Office Space Research Articles

Exploring the dynamics of architecture with the concept of affordance

ABSTRACT From an architectural perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic relations between individuals and the environments using the concept of affordance. In three different cases of architectural research, the concept of affordance is used as an analytical tool – yet demonstrating different scopes and outcomes. A post-occupancy evaluation of an office space in transformation; a lighting assessment and intervention in low vision rehabilitation situated in private home environments; and an urban event at an architecture festival involving the intervention of a sound- and scentscape. The three cases show that the concept of affordance can embrace and operationalize the human perception of the environment, pointing at descriptive, prescriptive, and exploratory possibilities in relation to architectural design and research. The concept of affordance enables rich descriptions and explorations of qualities of architecture, related to multisensorial, emotional, and social interactional aspects of humans and their environments.

Factor Analysis of Flexible Office Space Use and Intention to Use

Factor Analysis of Flexible Office Space Use and Intention to Use

Thermal performances of a bioclimatic building in hot and dry tropical climate

This paper is concerned with the thermal comfort of a double-walls seven stories bioclimatic building built with local construction materials. First of all, we use a numerical code to investigate the construction materials thermal inertia effects on the optimization of the building envelop. Second, the outer and inner surface temperatures are determined utilizing the TRNSYS code. A system of trap is then design to evacuate during nighttimes, the stored daily heat. The conditioned air thermal load differences between the double and simple walls are also investigated. Similarly, the linear thermal loss coefficients and the thermal bridge losses are computed utilizing respectively the ‘Heat’ software and the Degree Day method. The results show a difference of 6 to 7 oC between the outer and the inner maxima surface temperatures. The computation of the conditioned air thermal load indicates a net energy gain of the order of 5.8 % in the office spaces and 12.1% in the bedrooms, respectively for the double and simple walls. The double-walls thermal bridge losses amount to 16.46 % of the total building losses and 20.77 % for the 20 cm thick simple wall. The building envelop optimisation process continues with the study of the effects of the addition of a garden roof on the thermal comfort.

Assessment of Window Size and Layout Impact on a View Quality Perception in a Virtual Reality Environment

ABSTRACT Window views are key factors that affect buildings’ occupants psychological and physiological comfort and wellbeing. Window design should consider the holistic impacts on building energy, lighting performance, and the connection to the outdoors provided by the view which is usually overlooked. In this study, view perception, stress recovery, physiological, and psychological affect were evaluated in virtual environments of five different conditions varying the physical dimensions of a window located in the same office space with an urban view. This allowed three window-to-wall ratios (i.e. 10%, 20%, and 30%) and two different window layouts (i.e. narrow and wide) to be compared. Twenty-five participants were recruited. Subjective self-assessments on view perception (e.g. content and complexity), self-assessment and physiological measures (e.g. skin conductance and heart rate variability) stress recovery besides psychological affect were measured. Participants performed a Stroop-test to induce stress that was immediately followed by a period of recovery facilitated by exposure to one of the five window conditions. Results showed that increased window size advocated higher view perception assessments, increased stress recovery, and positive psychological affect. Measurements of skin conductance and heart rate variability also corroborated these findings. Differences in window layout were also revealed, but only for 10% WWRs. Therefore, WWR is not a reliable indicator for view perception for small window sizes, indicating that layout preference is dependent on window size. This study highlights the importance of considering view perception for occupant health and wellbeing when sizing window openings, since these may not necessarily align with other design criteria.

Space-Level air conditioner electricity consumption and occupant behavior analysis on a university campus

In China, despite only 2 % of the population residing on university campuses, these campuses account for 8 % of the total energy consumption. Understanding the space-level energy consumption characteristics and energy-related occupant behaviors on a university campus can help improve campus buildings' energy efficiency. This study investigates 21 office spaces on a university campus to better understand the space-level electricity consumption of air-conditioners (AC) and the occupant behaviors (OB), thermal comfort needs, and window operation. First, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors were installed in the 21 office spaces to collect the indoor temperature and humidity, the electricity consumption of the AC, and the status of doors. The data were collected for the entire cooling season. The space-level occupancy patterns were then analyzed based on the quality of the doors, including the first occupant’s arrival time and the last occupant’s departure time. Moreover, the indoor temperature, humidity, and illuminance were combined to evaluate occupants’ thermal and visual comfort need. In addition, statistical and clustering analyses were conducted on air conditioner operations' duration, frequency, and electricity consumption. The results showed that the spaces were typically occupied from 9:21 to 22:25, with 10 h and 53 min daily. The average indoor temperature was 26.1 °C, ranging from 22.1 °C (5th percentile) to 34.9 °C (95th percentile) when the room was occupied and ranging from 21.7 °C (5th percentile) to 32.5 °C (95th percentile) when the AC was on. The air conditioner's electricity consumption ranges from 11.7 to 152.2 kWh/m2 with a median of 68.9 kWh/m2 and from 46.84 to 1883.7 kWh/person with a median of 464.7 kWh/person. The different occupancy densities often lead to a significant difference in the electricity consumption of air conditioners. The findings of this study can be used to support the development of prototype energy models and occupant-centric control (OCC) models for campus office buildings.

