An integrative approach: Environmental quality (EQ) evaluation in residential buildings.
Yoon, Sung-Hoon
2008
Abstract
The main purpose of buildings is to provide a comfortable living environment for their occupants. Indoor environmental factors are considered to be one of the most important factors affecting occupant assessment of their quality of life in residential building. These environmental factors include thermal, lighting, acoustic and indoor air quality. The appropriate levels of these environmental factors increase occupants' satisfaction and improve the residential environmental quality. The objective of this research is to propose integrative evaluation models for improving environmental quality (EQ) in residential buildings. A field physical measurement and occupant survey were conducted in actual residential buildings, Northwood Community Apartments, 2-bedroom apartment units at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. This research examined the relationship between indoor physical environmental conditions and occupant responses in buildings with four different orientations (i.e., N, S, W, E) in two seasons (i.e., winter and summer). EQ models for assessing the environmental quality of a space are based on its thermal, lighting, acoustic and indoor air quality conditions. In this study, it is hypothesized that occupant's satisfaction with and perceptions of environmental quality are influenced by building orientation, occupant's gender, age and seasons. The measured physical environmental conditions in residential buildings differed substantially depending on space, outdoor weather conditions and building orientations. Each space within the same residential building had different environmental conditions. Combinations of unbalanced physical environmental conditions in residential building decrease occupants' satisfactions and their perceptions of overall residential quality. Occupants' satisfaction and their responses to physical characteristics of their residential environment is strongly related to thermal, lighting, acoustic and indoor air conditions in their buildings. Based on relations between the architectural characteristics, the environmental control system, and the use of the building, integrative EQ evaluation models are proposed that will help designers to identify problems and develop solutions for improving environmental quality from the occupants' point of view. Also, this research suggests weighting factors for the integrative evaluation of all physical environmental factors that were developed from responses to survey questions about the respondents' EQ priorities. In order to integrate all environmental factors, it was crucial to determine the relative importance of various environmental factors.Subjects
Approach Eq Indoor Environmental Quality Evaluation Integrative Residential Buildings
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