Modern Office Buildings Research Articles

Respiratory infection risk based ventilation and room conditioning design method with year-round thermal comfort control in modern office buildings

The new decade will be a major challenge for built environment to satisfy building users and owners demands for superior IEQ in the work environment and tackle infection risk issues brought by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We collected thermal comfort and IAQ data from modern Estonian office buildings showing that improvements are needed in whole chain of the HVAC science, engineering and manufacturing because current solutions in these buildings have led to many complaints of draught and readjustments of supply air temperature have typically compromised energy performance. To achieve Category II or I IEQ, more systematic design methodologies are needed. Additionally, ventilation rate and air distribution dimensioning based on respiratory infection risk has to be taken into use as a complementary method of existing ones for office space AC and ventilation design, where both net floor area and occupant number define the required ventilation. Based on air velocity and temperature (operative, supply air and local) measurements conducted in five office buildings a new IEQ design methods were developed to satisfy the thermal comfort indices leading to low occupant complaints and not compromising energy performance at the same time. In well ventilated Category I and II office spaces, control of draught risk is an extensive design task for which new methodology was developed. Our method focuses separately on IEQ parameters during heating, cooling and midseason, from which the latter one is the longest and the most dominating one. The design method is presented by connecting thermal comfort and infection risk with ventilation rate. Infection risk based air flow rate selection diagram and corresponding air velocity diagrams for an open plan office and 3-person room showing the possibilities to size ventilation for the event reproduction number of R = 0.5 were constructed.

Special Session 10 Indoor air quality in modern office buildings

Special Session 10 Indoor air quality in modern office buildings

Assessment of the Luminous Environment in a Modern Office Building in Algeria Case Study: Public Treasury of Mostaganem

Assessment of the Luminous Environment in a Modern Office Building in Algeria Case Study: Public Treasury of Mostaganem

„Rewaloryzacja” centrum miasta: tendencje lokalizacyjne przedsiębiorstw technologicznych w skali mikro na przykładzie Warszawy = “Revalorisation” of the city centre: location trends among micro scale technology companies as exemplified by Warsaw

The main objective of the paper was to analyse the spatial distribution of technology companies in the city, as well as to identify factors influencing their location. Warsaw, which can be treated as a metropolis with a relatively well-developed startup ecosystem, was used as an example of the changes occurring in urban space as a result of the fourth technological revolution. The analyses showed that entities involved in the production and implementation of new technological solutions located their activities more often in the central part of the city than in the peripheral districts. Among the important factors for their location were first of all the features of the building, including in particular the availability of coworking space offered in modern office buildings. However, residential buildings as well as older office buildings were also popular. This may indicate that technology companies - often start-ups - are looking for locations with lower space rental costs, but providing appropriate urbanisation benefits related to, for example, catering (cafes) and good transport accessibility, in particular proximity to metro station. On the other hand, agglomeration effects related to proximity to customers were not local but city-wide. Similarly, the accessibility of an airport did not significantly affect the location preferences of Warsaw's technology companies.

Indoor air quality and health effects in Japanese modern office buildings

Indoor air quality and health effects in Japanese modern office buildings

Impact of ventilation system type on indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort in a ceiling cooling room

A ceiling cooling (CC) system integrated with a mechanical ventilation system is an advanced HVAC system for the modern office building with glass curtain wall. In this paper, considering the influence of heat transfer of external envelope, the indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort were objectively measured and subjectively evaluated in a CC room with mixing ventilation (MV) or underfloor air distribution (UFAD). Indoor physical parameters and human skin temperatures were measured as the chilled ceiling surface temperature and supply air temperature were 17.1-17.6? and 22.2-22.6?. Simultaneously, 16 subjects (8 males and 8 females) were selected to subjectively evaluate the thermal environment. The results showed that the difference between mean radiant temperature and air temperature in the occupied zone was 0.8? with CC + MV and 1.2? with CC +UFAD, and the indoor air velocity was 0.17 m/s with CC + MV and 0.13 m/s with CC + UFAD. In addition, the calculated and measured thermal sensation votes with CC + MV were all slightly less than those with CC + UFAD. Therefore, ventilation system type had a slight impact on the indoor thermal envi?ronment and human thermal comfort in the CC room.

