Indoor Environmental Quality Conditions Research Articles

Assessing the post-COVID interaction between indoor environmental quality and occupants within educational buildings: A structural equation modeling approach

It is well-acknowledged that indoor environmental quality (IEQ) affects different aspects of occupants' lives, such as satisfaction, performance, and well-being. This acknowledgement is a result of extensive studies investigating IEQ interaction with occupants within different spaces, such as offices, commercial buildings, and homes. What is still missing are two aspects that IEQ studies should consider: (a) the post-COVID-19 era and the resulting anti-measures (COVID measures) and (b) the interaction of IEQ with occupants in academic libraries. This study aims to analyze the effects of COVID measures on the relationship between IEQ and occupants' satisfaction (learning performance), as well as their visiting habits at one of the largest academic libraries in Asia. To this end, two scenarios are developed to compare the effects of IEQ on occupants with and without COVID measures. This paper aims to address how COVID measures will shape the relationship between the IEQ of an academic library and its users’ satisfaction and visiting habits. This relationship is investigated using structural equation modeling based on 509 face-to-face surveys completed over the course of 4 months. Results suggest that COVID measures will produce a significant relationship between IEQ and satisfaction; however, higher satisfaction is reported when COVID measures are not applied. Both models show no significant relationship between IEQ and visiting habits. The proposed model will help in defining construction guidelines for libraries and educational buildings that promote IEQ conditions in the post-COVID era.

Emotion-oriented recommender system for personalized control of indoor environmental quality

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) significantly influences health, cognitive abilities, and even moods. With the rise of smart homes and the Internet of Things (IoT), the need for personalized IEQ control has become paramount. Traditional systems, primarily focusing on explicit feedback (i.e., preference), often neglect the role of emotions in shaping this feedback. Therefore, this study presents the Emotion-oriented Recommender System for personalized control of IEQ (ERS-IEQ), based on the R-E-C-S ontology, focusing on (i) Recognizing user's continuous emotional states, (ii) Estimating emotional similarity between users, (iii) Collecting user's feedback on IEQ conditions, and (iv) Systemizing an emotion-oriented recommender system using a graph neural network. In order to confirm the predictive performance of the ERS-IEQ and verify its higher level of excellence compared to traditional recommender systems, a private dataset composed of IEQ conditions, users' explicit feedback, and users' emotional states was built via a human participant experiment using a climate chamber. As a result, the ERS-IEQ significantly enhances the recommender system's predictive performance, particularly in thermal preferences. The number of linguistic terms of emotional similarity has a profound effect on the system's predictions, with four terms proving most effective. In the near future, ERS-IEQ will play a role as a personal assistant in smart home automation, offering emotion-based recommendations. It addresses key challenges in traditional recommender systems, such as the cold start problem and rating sparsity, and ensures personalized adjustments to IEQ conditions in both private and public spaces.

E-DYCE - Dynamic approach to the dynamic energy certification of buildings

The energy performance certification (EPC) scheme, introduced in the European Union approximately 20 years ago, has become the focus of the upcoming revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Despite its widespread use, the current EPC scheme has several shortcomings that need to be addressed. The Energy flexible DYnamic building Certification (E-DYCE) project has developed a dynamic approach to address these issues. The methodology includes a dynamic assessment of a building’s energy needs and comfort conditions under standard and different from standard conditions of building use to support Performance Gap (PG) analyses. The E-DYCE approach includes a dynamic building performance simulation with comfort and energy-related key-performance indicators (KPIs) measured and calculated according to E-DYCE DEPC methodology. These KPIs can inform end-users about indoor environmental quality conditions decisive for building energy performance, aid building managers in detecting dysfunctions resulting in PG, and include energy performance indexes for heating, cooling, lighting, domestic hot water, and more. Overall, the E-DYCE approach offers dynamic, reliable, and customer-tailored information and optimization possibilities to end-users while potentially resolving known shortcomings of the existing EPC schemes.

