difficult to manage. Users tend to tolerate deficiencies rather more than they do with more conventional buildings. There are also methodological problems. Findings based on more general, ` summary' questions tend give a more optimistic picture for green buildings than those which dig deeper. It is thus vital to back up statistical descriptions with detailed accounts of context so that rounded conclusions are obtained.
Open-plan office occupants may experience a lack of both visual and acoustic privacy, in addition to an increase in the amount of unwanted distractions and interruptions. However, it is believed that access to a window, with enough daylight and an outside view is, in fact, beneficial to occupants and that it affects their satisfaction with their workspace. This study compared two companies in the same office building. As part of this research, the impact of employee proximity to an external window and workstation partition height on three environmental quality measures (planning, privacy, and lighting) was investigated. The results indicated that proximity to a window affected employee satisfaction, somehow buffering or compensating for the negative aspects of open-plan offices. In addition, when coupled with workstation partition height, satisfaction was even more affected, with employees whose workstations contained a window and a 1.40 m high partition being the most satisfied with their space, presumably because they were happy to have partitions giving them a higher level of visual and acoustical privacy, while also minimizing distractions and interruptions. It was also found that males responded more positively to open-plan offices than did females.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: (1) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, (2) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and (3) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated ratingscale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
Physical and questionnaire data were collected from 95 workstations at an open-plan office building in Michigan, US. The physical measurements encompassed thermal, lighting, and acoustic variables, furniture dimensions, and an assessment of potential exterior view. Occupants answered a detailed questionnaire concerning their environmental and job satisfaction, and aspects of well-being. These data were used to test, via mediated regression, a model linking the physical environment, through environmental satisfaction, to job satisfaction and other related measures. In particular, a significant link was demonstrated between overall environmental satisfaction and job satisfaction, mediated by satisfaction with management and with compensation. Analysis of physical data was limited to the lighting domain. Results confirmed the important role of window access at the desk in satisfaction with lighting, particularly through its effect on satisfaction with outside view.
The paper concerns the effects of windows on work and well-being. Literature from a variety of disciplines was reviewed although most recent research was found in the area of environmental psychology. The most consistent finding in the literature is that people prefer natural rather than built or urban views from windows. Windows with views of nature were found to enhance work and well-being in a number of ways including increasing job satisfaction, interest value of the job, perceptions of self-productivity, perceptions of physical working conditions, life satisfaction, and decreasing intention to quit and the recovery time of surgical patients. However, the access to a view did not improve the performance of students or actual productivity of office workers. The positive psychological and health effects of natural views were explained in the context of recent psychological theories. The direction and potential for future research is discussed.
Open-plan offices are notorious for their unpopularity with occupants. Among the most common anecdotal complaints are problems with distraction and inadequate privacy. As part of the Cost-effective Open-Plan Environments project, a field study was conducted to examine the relationships between measured physical conditions and occupant satisfaction with those conditions. A total of 779 workstations in nine buildings were visited. Lighting, acoustic, thermal and air movement conditions were recorded along with descriptive data about workstation size, partition height, and other characteristics. Occupants completed a 27-item questionnaire simultaneously with the measurements in their own workstations. The questionnaire covered satisfaction with individual features of the workstation, the environment overall, and the job, the rank ordered importance of seven physical features, and basic demographic characteristics. A mail-back questionnaire was provided to allow for longer comments about likes and dislikes.This report concerns the effects of workstation physical conditions on five aspects of satisfaction: satisfaction with privacy and acoustics; satisfaction with lighting; satisfaction with ventilation; overall environmental satisfaction, and job satisfaction. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlled for age, job type, and gender first; then examined the effects of workstation characteristics and additional physical variables. Separate nonparametric analyses were conducted for the rank order data, and the text comments were transcribed and characterized.