OFFICAIR project: Indoor Air quality and health effects in European modern office buildings

OFFICAIR project: Indoor Air quality and health effects in European modern office buildings

N26 – Daylighting design made from thin glass

For an existing building from 19th century an architectural concept for revivalism and reorganization into a modern office building was made. For this purpose, a daylight system was implemented that roofs the inner courtyard and at the same time makes it the central place of representation and communication. In addition to the spatial function, the inner courtyard serves as a thermal buffer room and additional value can be achieved by using thin glass and its material properties. The free‐form geometry benefits from the increased stiffness due to the curved shape, which is regulated by the radii of curvature depending on the material thickness. The curvature has a direct influence on the reflection behaviour, which influences the light transport of natural light into the interior of the room and thus enables a reduction in electrical lighting for the office space.

Maximum Transparency – Messeturm Frankfurt

The Messeturm in Frankfurt/Main is currently adjusted to the requirements of a modern office building. The lobby area has been enlarged by a highly transparent facade consisting of oversized insulating glass (IG) units. The IG units are curved and have a size of up to 17 m x 2.8 m. The IG units are supported by tapered stainless steel fins. Inclined steel beams connect the top of the facade fins with the tower structure creating a rounded roof. The facade with its glass roof allows maximum transparency for people inside the lobby as well as for people passing by.

Fire Experiment Inside a Very Large and Open-Plan Compartment: x-ONE

The traditional design fires commonly considered in structural fire engineering, like the standard fire and Eurocode parametric fires, were developed several decades ago based on experimental compartments smaller than 100 m2 in floor area. These experiments led to the inherent assumption of flashover in design fires and that the temperatures and burning conditions are uniform in the whole of the compartment, regardless of its size. However, modern office buildings often have much larger open-plan floor areas (e.g. the Shard in London has a floor area of 1600 m2) where non-uniform fire conditions are likely to occur. This paper presents observations from a large-scale fire experiment x-ONE conducted inside a concrete farm building in Poland. The objective of x-ONE was to capture experimentally a natural fire inside a large and open plan compartment. With an open-plan floor area of 380 m2, x-ONE is the largest compartment fire experiment carried out to date. The fire was ignited at one end of the compartment and allowed to spread across a continuous wood crib (fuel load ~ 370 MJ/m2). A travelling fire with clear leading and trailing edges was observed spreading along 29 m of the compartment length. The flame spread rate was not constant but accelerated with time from 3 mm/s to 167 mm/s resulting in a gradually changing fire size. The fire travelled across the compartment and burned out at the far end 25 min after ignition. Flashover was not observed. The thermocouples and cameras installed along the fire path show clear near-field and far-field regions, indicating highly non-uniform spatial temperatures and burning within the compartment. The fire dynamics observed during this experiment are completely different to the fire dynamics reported in small scale compartments in previous literature and to the assumptions made in traditional design fires for structural design. This highlights the need for further research and experiments in large compartments to understand the fire dynamics and continue improving the safe design of modern buildings.

Фітодекорування інтер’єрів Будинку Уряду України: аналіз та пропозиції

The article presents the features of bioaesthetic characteristics of decorative elements of phytodesign of the closed environment. The analysis of groups of plants by functional and aesthetic purpose in the room is carried out and on their basis project offers on improvement of features of an interior of the House of the Government of Ukraine were developed. When decorating the premises with the help of ornamental plants, the specifics of the interior design of the building and the carefully selected range of plants were taken into account, taking into account the optimal options for their placement. Aesthetic design of free space in the premises is created in order to achieve maximum comfort and coziness and the phytodesign of the closed environment copes with it best. It actively influences the nature of comfort and perception of the interior and is an important component in the design of the environment, and with its help you can increase the artistic expressiveness of the interior, improve its functional organization and, importantly, improve sanitation. The interior design of modern public office buildings is characterized by the predominance of ideas of rationalism and functionality over the aesthetic appearance of the premises. The Government House of Ukraine is the administrative building of our capital, so phytodecoration of its interiors requires careful selection of the range of plants of future phytocompositions. Today, the use of plants in the formation of interiors of various premises is due to the need of man to be closer to nature due to large-scale urbanization of cities and local man-made pollution. To successfully solve these problems requires a comprehensive approach to the wide range of uses and applications of beneficial properties of plants: volatile therapy, color therapy, aesthetic therapy, aromatherapy, ionization and many other functions. Keywords: closed space, public buildings, phytocomposition, phytodesign, phytoergonomics, project proposals.