Understanding how indoor environmental classroom conditions influence academic performance in higher education

PurposeThis study aims to qualitatively examine the relationship between the indoor environmental quality (IEQ), lecturers’ and students’ perceived internal responses and academic performance.Design/methodology/approachTo capture user experiences with the IEQ in classrooms, semi-structured interviews with 11 lecturers and three focus group discussions with 24 students were conducted, transcribed, coded and analyzed using direct content analysis.FindingsThe findings show that lecturers and students experience poor thermal, lighting, acoustic and indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions that may influence their ability to teach and learn. Maintaining acceptable thermal and IAQ conditions was difficult for lecturers, as opening windows or doors caused noise disturbances. In uncomfortable conditions, lecturers may decide to give a break earlier or shorten a lecture. When students experienced discomfort, it may affect their ability to concentrate, their emotional status and their quality of learning.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings originate from a relatively small sample, which might have limited the number and variety of identified associations between environment and users.Practical implicationsMaintaining acceptable air and thermal conditions will mitigate the need to open windows and doors. Keeping doors and windows closed will prevent noise disturbances and related distractions. This will support the quality of learning in classrooms. This study reveals the end users’ perspectives and preferences, which can inspire designers of new school buildings in higher education.Originality/valueThis study emphasizes the importance of creating and maintaining optimal IEQ conditions to support the quality of teaching and learning. These conditions are particularly relevant when classroom occupancy rates are high or outdoor conditions are unfavourable.

Learning building occupants’ indoor environmental quality complaints and dissatisfaction from text-mining Booking.com reviews in the United States

Traditional post occupancy evaluation (POE) poses a challenge to the comprehensive knowledge of occupant dissatisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) due to the nature of the pre-defined questionnaire structure and time-consuming data collection procedures. At the same time, the fact that “humans are effective sensors” and are inclined to report their impressions can be leveraged to collect data for a substantial number of buildings. This paper presents a text-mining approach to reveal the relationships between environmental conditions and occupant dissatisfaction in large populations. With a set of 1.2 million Booking.com open-ended reviews (i.e., 71,665 IEQ reviews) of temporary residences (e.g., hotels), we identified the prevalence of IEQ complaints, investigated the climate distributions and seasonal trends of IEQ complaints, and quantified the social benefits of IEQ in economic values. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) complaints make up the majority of dissatisfaction ratings in all climate zones and IAQ-related reviews also have the worst sentiment scores, followed by visual, acoustic, and thermal discomfort. Windows are perceived as the common source that matters for all four categories of IEQ dissatisfaction. Our analysis also found that the IEQ value is correlated with increased rental costs when the temporary residences have satisfactory IEQ conditions. Our study demonstrates that IEQ satisfaction can be a key design driver and therefore, should be considered in building design, management, and real estate finance.

An overview of indoor environmental conditions in work-from-home settings

During the last week of March 2020, about 4.7 million workers in Canada transitioned to working from home due to the pandemic. A similar transition occurred at a global scale. Few studies have evaluated the WFH setting from a perspective that’s been a significant public concern during the COVID-19 pandemic: indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The objective of this paper is to present an analysis of the IEQ conditions in WFH settings based on a field study of 95 WFH sites during May-July 2022 in the Pacific Northwest region. The IEQ variables of air temperature, relative humidity, CO2, total volatile organic compounds, PM2.5, ambient light and noise were measured continuously at 10-minute intervals for the duration of the study. A preliminary analysis of the IEQ data shows the indoor air temperature in WFH settings within the study sample, ranged between 15.7-32°C, with a mean value of 22.7°C (SD = 2.3°C). The mean indoor concentrations of CO2, TVOCs and PM2.5 were 674 ppm (SD = 324 ppm), 288 ppb (SD = 515 ppb) and 4.7 μ/m3 (SD = 20.5 μ/m3) respectively. The mean values for relative humidity, light and noise were 53% (SD = 7%), 174 lux (SD = 349 lux) and 53 dB (SD = 5 dB). Associations between type of residence and most of the IEQ variables were found.

Bringing students closer to the issues of indoor environmental quality and technology using nEMoS device: an experience in Albania

The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a~school building in Tirana. Included in the Bilateral Agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the research is based on environmental analysis, collection of data from monitoring of environmental variables and students' feedback. The monitoring of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) was carried out with a~nearable Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) for IEQ purposes, designed and developed by ITC-CNR based on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) philosophy. The proliferation of the maker movement philosophy has promoted the diffusion of DIY-based technologies. The spread of this movement is observed outside schools but there is a growing interest among educators to introduce this philosophy in the students' education, approaching to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) in a different and more stimulating way. The application of two nEMoS devices in two classrooms (in different locations) aroused the curiosity of students, bringing them closer to the world of technology with a practical example. It also increased their awareness about the overall IEQ conditions in the classrooms where they spend a considerable part of their lives.

