Investigation of the feasibility of POE methodology for a modern commercial office building

Abstract

Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE), as an architectural and technical tool, has been researched for decades to support an effective design decision process and also for indoor environmental quality control, such as thermal, air, lighting, and acoustic quality, as well as spatial quality. However, a one-time data collection has been frequently adopted that includes survey and field measurements, even though these data acquisition approaches have been moderately changed and revised. For modern office buildings, where a large number of time-varying architectural and environmental parameters are available, and the demands of individual occupants for specific environmental conditions vary per season, day, or even hour, little research effort has been made to validate whether the one-time data collection-based POE is still effective in a modern structure. To address this challenge, this research project included four different POE studies in two commercial office buildings, in Southern California in the U.S. At 189 individual workstations, selected in two buildings, an environmental satisfaction survey and spot measurements were repeatedly made during 4 seasons while considering seasonal and daily factors. This study found that human factors, such as gender and age, contributed to inconsistent environmental perceptions, depending on the season and/or month. This research revealed that multiple-time data collection is required to provide a vigorous environmental design solution which would enhance building occupants' environmental comfort, while considering time-varying environmental factors, such as a season.