Information match between continuous occupant data streams and one-time manual surveys on indoor climate

Occupant-centric data streams, and more specifically continuous subjective occupant feedback (CSOF) systems, offer the possibility for autonomous collection of occupant feedback in buildings. They are made possible by recent developments in pervasive ICT technology and can enable a continuous flow of information that may enhance human-centric building design and operation. Due to the relative novelty of these systems, no research has been developed so far to systematically evaluate whether information collected by CSOF systems is truly representative of the entire population's opinions and evaluations. In this study, we analyze how information on occupant's opinions on indoor climate collected though a multi-level CSOF system compare to the information obtained though simultaneously performed manual surveys. We used data collected from five field tests in modern office buildings with uninformed occupants, and compare a total of 317 Satisfaction evaluations, 124 Complaints, and 44 Control actions with 546 surveys. Using logistic regression techniques, we investigated the relations between the feedback information and the information from surveys. We found that cumulative link models were suitable for modeling the relationship between feedback and survey data. The Building ID tag was the most important variable for modeling Occupant satisfaction and Occupant complaint feedback. Occupant control actions was best modeled using the Workplace ID. When comparing CSOF with surveys, we found a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 16% and of 12%, for Occupant satisfaction and for Occupant complaint feedback, respectively. We demonstrated that the adopted methods are suitable for understanding the meaning of the collected CSOF data. Further studies based on this methodology and using a larger dataset should be carried out to deepen the understanding of CSOF feedback significance and to increase the soundness of the results obtained in this study.

EVALUATION CRITERIA OF THE OFFICE BUILDINGS INTELLECTUALITY

The article defines the main criteria of office buildings intelligence, describes the stages of intelligent buildings formation, analyzes the profitability of the introduction of modern technical means (engineering systems) and architectural planning techniques in office buildings. At different stages of civilization, the concept of "technology" defines the path leading to future progress, and the rate of technology change is directly proportional to the rate of progress. Nowadays, artificial intelligence is extremely important for the functioning of modern office buildings, including the impact on the environment, resource conservation, safety, comfort and life support. According to research based on the works of scientists such as Derek Clements-Croome, Mervi Himannen, Akin Adejimi and others, and based on the analysis of intellectual buildings of the world from the 50s of the twentieth century to the present, 4 stages of intelligent buildings formation were identified. At the first stage (1950-1980) of the formation, separate controllers were introduced. At the second stage (1980-1995), the introduction of the "artificial intelligence" - Building Management System (BMS) - was developed and used. At the third stage (from 1995 to 2010) an intelligent building management system (IBMS) was introduced, which can independently identify threats, look for ways to achieve results and make decisions. Starting from 2010, we can highlight the fourth stage of development of the intelligent buildings, in which, in addition to the availability of the intelligent management system (IBMS), it became necessary to use approaches of sustainable architecture. The research results indicate that the office building should be classified as an "intelligent building" if it meets the following criteria: 1. Has artificial intelligence (IBMS), which autonomously manages the building; 2. Has at least 15 thousand information points, in other words, sensors and controllers, through which information is received from controlled engineering systems about the state of equipment and the environment, the state of building structures, etc.; 3. Complies with the principles of sustainable architecture, when planning and architectural techniques can minimize the negative impact of buildings on the environment through energy efficiency. The article proves that the office buildings intelligence is determined by the availability of both technological means and the optimal architectural concept, which minimize the negative impact of buildings on the environment; improve energy efficiency and conditions of the building exploitation. Therefore, further research of intelligent buildings from the point of architectural view is necessary, because a modern office building must be designed with the ability to adapt to rapid changes in technology and human needs.