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in the home workplace in relation to mental well-being

Purpose This paper aims to study employee mental health in relation to workplace design and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) when working from home, which has received little attention. The trend toward hybrid working urges for more knowledge. Design/methodology/approach Through a mixed data collection method, this study analyzed potential relationships (between mental health, workplace design and IEQ) from information obtained through a cross-sectional survey, repeated point-in-time surveys and desk-based IEQ sensors at home. Data were collected in April 2020 during a national COVID-19 lockdown in The Netherlands amongst 36 subjects. They all worked full time from home in this period and together completed 321 point-in-time surveys. The three data sets were combined and analyzed using bivariate and path analysis. Findings Outcomes indicate that subjective and objective IEQ conditions, workplace suitability and distraction affect employee mental health in the home workplace in a similar way as in the office. Being satisfied with the noise level increases concentration, self-reported well-being and engagement. High sound pressure levels (>58 dB) increased tension or nervous feelings. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore employee mental health in relation to simultaneously assessed (perceived and measured) multiple IEQ parameters in the home workplace.

Indoor environmental factors affecting the productivity of workers in office buildings

Poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has been found to contribute significantly to productivity losses, with the extent of the contribution differing according to the type of office work in which workers are engaged. However, few studies focus specifically on the occupants of university office buildings where the work being undertaken involves a significant amount of academic research that is expected to require high levels of concentration, insight, creativity, and consistency than is needed in many other types of work. To develop a preliminary understanding of the IEQ factors affecting the productivity of people working in university office buildings, a pilot questionnaire was administered to postgraduate students to validate the IEQ factors that have been found to impact on productivity. To date, twelve postgraduate students from three different office buildings in The University of Auckland completed the questionnaire. The results showed that noise, temperature, air quality, and lighting were the factors most reported on with respect to effects on work productivity. The adopted IEQ factors in this questionnaire instrument is reliable. The findings from this study will help advance understanding of the IEQ factors affecting the productivity of workers in university office buildings, and provide insights for architects, building owners, office managers, and office users to help prevent or mitigate negative impacts on productivity by managing the IEQ conditions in workplaces. Future research will involve the analysis of data from staff as well as students to identify any possible differences that might exist between the two groups of workers engaged in academic research.

Overlaps in space utilisation patterns and IEQ conditions observed in Activity-Based Working supportive office

One of the potential positive aspects of spaces designed to support Activity-Based Working (ABW) concept is to allow people to choose to work from zones that suit their Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) preferences. The vast majority of studies reporting findings relevant to IEQ performance of ABW spaces rely on spot measurements and/or subjective surveys and as such it is difficult to map longitudinal actual utilisation patterns and IEQ performance. This study contributes to this topic by analyzing a longitudinal dataset of space utilisation of an ABW over a twelve-month period. Analysis aims to identify overlaps between space utilisation patterns and expected IEQ performance in order to understand which types of zones occupants seem to prefer to work from. Occupants’ demographics (age and gender) were also analyzed with respect to the use of space. Further, specific physical markers were investigated, namely proximity to window, air-conditioning outlets, and high-low noise locations. The impact of physical markers on workplace choice was classified and predicted during a day using a decision-tree diagram developed on the basis of the CHAID algorithm. Overall, workers tended to choose to work within the inner zones (after 11 a.m.) during winter. Findings show that female workers moved away from air-conditioning outlets. Additionally, female workers worked from workstations situated in high and medium noise zones. Results illustrated the potential to use utilisation datasets to understand how workers move away or towards zones in response to expected IEQ performance - thermal comfort (cold/warm), acoustics (noisy/quiet), and access to the outdoor environment/view (window) proximity.

