Protocol for Post Occupancy Evaluation in Schools to Improve Indoor Environmental Quality and Energy Efficiency

Post-Occupancy Evaluation's (POE) Applications for Improving Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ)

To improve buildings and their characteristics, the feedback provided directly by users is generally fundamental in order to be able to adapt the technical and structural functions to the well-being of users. The post-occupancy evaluation (POE) fits perfectly into this context. The POE, through qualitative and quantitative information on the interior environment, makes it possible to identify the differences between the performances modeled in the design phase and the real performances experienced by the occupants. This review of 234 articles, published between 2006 and 2022, aims to analyze and compare the recent literature on the application of the POE methodology. The aim was to provide both a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the main factors that comprise the indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The study highlighted the factors that comprise the quality of the indoor environment, as well as the variables that are usually analyzed to describe the well-being of the occupants. The results suggested which are the most common approaches in carrying out POE studies and will identify the factors that most influence the determination of the good quality of an indoor environment.

Research on a Commercial Building Space Traffic Flow Design Based on Post-Occupancy Evaluation

The aim of traffic flow design in commercial building space planning is to create a comfortable, easily accessible, and identifiable spatial structure in a complex and changeable business environment. However, modern commercial building spaces often appear to be inconsistent with the usage requirements after they are put into use. To understand the real experience evaluation of users, this study selects the commercial project “Guangzhou Nanpu Times Commercial Building Space” as its subject. Based on post-occupancy evaluation (POE), this study uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to construct an evaluation index system of commercial building space traffic flow. The weights and satisfaction scores of the indexes are calculated through expert interviews and questionnaires to analyze the evaluation and reasons for the commercial building space traffic flow design after using the facilities. We thereby obtain the design points of commercial building space traffic flow to provide a scientific, reasonable, and practical basis for the subsequent design of the same type of traffic flow to drive the prosperity and development of commerce.

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.

On the Built-Environment Quality in Nearly Zero-Energy Renovated Schools: Assessment and Impact of Passive Strategies

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is a crucial issue in school buildings, because of the conditions that pupils and students are exposed to. From this assumption, potentialities of retrofit actions with Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) targets were analyzed in existing school buildings, focusing on the impact of such measures of IEQ. Numerical analyses in a transient regime for a typical school building were carried out to assess the impacts on the thermal comfort and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The study took into account several building configurations and three reference cities. The results showed severe overheating risks in retrofitted schools: the operative temperature increased by several degrees with respect to the existing configuration, leading to thermal discomfort for a relevant part of the observation period. Passive techniques, namely external solar protection devices and night ventilative cooling, were applied to assess their mitigation potential. Results showed that the combination of the two solutions restored the pre-retrofit performance. CO2 levels were found to be too high for naturally ventilated buildings, regardless of the building configuration; acceptable levels might be reached only with long opening times of windows, which are unrealistic for real building operation.

Post Occupancy Evaluation of School Refurbishment Projects: Multiple Case Study in the UK

Buildings inevitably deteriorate with time. Schools buildings are no exception and require refurbishment at times. Despite the UK Government announcing the £1 billion funding for rebuilding 50 schools over 10 years starting 2010–2021, it is common practice for builders and designers to, upon completion of a building project, move on to the next development without considering how the completed building performs. This research undertakes a post occupancy evaluation (POE) of three schools in the West Midlands, UK with specific focus on building services, viz., heating, lighting, and air conditioning and ventilation. The research adopted a mixed philosophical approach of interpretivism and post-positivism to conduct inductive reasoning. A questionnaire that collected both quantitative and qualitative primary data was distributed to the end-users of the schools. Data was analysed using the Cronbach’s alpha, one sample t-test and Kruskal–Wallis test to identify any differences between the questionnaire responses. Findings revealed that building users demanded greater control of the internal environment thus contradicting the current trend for automated ‘intelligent systems’ approaches. This research represents the first work to consider the contractor’s perspective towards developing a better understanding of client satisfaction with the school buildings. Moreover, the POE result represents a notable pragmatic advancement to knowledge that will influence the contractor’s knowledge and understanding of client satisfaction, and where to improve upon these.

An AHP-Based Methodology for Decision Support in Integrated Interventions in School Buildings

The recovery and requalification of built heritage are, in Europe and all over the world, a central issue in relation to current international policies. In recent years, there has been a considerable growth in research within this field, favoring the implementation of intervention methodologies in the real estate assets of public and private property. With this study, we intend to focus attention on the redevelopment of existing school buildings, taking into account, from an integrated perspective, different aspects related to energy and environmental retrofit, the improvement of seismic safety, and socio-economic assessments. A significant impact of the study that was carried out will be favoring the more disadvantaged classes and a reduction in school drop-out, which in some cases is caused by the decentralized dislocation of the complexes or by inadequate structures. The research consists of the development of a tool to support the planning and programming of interventions for school building modernization, with a view to environmental, economic, and social sustainability. In order to take into account the multiplicity of the aspects considered, among the methods of multi-criteria analysis for decision-making aims the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied, which allowed us to analyze and compare different alternatives through evaluation criteria, reaching the definition of a priority scale. This process makes it possible to identify those interventions that achieve the best compromise between community needs and the planners’ goals. The evaluation procedure is validated through the application on a concrete case study, which is a school building located in the province of Avellino, in the south of Italy.

The Impact of Environmental Factors on Academic Performance of University Students Taking Online Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico

The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine period determined that university students (human resource) in Mexico had adopted the online class modality, which required them to adapt themselves to new technologies and environmental conditions that are different from classrooms at their university. Specifically, these new environmental conditions can be uncomfortable and have an impact on the students’ academic performance. Consequently, the present study aims to determine the impact that the lighting, noise, and temperature levels (independent variables) have on academic performance (dependent variable) in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, a questionnaire was developed, which was applied to 206 university students online, and a structural equation model was built that integrates the four variables through three hypotheses, which were statistically validated through the partial least squares method. Results showed that temperature, lighting, and noise have significant direct effects on university students’ academic performance. As a conclusion, it was obtained that the three independent variables have an impact in the sustainability of university students (human resource).