ScreenSurvey, custom software to automatically administer questionnaires on computer screens, was installed on the computers in open-plan office spaces at four sites. Five questions related to thermal comfort were presented twice per day for three months; internal and external climate data were collected simultaneously. Data from a 10 week period were recovered from 55 participants. Results indicate that this new method of subjective data collection was successful and efficient: the participants had few complaints about the method of questionnaire delivery; and a substantial literature review demonstrates that the results of our study are comparable with results from other field studies of thermal comfort conducted using different methods. Participants responded to the questionnaire 29 % of the occasions on which it could have been presented, and took an average of 45 seconds to answer the five questions. 87 % of votes were in the central three categories ('slightly cool' to 'slightly warm') of the ASHRAE thermal sensation scale, and 70 % of thermal preference votes indicated a desire for no change in temperature; we derived a neutral temperature of 22.7 ºC . Overall, the number of thermal sensation votes indicating thermal acceptability was as predicted by ANSI/ASHRAE Standard, and by the comfort theory on which this Standard was based. However, our results indicate a greater sensitivity to temperatures away from the neutral temperature than theory predicts. Only 11 % of the variance in thermal sensation vote was explained by indoor air temperature, which rose to only 14 % when other measured physical and personal parameters were included in the regression. Differences in thermal sensation vote by age, sex, or office orientation were either not significant, or small. There were no significant differences in thermal sensation vote by week or hour, though the small changes in mean vote were in the expected direction. Around 15 % of people changed their clothing in the hour prior to the questionnaire appearing, suggesting that clothing change may be an important mechanism for achieving thermal comfort. On a installé sur les ordinateurs individuels de locaux à bureaux à aires ouvertes, de quatre (4) sites différents, ScreenSurvey, un logiciel personnalisé permettant d'administrer des questionnaires automatiquement sur écrans d'ordinateur. Cinq (5) questions connexes liées au confort thermique ont été présentées deux fois par jour, pendant trois mois, et des données climatiques internes et externes ont été recueillies simultanément. Les données d'une période de 10 semaines ont été recueillies auprès de 55 participants. Les résultats indiquent que cette nouvelle méthode de collecte subjective de données était productive et efficace : on a enregistré peu de plaintes de la part des participants quant à la méthode d'administration du questionnaire, et selon une analyse documentaire d'envergure, les résultats de notre étude sont comparables à ceux d'autres études sur le terrain portant sur le confort thermique, réalisées selon des méthodes différentes. Les participants ont répondu au questionnaire à 29 % des fois où on aurait pu le leur présenter, et ont pris en moyenne 45 secondes pour répondre aux cinq (5) questions. Une part de 87 % des votes appartenaient aux trois (3) catégories centrales (de « légèrement frais » à « légèrement chaud ») de l'échelle de sensation thermique de l'ASHRAE, et 70 % des votes de préférence thermique révélaient le désir d'aucun changement dans la température. Nous avons dérivé une température neutre de 22,7 ºC. Dans l'ensemble, le nombre de votes liés à la sensation thermique indiquant la satisfaction quant au confort a été conforme aux prédictions selon la norme ANSI/ASHRAE et selon la théorie du confort sur laquelle cette norme est fondée. Toutefois, nos résultats révèlent une sensibilité plus élevée aux températures éloignées de la température neutre que ne le prédit la théorie. Seulement 11 % de la variance dans les votes liés à la sensation thermique était attribuable à la température de l'air à l'intérieur; cette valeur s?élevait à seulement 14 % lorsque les autres paramètres physiques et individuels qui ont été mesurés ont été inclus dans la régression. Les écarts dans les votes liés à la sensation thermique selon l'âge, le sexe ou l'orientation du bureau étaient faibles, voire peu appréciables. On n?a noté aucun écart considérable dans ces votes selon la semaine ou selon l'heure, bien que les faibles changements notés dans le vote moyen allaient dans la direction prévue. Environ 15 % des personnes avaient changé de vêtements dans l'heure précédant l'affichage du questionnaire, ce qui donne à penser que le changement de vêtement pourrait être un mécanisme important pour parvenir au confort thermique. RES
In this study we investigated the effects of the physical work environment on two physiological measures of the stress response.
Circadian variations in vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV) and the morning rise in cortisol were evaluated in 60 participants working in a government building either in a traditional (individual offices and old cubicles; n=40) or a modern workspace (individualized cubicles with improved views and lighting; n=20). Results revealed significant linear (B=-1.03; confidence interval: -1.05 to -1.01, P<0.05) and quadratic (B=1.001; confidence interval: 1.0004-1.002, P<0.05) trends by office type interactions for indices of vagally mediated HRV. Individuals in the old office space had flatter slopes and thus less circadian variation including less HRV at night, and a larger rise in cortisol upon awakening compared with those in the new office space.
These results indicate that physical features of the work environment may affect two aspects of the physiological stress response: circadian variations in HRV and the morning rise in cortisol. These findings have important social, economic, and public health implications for work environment risk factors on health.