Scalable IoT Architecture for Monitoring IEQ Conditions in Public and Private Buildings

This paper presents a scalable IoT architecture based on the edge–fog–cloud paradigm for monitoring the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters in public buildings. Nowadays, IEQ monitoring systems are becoming important for several reasons: (1) to ensure that temperature and humidity conditions are adequate, improving the comfort and productivity of the occupants; (2) to introduce actions to reduce energy consumption, contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); and (3) to guarantee the quality of the air—a key concern due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Two kinds of nodes compose the proposed architecture; these are the so-called: (1) smart IEQ sensor nodes, responsible for acquiring indoor environmental measures locally, and (2) the IEQ concentrators, responsible for collecting the data from smart sensor nodes distributed along the facilities. The IEQ concentrators are also responsible for configuring the acquisition system locally, logging the acquired local data, analyzing the information, and connecting to cloud applications. The presented architecture has been designed using low-cost open-source hardware and software—specifically, single board computers and microcontrollers such as Raspberry Pis and Arduino boards. WiFi and TCP/IP communication technologies were selected, since they are typically available in corporative buildings, benefiting from already available communication infrastructures. The application layer was implemented with MQTT. A prototype was built and deployed at the Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), using the existing network infrastructure. This prototype allowed for collecting data within different academic scenarios. Finally, a smart sensor node was designed including low-cost sensors to measure temperature, humidity, eCO2, and VOC.

The role of internet of things (IoT) in the assessment and communication of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in buildings: a review

PurposeThe changes brought by Industry 4.0 go beyond transformations in the industrial environment. The increasingly frequent digitization and robotization of activities is not only restricted to the industrial environment, but also to people's daily routine. People spend a large part of their time inside buildings, and maintaining adequate Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is an essential factor for a healthy and productive environment. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to verify how the Internet of Things (IoT) is being used to improve the indoor environment, through sensors that instantly measure the conditions of the environment.Design/methodology/approachThe aim of this paper is to verify, through a literature review, how IoT is being used for building control (for energy saving purposes) and to monitor IEQ conditions inside buildings, in order to provide a better environment for occupants, in terms of health and comfort. By combining keywords in databases, PRISMA method was used to select the articles for analysis, and 91 articles were analyzed.FindingsThe main findings in this research are: (1) the main purpose for applying IoT inside buildings is to reduce energy consumption; (2) there is an interest in developing low-cost sensoring devices with a learning approach; (3) Machine Learning methods are mainly used for energy saving purposes and to learn about occupants' behavior inside buildings, focusing on thermal comfort; (4) sensors in the IoT era are a requirement to help improve people's comfort and well-being.Originality/valueStudies directly correlating IoT and IEQ are limited. This paper emphasises the link between them, through the presentation of recent methods to control the built environment.

Exploring stakeholder roles in the management of indoor environmental quality of higher education institutes in South Africa

PurposeThis study aims to explore the influential role stakeholder play in the management of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in facilities of higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. By defining the indoor environmental challenges facing HEI's, an alternative redress to these challenges can be achieved through stakeholder management.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a quantitative survey approach which was informed by a post-positivism philosophical stance. The closed-ended questionnaire survey was used to gather views from academic and administrative staff who were employed in various HEIs across South Africa. The literature review revealed 13 influential stakeholder management roles which were explored. The gathered data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics that evaluated the influential role stakeholder play in the management of IEQ in HEIs.FindingsExploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed three core categories of stakeholder management roles to being community engagement and awareness, organisational commitment and objective function. These roles play an integral part of overhauling the current IEQ conditions in HEIs, which subsequently improves the quality of education through efficient academic and administrative performance.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the body of knowledge as it reveals that HEI, particularly in developing countries like South Africa, can improve their current IEQ conditions through adopting critical stakeholder management roles. Also, this study provides further theoretical background for future research in the area of stakeholder management which has been lacking in previous IEQ studies.

