The effects of location and layout of offices on perceptual evaluations of users

The effects of lamp types and surface reflectance combinations on the subjective perception of a simulated lit hospital ward environment

Purpose

Good illumination creates an aesthetic environment that may positively influence patients’ well-being and provide comfort to the hospital staff. This study aims to focus on exploring the energy efficiency of lighting and subjective perception of the lit environment in a hospital ward to assess quality indicators of ambient lighting conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

The existing conventional tubular fluorescent lamp–based lighting system in the surveyed patients’ ward was retrofitted with light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires to explore illumination and energy parameters. Thereafter, a software lighting model was created, simulated and analyzed. A Web-based survey with five bipolar adjective pairs in a semantic differential scale was conducted with 48 participants to record and analyze their subjective responses pertaining to the variations in lamp types and surface reflectance combinations.

Findings

The findings imply that the LED tubular lamp–based illumination was deemed more adequate compared to other lamp types and the effects of variations in room surface reflectance combinations on the participants’ responses were statistically significant at α = 0.05 level. The simulated horizontal work plane average illuminance level varied from 131 to 171 lx, mean room surface exitance (MRSE) levels remained between 30 and 90 lm/m2 and overall uniformity of illuminance remained between 0.5 and 0.7.

Originality/value

In a hospital ward illuminated by LED tubular lamps, variations in room surface reflectance combinations for a constant luminous flux package output from the lamps may affect the subjective perception of users and the correlation between horizontal work plane average illuminance and MRSE is found to be highly linear (coefficient of determination > 0.97).

Privacy and interaction preferences of students in informal learning spaces on university campus

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse privacy and interaction preferences in the social dimension of individual learning students and how the spatial configuration affects individual learners’ choices of learning spaces.

Design/methodology/approach

This empirical survey study was conducted in an Australian university’s informal learning spaces. Space syntax theories are applied to construct a four-quadrant theoretical framework.

Findings

The research findings indicate that based on the differences between students in their individual characteristics, there are significant differences in their needs for privacy and interaction. This study reveals that the spatial configuration affects individual learners’ choices of learning spaces.

Originality/value

This study could assist universities in providing students with more effective and diverse informal learning spaces.

Development of design quality indicators for public school facilities

Purpose

This study aims to develop a set of design quality indicators (DQIs) suitable for the design and evaluation of public schools in terms of their technical, functional and behavioral performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology entailed the review of literature on the design quality of school buildings to identify potential DQIs. Subsequently, the eighty four DQIs were validated through a three-round Delphi evaluation process, with 35 participants in the first round and 28 participants in the second and third rounds. The participants consisted of architects, facility managers, administrators, teachers and students. The results of the Delphi survey were analyzed based on the relative importance index, which was further rated according to the levels of importance.

Findings

The findings from this process revealed that most of the DQIs were categorized as extremely important and very important.

Originality/value

The design quality of school buildings is crucial to the success of a community’s social life and educational process. However, the lack of a set of DQIs has hindered the potential to benchmark similar facilities and derived lesson learned. The value of the DQIs is in its potential application as a design tool for proposed school buildings, as well as for facility audit of existing school buildings.

Effect of wall covering materials on the perception of cafe environments

Purpose

This study aims to determine the effects of wall covering materials (wood, concrete and metal) used indoors on participants’ perceptual evaluations. The differences among participants’ perceptual evaluations regarding indoor physical environmental factors by occupation and gender were examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Cafes were selected as research environments. Virtual experimental spaces using three different wall covering materials were modelled and participants’ assessment of the physical environmental factors of these virtual spaces was measured through a detailed questionnaire.

Findings

Cafes using light-coloured wall covering materials were perceived more favourably than cafes using dark-coloured wall covering materials, and cafes with light-coloured wooden wall coverings were considered as a warmer material than cafes using concrete and metal. Participants who received design education (architect, interior architect) perceived physical environmental factors of cafes more negatively than those who did not receive design education (lawyer, economist, accountant, etc.). Male participants evaluated the physical environmental factors of cafes more positively than female participants for all adjective pairs. Except for two adjective pairs, no significant difference was found among the evaluations according to genders for the other adjective pairs.

Originality/value

This study revealed new results about customers’ choices of wall covering materials and offered designers new alternatives for materials that can be used in the design of cafes.