In an attempt to overcome limitations characteristics of past evaluations, a con ceptual model is presented as a guide to evaluators in collecting and analyzing data on office environments. A number of components of the model are then examined using data from a study of a new federal office building. Findings cooroborate those reported by others in showing that conventional offices are viewed more favorably by people occupying them than workers in either open or pooled office arrangements. The amount of workspace available to the worker is the most important factor associated with work station satisfaction, even after taking into account the type of work station and the workers' ratings of specific work station attributes. It is also demonstrated that people's feelings about the ambience of the agency within which they work and the architecture of the building influence their reactions to the immediate workspace. It is sug gested that space planners and designers who want their work appreciated by the user need concern themselves with the details of the workspace as well as the larger scale environment. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67299/2/10.1177_0013916582143005.pdf
Conventional and innovative office concepts can be described according to three dimensions: (1) the office location (e.g. telework office versus conventional office); (2) the office lay-out (e.g. open lay-out versus cellular office); and (3) the office use (e.g. fixed versus shared workplaces). This review examined how these three office dimensions affect the office worker's job demands, job resources, short- and long-term reactions. Using search terms related to the office concept (dimensions), a systematic literature search starting from 1972 was conducted in seven databases. Subsequently, based on the quality of the studies and the consistency of the findings, the level of evidence for the observed findings was assessed. Out of 1091 hits 49 relevant studies were identified. Results provide strong evidence that working in open workplaces reduces privacy and job satisfaction. Limited evidence is available that working in open workplaces intensifies cognitive workload and worsens interpersonal relations; close distance between workstations intensifies cognitive workload and reduces privacy; and desk-sharing improves communication. Due to a lack of studies no evidence was obtained for an effect of the three office dimensions on long-term reactions. The results suggest that ergonomists involved in office innovation could play a meaningful role in safeguarding the worker's job demands, job resources and well-being. Attention should be paid, in particular, to effects of workplace openness by providing acoustic and visual protection.
A post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of 12 green and 12 conventional office buildings across Canada and the northern United States was conducted. Occupants (N = 2545) completed an online questionnaire related to environmental satisfaction, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, health and well-being, environmental attitudes, and commuting. In each building on-site physical measurements at a sample of workstations (N= 974) were taken, including: thermal conditions, air quality, acoustics, lighting, workstation size, ceiling height, window access and shading, and surface finishes. Green buildings exhibited superior performance compared with similar conventional buildings. Better outcomes included: environmental satisfaction, satisfaction with thermal conditions, satisfaction with the view to the outside, aesthetic appearance, less disturbance from heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) noise, workplace image, night-time sleep quality, mood, physical symptoms, and reduced number of airborne particulates. A variety of physical features led to improved occupant outcomes across all buildings, including: conditions associated with speech privacy, lower background noise levels, higher light levels, greater access to windows, conditions associated with thermal comfort, and fewer airborne particulates. Green building rating systems might benefit from further attention in several areas, including: credits related to acoustic performance, a greater focus on reducing airborne particulates, enhanced support for the interdisciplinary design process and development of POE protocols.
This study presents the largest-known, investigation on discomfort glare with 493 surveys collected from five green buildings in Brisbane, Australia. The study was conducted on full-time employees, working under their everyday lighting conditions, all of whom had no affiliation with the research institution.
The survey consisted of a specially tailored questionnaire to assess potential factors relating to discomfort glare. Luminance maps extracted from high dynamic range (HDR) images were used to capture the luminous environment of the occupants. Occupants who experienced glare on their monitor and/or electric glare were excluded from analysis leaving 419 available surveys. Occupants were more sensitive to glare than any of the tested indices accounted for.
A new index, the UGP was developed to take into account the scope of results in the investigation. The index is based on a linear transformation of the UGR to calculate a probability of disturbed persons. However all glare indices had some correlation to discomfort, and statistically there was no difference between the DGI, UGR and CGI. The UGP broadly reflects the demographics of the working population in Australia and the new index is applicable to open plan green buildings.
The preservation of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is key to the well-being and productivity of office occupants. In Taiwan, the green building certification system established IEQ criteria to evaluate the performance of buildings in acoustics, lighting, ventilation and decoration but not the performance in delivering thermal comfort. This study investigated and compared the green and conventional office buildings in middle Taiwan on various aspects of IEQ during a period of active air-conditioning use. Among the monitored environmental variables, the levels of noise, illumination, and carbon dioxide in both types of buildings were in compliance with international or Taiwan's regulatory standards, but not that of volatile organic compounds. The degrees of overall IEQ satisfaction as well as the proportion of occupants voting for satisfaction in the green buildings were both greater than their counterparts in the conventional buildings. Of the specific areas of IEQ evaluated, including the acoustics, lighting, perception of thermal comfort of the occupants toward the thermal environment, and indoor air quality, a statistically significant difference was found between the mean score of satisfaction in the green buildings and that in the conventional buildings. The occupants sharing a concern on energy conservation were more amenable to slightly deficient IEQ. The system of green building certification in Taiwan was able to facilitate proper IEQ performance of the buildings, although a re-visit of the current criteria to incorporate thermal comfort-related criteria may be adequate.