An indoor environmental quality assessment of office spaces at an urban Australian university

ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of a comprehensive indoor environmental quality (IEQ) evaluation conducted in seven office buildings at an Australian university. A mix of objective and subjective assessments was carried out and a total of 519 staff participated in the survey from various non-academic departments. Three types of buildings were included in this study: ‘Heritage listed’ (c.1880–1890s), ‘Conventional’ (c.1960–1980s) and ‘Modern’ (post 2000) office buildings. Although the measured IEQ conditions were relatively good with no significant fluctuation across the selected buildings, the discrepancy between objective IEQ data and subjective occupant evaluations was noted. The Modern building type designed with fully double-glazed façades showed the highest levels of overall comfort and satisfaction and perceived productivity, whereas the Conventional building type constructed during the late 20th-century period, notable for deep floor plates, had the lowest. The heritage listed type buildings had lower window to wall ratios, yet displayed improved occupant satisfaction across all IEQ areas over the conventional type buildings. The results support that building renovation and regular maintenance can improve occupant comfort and satisfaction within offices. The findings could be useful for property managers looking for strategies to improve the performance of their building stock.

A Ten-Year Review of Primary School Flexible Learning Environments: Interior Design and IEQ Performance

Flexible Learning Environments (FLEs) arose as enablers for implementation of student-centric pedagogical approaches. Interior design is the key to the success of FLEs, providing the physical infrastructure needed for students to engage on several learning activities, from individual to group work, which take place in a variety of zones ranging from low to high energy. Therefore, a harmonious synergy between the interior design and subsequent Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) performance of FLEs’ physical configuration and learning activities is needed. The objective of this paper is to systematically review (in accordance with the PRISMA method) existing literature related to FLEs within primary school settings, typically catering to children aged 5–12 years old, to understand the body of work investigating the design and performance of FLEs over the last decade (2010–2020). Key findings suggest that the proximity and acoustic and visual permeability of zones found in FLEs may give rise to inadequate IEQ conditions delivered to students. In addition, it could be inferred from the results of the literature review that interior design and IEQ have not been sufficiently investigated in an integrated manner.

Investigating the indoor environmental quality of different workplaces through web-scraping and text-mining of Glassdoor reviews

ABSTRACT The analysis of occupants’ perception can improve building indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Going beyond conventional surveys, this study presents an innovative analysis of occupants’ feedback about the IEQ of different workplaces based on web-scraping and text-mining of online job reviews. A total of 1,158,706 job reviews posted on Glassdoor about 257 large organizations (with more than 10,000 employees) are scraped and analyzed. Within these reviews, 10,593 include complaints about at least one IEQ aspect. The analysis of this large number of feedbacks referring to several workplaces is the first of its kind and leads to two main results: (1) IEQ complaints mostly arise in workplaces that are not office buildings, especially regarding poor thermal and indoor air quality conditions in warehouses, stores, kitchens, and trucks; (2) reviews containing IEQ complaints are more negative than reviews without IEQ complaints. The first result highlights the need for IEQ investigations beyond office buildings. The second result strengthens the potential detrimental effect that uncomfortable IEQ conditions can have on job satisfaction. This study demonstrates the potential of User-Generated Content and text-mining techniques to analyze the IEQ of workplaces as an alternative to conventional surveys, for scientific and practical purposes.

Classrooms' indoor environmental conditions affecting the academic achievement of students and teachers in higher education: A systematic literature review.

This study reports the outcomes of a systematic literature review, which aims to determine the influence of four indoor environmental parameters — indoor air, thermal, acoustic, and lighting conditions —on the quality of teaching and learning and on students' academic achievement in schools for higher education, defined as education at a college or university. By applying the Cochrane Collaboration Method, relevant scientific evidence was identified by systematically searching in multiple databases. After the screening process, 21 publications of high relevance and quality were included. The collected evidence showed that the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can contribute positively to the quality of learning and short‐term academic performance of students. However, the influence of all parameters on the quality of teaching and the long‐term academic performance could not be determined yet. Students perform at their best in different IEQ conditions, and these conditions are task‐dependent, suggesting that classrooms which provide multiple IEQ classroom conditions facilitate different learning tasks optimally. In addition, the presented evidence illuminates how to examine the influence of the IEQ on users. Finally, this information supports decision‐makers in facility management and building systems engineering to improve the IEQ, and by doing so, allow teachers and students to perform optimally.