Evidence of Fungal Spreading by the Grey Silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudatum) in Austrian Museums

Abstract The grey silverfish Ctenolepisma longicaudatum is a new and serious pest spreading rapidly across Europe. Compared to the silverfish Lepisma saccharinum, it does not depend on relative humidity above 70% and thrives also in new museum buildings, modern storage depositories, apartments, and office buildings. Especially collections of graphic art, modern art on paper, photographs, but also archives and libraries are increasingly affected by this pest. Damage of paper objects has been reported by different authors and institutions across Europe. As these animals live in inaccessible cracks and crevices inside the buildings, we investigated the spread of microorganisms on living grey silverfish, to show a potential additional threat posed by this pest. In 8 locations in Austria living animals were collected with traps and placed for 10 min on agar plates which were incubated for 2 weeks. After incubation of 50 agar plates, between 2 and 20 colonies of fungi were growing on each plate. The most dominant fungal genera were Cladosporium (Cladosporium cladosporioides clade) and Penicillium (Penicillium glabrum, Penicillium decumbens); also, species of the genera Aspergillus, Alternaria, Botrytis, Bartalinia, Byssochlamis, Chaetomium and Mycothypha were found. The diversity of fungi reflects the common fungal community of museums and archives. The spores and mycelial fragments of the fungi are obviously travelling on the legs and bodies of the silverfish.

Case analysis of energy consumption of the existing office building in the severe cold region

Abstract With the relevant requirements of energy-saving and green buildings put forward by our country, carrying out the building energy consumption analysis is the premise and foundation of implementing energy-saving improvement of the existing buildings. Nowadays, modern office buildings, whose energy consumption structure and proportion are relatively stable, are widely used. The energy review work of an existing office building in severe cold region is carried out. Investigation and statistics on the general situation of buildings, the general situation of energy consumption and water system consumption and the total energy consumption are implemented. Based on the audit, the energy consumption situation and characteristics in a certain year are analysed. According to the characteristics of energy-using structure, the energy-saving potential of buildings is analysed, and the reasonable energy-saving opinions and suggestions are proposed to provide theoretical support for the energy-saving management of office buildings in severe cold areas.

The use of terrestrial laser scanning in the preservation of valuable architectural objects

In the present day, we are witnessing the dynamic development of our country. We observe a growing number of new construction investments, which are designed to meet the needs of the market. Streets are being widened to cope with the growing number of vehicles, modern office buildings and skyscrapers are being built in the largest Polish cities, which at the same time have valuable architectural objects in their oldest districts. Such objects, due to their age, are susceptible to damage, and thus to the threat that their value will be lost. Such damage may occur in the course of construction works that destabilize the soil structure, which may lead to damage to the building’s foundations and, as a result, harm or destroy the most important structural elements of the monument. Another important factor is the operation of industrial plants that emit harmful substances, which have a negative impact on façades and other external elements, such as, for example, relief sculptures. It may be difficult and complicated to remove the effects of the risks described above if the documentation necessary to carry out protection or renovation works is incomplete or insufficiently detailed. A separate issue worth discussing are architectural objects made of perishable materials such as wood [Bernat et al. 2014]. There are many objects of wooden architecture in Poland, such as: Catholic and Orthodox churches, open-air museums, and other relics of bygone eras. Apart from the obvious threat of fire and its negative effects, one can also mention the negative impact of precipitation, whether in the form of rain causing the wood to soak and, as a result, to rot, or the risk of damaging the foundations during a flood. The listed threats have a direct and indirect impact on the structure of such historical buildings. Therefore, it is important to take care of their detailed survey, with the view to preserving and maintaining them. It is also worth mentioning a large number of castles located in our country. The condition of their structures is very diverse and ranges from newly restored buildings to those with only foundations left. In all cases, it is important to obtain accurate plans and models of these building objects. This will serve to preserve their dimensions and shapes. Such data can be used to develop documentation necessary to carry out reconstruction or renovation in order to return the building to its former glory, and thus obtain another object worth seeing.