Buildings are key target of policies that aim at promoting environmentally sustainable development. Amongst policy instruments that address environmental burdens incurred by buildings, labelling and certification schemes are arguably the most cost-effective. Since the first building environmental assessment scheme was launched in the 1990's, similar schemes have emerged in about 30 countries. These are mainly domestic schemes tailored to suit local contexts. Whilst most of these schemes take a voluntary, market driven approach, some have become a part of mandatory building approval requirements, though different certification schemes may co-exist in some regimes. Benchmarking the strengths and characteristics of different schemes has been advocated. In this connection, this paper provides a comprehensive review and comparison of the issues and metrics of five representative assessment schemes, namely, BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, BEAM Plus and the Chinese scheme ESGB. Comparison of these five schemes shows that BREEAM and LEED are the most comprehensive. A two-phase certification method is adopted in LEED, CASBEE and BEAM Plus, which is considered preferable. Statistical analysis also reveals that there is a moderate degree of agreement amongst the five schemes on weights and ranks of weights allocated to five key assessment aspects. Through comparison, the weighting coefficients adopted by ESGB were found the most representative. Strengths and characteristics of the five schemes have been identified for reference of policy makers in developing their domestic schemes.
The present state of the art in office and space planning described, and the results of a field study of the effects of office design on the occupants are presented. The attitudes and perceptions of 120 employees toward work practices and their office environment were recorded, using a semantic scaling instrument, immediately before and nine months after a change in their surroundings from a conventional mixture of rectilinear open plan, semiprivate and private offices, to a landscaped design. Chi-square analyses of contingency tables cast from combinations of subject group, instructional set, and experimental condition, showed significant increases in judgments of aesthetic value and decreases in judgments of functional efficiency. A perceived increase in noise level, loss of privacy, and increase in visual distractions were chief causes of complaint. There were some positive changes in group sociability.
Seventy employees at four job levels in a large corporation completed a questionnaire on their office environments six months before and six weeks after moving from a conventional office to an "open-plan" office. Secretarial employees and their supervisors (job level 1) moved from freestanding desks to partly enclosed workspaces. Staff specialists (job level 11) left double offices for individual, doorless enclosures. Managerial employees (job levels Ill and IV) left walled offices for large, doorless enclosures. Neither satisfaction with commu nications nor perceptions of noise changed after relocation, but satisfaction with privacy declined among former occupants of walled offices. The decrease in privacy reflected a decrease in confidentiality of conversation, as shown by the questionnaire and acoustical measurements. Implications for office design are discussed.
Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in office environments are generally too low to cause sensory irritation in the eyes and airways on the basis of estimated thresholds for sensory irritation. Furthermore, effects in the lungs, e.g. inflammatory effects, have not been substantiated at indoor relevant concentrations. Some VOCs, including formaldehyde, in combination may under certain environmental and occupational conditions result in reported sensory irritation. The odour thresholds of several VOCs are low enough to influence the perceived air quality that result in a number of acute effects from reported sensory irritation in eyes and airways and deterioration of performance. The odour perception (air quality) depends on a number of factors that may influence the odour impact. There is neither clear indication that office dust particles may cause sensory effects, even not particles spiked with glucans, aldehydes or phthalates, nor lung effects; some inflammatory effects may be observed among asthmatics. Ozone-initiated terpene reaction products may be of concern in ozone-enriched environments (≥0.1 mg/m3) and elevated limonene concentrations, partly due to the production of formaldehyde. Ambient particles may cause cardio-pulmonary effects, especially in susceptible people (e.g. elderly and sick people); even, short-term effects, e.g. from traffic emission and candle smoke may possibly have modulating and delayed effects on the heart, but otherwise adverse effects in the airways and lung functions have not been observed. Secondary organic aerosols generated in indoor ozone-initiated terpene reactions appear not to cause adverse effects in the airways; rather the gaseous products are relevant. Combined exposure to particles and ozone may evoke effects in subgroups of asthmatics.
The study investigated differences in worker satisfaction and perceived job performance regarding privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality issues in personal workspaces between five office types in LEED-certified buildings. It finds that people in high cubicles showed significantly lower satisfaction and job performance in relation to visual privacy and interaction with co-workers than both enclosed private and enclosed shared office types. They also showed significantly lower satisfaction with noise level and sound privacy and lower job performance perceived by acoustic quality than enclosed private, enclosed shared, and bullpen types. The bullpen type, open-plan office without partitions, presented significantly higher satisfaction with noise level and higher performance perceived by acoustic quality than both high and low cubicles. Considering the bullpen type also showed higher satisfaction with sound privacy than the high cubicle type, high partitions don't seem to contribute to creating workspaces where people can have a secure conversation. The bullpen type didn't show any difference from the enclosed shared type in all privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality questions, indicating it may be a good option for a small office space instead of the enclosed shared type.