Impact of “Optimize Energy Performance” Credit Achievement on the Compensation Strategy of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings Gold-Certified Office Space Projects in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) version 3 (v3) and version 4 (v4) gold-certified office space certification strategies in Spain have not yet been studied. The two purposes of this study were to evaluate (1) the impact of high or low achievements in the energy and atmosphere (EA) “optimize energy performance” credit (EAc1 for v3 and EAc8 for v4) on the compensation strategy for LEED “compensation group” credits and (2) the impact of EAc1-v3 or EAc8-v4 on the monotonic change in LEED “compensation group” credits. Data on a total of 77 LEED-EB v3 and 43 LEED-EB v4 gold-certified office space projects were collected. In the v3 group, 26 LEED-certified projects had the highest EAc1 achievements (v3 group 1), and 26 LEED-certified projects had the lowest EAc1 achievements (v3 group 2). In the v4 group, 15 LEED-certified projects had the highest EAc8 achievements (v4 group 1), and 15 LEED-certified projects had the lowest EAc8 achievements (v4 group 2). The exact Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test and Fisher’s exact 2 × 2 with Lancaster’s correction test were used to estimate the difference between groups 1 and 2. Spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to assess monotonic change in LEED credits. The results show that v3 and v4 group 1 outperformed v3 and v4 group 2 in EAc1 and EAc8 (p < 0.0001, respectively). However, v3 and v4 group 2 outperformed v3 and v4 group 1 in “renewable energy” (EAc4 for v3 and EAc6 for v4, p = 0.0039 and 0.0088, respectively) and “building commissioning” (EAc2.2 for v3, p = 0.0015; EAc3 for v4, p = 0.0560, respectively). EAc1-v3 and LEED v3 “compensation group” credits showed a moderate negative correlation (rs = −0.53 and p < 0.0001). EAc8-v4 and LEED v4 “compensation group” credits showed a strong negative correlation (rs = −0.74 and p < 0.0001). As a result, increasing the share of renewable energy and performing building commissioning in LEED-EB v3- and v4-certified projects occurred only as a compensation strategy in response to the low achievement in the “optimize energy performance” credit.

Future workspace needs flexibility and diversity: A machine learning-driven behavioural analysis of co-working space.

The future of workspace is significantly shaped by the advancements in technologies, changes in work patterns and workers' desire for an improved well-being. Co-working space is an alternative workspace solution, for cost-effectiveness, the opportunity for diverse and flexible design and multi-use. This study examined the human-centric design choices using spatial and temporal variation of occupancy levels and user behaviour in a flexible co-working space in London. Through a machine-learning-driven analysis, we investigated the time-dependent patterns, decompose space usage, calculate seat utilisation and identify spatial hotspots. The analysis incorporated a large dataset of sensor-detected occupancy data spanning 477 days, comprising more than 140 million (145×106) data points. Additionally, on-site observations of activities were recorded for 13 days spanning over a year, with 110 time instances including more than 1000 snapshots of occupants' activities, indoor environment, working behaviour and preferences. Results showed that the shared working areas positioned near windows or in more open, connected and visible locations are significantly preferred and utilised for communication and working, and semi-enclosed space on the side with less visibility and higher privacy are preferred for focused working. The flexibility of multi-use opportunity was the most preferred feature for hybrid working. The findings offer data-driven insights for human-centric space planning and design of office spaces in the future, particularly in the context of hybrid working setups, hot-desking and co-working systems.

Spatial Feature Analysis of the Beijing Forbidden City and the Shenyang Imperial Palace Based on Space Syntax

As two of the most complete existing examples of royal architecture and cultural World Heritage Sites in China, the Beijing Forbidden City and the Shenyang Imperial Palace are distinctive in terms of their spatial organization. This study used the relational diagram method of space syntax theory to quantitatively analyze the spaces of these two palaces. Furthermore, the characteristics of these spaces were explored by comparing the integration and depth value of each palace space, as well as the differences in architectural culture between the different times and nationalities that they reflect. The results show that in the Forbidden City, office space had the lowest degree of spatial enclosure (depth value), while living space had the highest spatial enclosure. Moreover, there was little difference in accessibility (integration value) among office space, living space, and recreation space. In the Shenyang Imperial Palace, the accessibility of office space, living space, and recreation space showed a decreasing trend, while their spatial enclosure showed an increasing trend. The depth values of office space, living space, and recreation space were higher in the Beijing Forbidden City than in the Shenyang Imperial Palace by 245%, 109%, and 35%, respectively. The integration value of office space was 22.2% higher in the Shenyang Imperial Palace than in the Forbidden City, while the integration values of living space and recreation space were higher in the Forbidden City than in the Shenyang Imperial Palace by 13.9% and 49.2%, respectively. The degree of enclosure of the recreation spaces in both palaces was very strong, indicating that the royal family paid attention to privacy during their leisure activities. In the process of use, the functional conversion of different palaces in the Forbidden City significantly improved the accessibility of both the emperor’s living space and the minister’s office space and simultaneously strengthened the connection between these two spaces. Factors in the construction sequence led to the unreasonable accessibility of recreation space in the Shenyang Imperial Palace.