Camera-Driven Probabilistic Algorithm for Multi-Elevator Systems

A fast and reliable vertical transportation system is an important component of modern office buildings. Optimization of elevator control strategies can be easily done using the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. This study presents a novel method for optimal dispatching of conventional passenger elevators using the information obtained by surveillance cameras. It is assumed that a real-time video is processed by an image processing system that determines the number of passengers and items waiting for an elevator car in hallways and riding the lifts. It is supposed that these numbers are also associated with a given uncertainly probability. The efficiency of our novel elevator control algorithm is achieved not only by the probabilistic utilization of the number of people and/or items waiting but also from the demand to exhaustively serve a crowded floor, directing to it as many elevators as there are available and filling them up to the maximum allowed weight. The proposed algorithm takes into account the uncertainty that can take place due to inaccuracy of the image processing system, introducing the concept of effective number of people and items using Bayesian networks. The aim is to reduce the waiting time. According to the simulation results, the implementation of the proposed algorithm resulted in reduction of the passenger journey time. The proposed approach was tested on a 10-storey office building with five elevator cars and traffic size and intensity varying from 10 to 300 and 0.01 to 3, respectively. The results showed that, for the interfloor traffic conditions, the average travel time for scenarios with varying traffic size and intensity improved by 39.94% and 19.53%, respectively.

Indoor Climate as a Service: a digitalized approach to building performance management

Digitalization provides significant opportunities for innovation, new business models, and services for the building sector. This paper describes the implementation of a concept for providing “Indoor Climate as a Service”, based on a case study of digital transformation in a modern office building. This concept can accelerate the energy savings and reduce power demand in the existing building stock by implementing digitalization (sensors and actuation, together with data integration and analytics platform), and providing full incitements for energy investments at the same time as the contracted indoor climate is secured and verified using real-time data. The digital transformation included obtaining data from different sub-systems (climate control, IoT-devices and Space booking system etc.), applying the RealEstateCore ontology to organize the data, and the development of an IoT-Edge computing solution. A key objective of this study is to explore the types and quality of data (for example, from sensor signals) needed to implement the concept in a modern office building. Key indoor air quality and energy performance control parameters were analyzed with relevance to developing a robust business model. The results of the study demonstrate the significant potential of utilizing digital infrastructures for implementing Indoor Climate as a Service.

To what extent can solar control be effective in enhancing indoor comfort in a fully glazed office building?

It is acknowledged that people spend almost 90 percent of their time in indoor spaces. Therefore, achieving a comfortable indoor environment that encourages productivity is crucial, particularly in office buildings. This paper investigates the design and performance of a modern office building in London characterized by fully glazed facades of open plan office spaces with no natural ventilation. The purpose of the research is to investigate the correlations between the control of direct solar radiation access and the effect on occupants’ thermal comfort in the summer followed by assessing the potential effect of the application of passive solar shading on thermal comfort levels in the office spaces. The research methodology involves a survey questionnaire undertaken with employees of the office building, followed by dynamic thermal modelling of the building using Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) software. The questionnaire has been designed to understand occupants’ experiences within their office spaces and their strategies to improve the indoor environment. Furthermore, IES modelling and simulation provide in depth understanding of the building thermal performance and investigating the solar shading strategies. Overall, 66 questionnaire forms were completed where preliminary results demonstrated that most employees relied heavily on secondary cooling and heating systems to adjust the indoor air temperature for more satisfactory thermal comfort levels in their office spaces. The building modelling and simulation is used to quantify the direct solar radiation accessing the office space, the risks of overheating and the potential impact of solar control on occupants’ indoor comfort. The findings from this study demonstrate the potentially high hours of discomfort in the summer within the office spaces mainly due to the lack of control of direct solar access through the extensive area of glazed facades. In order to maintain the thermal environment within the comfort level threshold in the warmer seasons a solar shading strategy should be considered.

Repositioning Messeturm–Maximum Transparency

The Messeturm (“Trade Fair Tower”) in Frankfurt is currently adjusted to the requirements of a modern office building. The lobby area has been enlarged by a highly transparent facade consisting of oversized insulating glass (IG) units. The IG units are curved and have a size of up to 17 m $$\times $$ 2.8 m. To obtain a perfectly curved facade, the IG units were fabricated with laminated cold-bended glass panes. Horizontally the IG units are supported by tapered stainless steel fins. Inclined steel beams connect the top of the facade fins with the tower structure creating a rounded roof. The vertical facade with its glass roof allows maximum transparency for people inside the lobby as well as for people passing by outside to the nearby trade fair grounds. The glass was fabricated by sedak. The facade was installed by seele on behalf of the owner OFFICEFIRST, the asset-management of Blackstone.