Abstract
The quality and controllability of the building façade can significantly contribute to building indoor environmental quality (IEQ) as well as the building’s energy efficiency. Advanced technologies that support a façade’s dynamic response to climatic changes, such as electrochromic (dynamic) glazing, have emerged as smart systems for IEQ and environmental sustainability. This research summarizes a four-season study of office workers moving from a floor with conventional blinds to work environments equipped with smart dynamic glazing which changes tint in response to weather condition to control daylighting levels. Multiple occupant environmental satisfaction surveys were conducted over one year to investigate differences in environmental and psychological responses to office settings with manual, and often static, facades as compared to offices with dynamic glazing. This research confirms that dynamic glazing significantly affected occupants’ environmental satisfaction—enhancing individuals’ environmental perceptions and psychological health—as compared to manual blinds. It reveals that the occupants in work environments with dynamic glazing reported 21.7% higher productivity gains, 24.8% increased ability to relax, 12.7% improved concentration, 25.3% better moods and 29.4% greater alertness than when they were in offices in the same building with manual shading devices. Also, the dynamic feature of the smart glazing showed a significant contribution to perceived work productivity while enhancing positive emotional responses by an average of 26%.
Highlights
In today’s buildings, the importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has been increasing, especially the factors of thermal and visual quality, due to its significant impacts on occupants’productivity, health, and quality of life [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
Electrochromic glazing, called the “dynamic window”, has emerged in the high-performance building domain. Since this dynamic façade can be controlled as a function of solar radiation and daylight availability, it contributes to building energy performance, indoor thermal and lighting quality, user satisfaction, and environmental
This study identified that a simpler control strategy, such as rule-based control (RBC), can achieve a similar energy performance, as compared to a complex control strategy, such as model-predictive control (MPC)
Summary
In today’s buildings, the importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has been increasing, especially the factors of thermal and visual quality, due to its significant impacts on occupants’productivity, health, and quality of life [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Electrochromic glazing, called the “dynamic window”, has emerged in the high-performance building domain Since this dynamic façade can be controlled as a function of solar radiation and daylight availability, it contributes to building energy performance, indoor thermal and lighting quality, user satisfaction, and environmental. The visual transmittance of dynamic glazing can be increased or decreased based on pre-defined control algorithms, and it can control the illuminance of natural light admitted through glazing in an optimal way to enhance the visual quality and allow for continuous window views without compromising the thermal-quality condition These technical merits have been especially important for office and healthcare facilities where the occupants’ environmental health and work productivity are important
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