Thermal Comfort in the Design Classroom for Architecture in the Cold Area of China

Abstract

A field study of thermal comfort in a design classroom for teaching architecture and dormitory rooms in a cold area of China was conducted to provide a better understanding of the thermal comfort of students, and to clarify the energy saving potential of such building spaces. Respondents were the same for both the classroom and dormitories field survey, with a total of 89 students majoring in architecture. The students’ subjective thermal responses and their environmental parameters for two months before and after heating were collected and compared, and the results showed that when respondents adjusted their clothing it was not necessarily to adapt to the thermal environment but may have been due to habituation. The thermal neutral operative temperature was determined to be 23.1 °C in the design classroom and the thermal sensation was maintained at neutral-cool in the dormitory rooms. Although there were significant differences between the thermal environments in the classroom and dormitories, thermal acceptability was close to 100%. In the design classroom, the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) predicted the indoor thermal environment relatively accurately, while in dormitory rooms, the PMV underestimated the thermal sensations. Students can tolerate lower temperatures, showing adaptability to the environment.