Designing healthy workspaces: results from Australian certified open-plan offices

PurposeFrom poor indoor environmental quality conditions to musculoskeletal discomfort, the interior design of workspaces has the potential to negatively affect human health. One of the key responses from industry has been the rise of health-related guidelines, certification and rating tools. Despite the rapid adoption of such tools by the Australian high-end corporate real estate, there is a scarcity of empirical evidence arising from such premises. This study aims to compare results from certified premises against other open-plan offices to understand differences arising from occupants’ satisfaction, perceived productivity and health.Design/methodology/approachA total of 1,121 post-occupancy evaluation (POE) surveys conducted in 9 offices were analyzed. All these premises hold a certification from the Green Building Council of Australia and two achieved a WELL rating. The analysis is performed in three parts: comparing WELL-certified (2 cases) and non-WELL certified (7 cases) offices along with comparison with a benchmark of 9,794 POE surveys from the BOSSA database, comparing activity-based working (ABW) (5 cases) and traditional (4 cases) offices along with comparison with BOSSA database and qualitative study of the similar design features in all 9 offices accompanied with an in-depth analysis of the health-related issues that might have occurred because of poor ergonomic design. For the first two parts, several t-tests are performed.FindingsHighest scores for overall satisfaction, workability, perceived productivity and health were reported on WELL-rated premises. Offices incorporating active design principles outperformed others on workability, satisfaction with work area, collaboration, unwanted interruptions, perceived productivity and health. ABW environments outperformed the traditional offices on spatial comfort, thermal comfort, noise and privacy, personal control, comfort of furnishing, adjustability of the work area and space to collaborate. People using sit–stand workstations reported spending significantly less time seated and female workers were more prone to reporting pain over the past 12 months. The best-performing offices implemented active and biophilic design, prioritized overall ergonomics and different spaces designed to support a variety of work-related activities.Originality/valueThis research conducts a comparison between certified premises against other offices in terms of occupants’ satisfaction, perceived productivity and health. A qualitative analysis is also conducted to investigate personal and physical environmental aspects. The way of working (ABW or traditional), implementation of active design features, self-reported musculoskeletal discomfort and physical activity were also investigated. The study has taken a holistic approach to investigate many health-related physical, environmental and emotional aspects in certified workspaces.

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

Research has shown a strong correlation between the performance and health of young students and teachers, and the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of their schools. A post occupancy evaluation (POE) of a school’s IEQ can help stakeholders understand the current conditions of the building and their impact on occupant wellbeing and productivity. It can also provide pathways for building performance upgrades and resource allocation for school administrations. However, current research on POE in schools frequently omits the contexts of young students during evaluations. Furthermore, there is limited research on guidelines for performing POE and measurements in school facilities. This study adopted the National Environmental Assessment Toolkit (NEAT) and tailored qualitative methods to evaluate eight schools over an eight-year period. The methodology was refined throughout the study to develop a protocol for robust investigation of IEQ conditions in schools. The NEAT was developed by Carnegie Mellon University’s Centre for Building Performance and Diagnostics for measuring the IEQ of office buildings. The paper addresses the challenges that may occur during POE and measurements (POE+M) and the differences between POE+M for offices and schools. It also determines how the POE+M process can be efficiently implemented to include all primary stakeholders in order to improve data collection for IEQ and energy efficiency analysis.

Users’ satisfaction of indoor environmental quality conditions in ZEB+ at high latitudes

Energy efficiency policy forces architects to design buildings with increasingly well-sealed building skin. With the minimized outdoor connection, the indoor environment factors depend strongly on technical systems and control. In these scenarios, occupant dissatisfaction indicates a need for improvements of indoor environment and the way it is controlled. The aim of the article is to contribute to the discussion about the user perspective of indoor environmental quality in ZEB in the Nordic region. The focus on daylight as a factor for visual comfort, and on low outside temperature as an aspect of thermal comfort was dictated by this choice. An experimental study was conducted with 75 participants, in which the thermal, acoustic and visual conditions (controlled factors) together with a view out, humidity and CO2 level (monitored factors) were assessed by them and quantified via sensors. In most studied settings, the thermal comfort was the most determinant factor, followed by the acoustic and visual comfort. Other significant factors were mean illuminance in the room, mean temperature at the participants’ desks and a mode value of the noise level. The daylight levels much lower than recommended in regulations were accepted by participants as comfortable if they were sitting by the window. Also, participants preferred a higher indoor temperature than the recommended in Norway.