Post Occupancy Evaluation in Educational Spaces The Impact of Seasonal Discrepancies

Duran, Ozlem; Jill, Zhao

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a Post Occupancy Evaluation research of a BREEAM Excellence-rated university building, to understand the experience of the students using university study spaces. This research focuses on winter conditions and the outcome is compared with the outcome of previous research which focused on summer conditions. The research combined qualitative and quantitative methods and focused on occupancy patterns, thermal comfort, air quality, and noise level of the study spaces within the building, as well as the students’ preferences and experiences of the study spaces. The research collected over 350 questionnaire surveys in total (over 200 in summer and over 150 in winter), as well as monitored environmental data and observation data over two weeks. (by on-site data recorders and momentary data recordings by manual devices) The findings showed winter and summer behavioural differences and occupants’ comfort perceptions, suggesting that the building management decisions have to consider seasonal discrepancies to improve building performance but more importantly, avoid having a negative impact on students’ environmental comfort and subsequent learning experience. This paper presents findings from a Post Occupancy Evaluation research of a BREEAM Excellence-rated university building, to understand the experience of the students using university study spaces. This research focuses on winter conditions and the outcome is compared with the outcome of previous research which focused on summer conditions. The research combined qualitative and quantitative methods and focused on occupancy patterns, thermal comfort, air quality, and noise level of the study spaces within the building, as well as the students’ preferences and experiences of the study spaces. The research collected over 350 questionnaire surveys in total (over 200 in summer and over 150 in winter), as well as monitored environmental data and observation data over two weeks. (by on-site data recorders and momentary data recordings by manual devices) The findings showed winter and summer behavioural differences and occupants’ comfort perceptions, suggesting that the building management decisions have to consider seasonal discrepancies to improve building performance but more importantly, avoid having a negative impact on students’ environmental comfort and subsequent learning experience.

Citation

Duran, O., & Jill, Z. (in press). Post Occupancy Evaluation in Educational Spaces The Impact of Seasonal Discrepancies.

• Conference Name: PLEA 2024
• Conference Location: Wroclaw, Poland
• Start Date: Jun 25, 2024
• End Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 26, 2024
• Keywords: University buildings, Post-occupancy evaluation, thermal comfort, occupant behaviour, educational spaces
• Publisher URL: https://plea2024.pl/