System for Indoor Comfort and Health Monitoring Tested in Office Building Environment

The use of smart technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more and more popular in order to enhance the overall building performance by monitoring parameters related to occupants’ comfort and health in the built environment. A new modular, custom-made and replicable IoT system is proposed based on an Arduino development board (MKR WiFi 1010) connected to the Arduino IoT Cloud. An Application Programming Interface (API) enables the integration of this system with other possible ones, thus making the system modular, custom-made and replicable. A series of parameters were simultaneously monitored over a 7-day period in two office spaces and a photovoltaic (PV)-testing laboratory. While the meteorological and comfort parameters (temperature, relative humidity, CO2) were monitored in all three spaces, the health parameters (total volatile organic compounds—TVOCs; formaldehyde—HCHO; particulate matter—PM; and radon—222Rn) were monitored only in an office setup located right next to a Chemical Analysis and Testing Laboratory. Generally, the registered values of the health parameters fell within the recommended thresholds. However, the thermal comfort parameters were constantly exceeded: over 90% of the working time in the two office spaces and 83.33% in the PV-testing laboratory. Still, the optimal relative humidity values in the monitored spaces contributed to the discomfort reduction in the occupants. Also, CO2 and TVOCs had some exceptions in particular conditions. CO2 values of up to 1500 ppm due to poor ventilation and TVOC levels of up to 1000 ppb related to chemical experiment development were registered. Also, several other peaks were recorded when monitoring HCHO as well as PM. Thus, special attention must be paid to natural ventilation or to the improvement of building characteristics. Also, the time intervals when experiments in the Chemical Analysis and Testing Laboratory are carried out should be communicated to other personnel from the nearest offices. The testing of the monitoring system over a one-week period showed that the proposed solution operated adequately, representing a reliable tool for data acquisition via the Arduino IoT Cloud.

Interior designers’ strategies for creating social office space

The rise of remote working has highlighted the importance of office spaces that support employees’ social well-being. However, there is a lack of explicit knowledge on how to design such spaces. In order to address this gap, this study explored the strategies employed by practitioners in designing social office spaces. In-depth interviews with fifteen experienced interior designers were analysed using means-end chain theory. This revealed the designers’ common aim to encourage informal social interactions through creating attractive, spacious, recognisable, and spatially integrated breakout spaces. Additionally, communicating group identity, promoting visibility, and offering a cosy atmosphere aimed to foster a sense of connectedness among employees. These findings not only enable more deliberate design decisions but also serve as valuable insights for less experienced designers. Moreover, the framework of design components, affordances and design objectives that emerged from this study can enhance communication between designers and stakeholders involved in office projects.

Evaluation of the effects of partition design on circadian daylighting in open-plan offices

Due to the changes in the modern human lifestyle, the average time people spend in interior spaces has increased, which calls attention to providing appropriate indoor lighting. Many studies have shown the considerable influence of luminous conditions on human circadian rhythm, productivity, and well-being. While the influence of a building’s architectural characteristics on the visual aspects of daylight has been extensively examined in the literature, there has been comparatively less emphasis on assessing these affects within the context of circadian daylighting considerations. The current study has employed a simulation-based approach to investigate the influence of interior space configurations; in particular, office space’s partition layout, height, and optical properties on the circadian potential of the space. Specifically, the study aimed to examine the impact of two partition layouts – arranged perpendicular and parallel to the window – alongside nine different materials featuring various color hues and reflection levels, and three distinct partition heights. Results indicate that, generally, the circadian potential of the office space rises with the increase of the melanopic reflectance of the partition material and the decrease of partition height. With partitions higher than the eye level, arranging them in a parallel position to the window would result in a better non-visual environment, whereas with lower partition heights, the perpendicular arrangement of partitions to the window would be a more suitable choice in most of the investigated cases. This study suggests a decision-making model to assist designers in creating efficient office spaces, particularly in terms of circadian lighting conditions.

Impact of Different Space Types on LEED-NC v3 2009 Gold-Certified Projects in Poland

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction and Renovation (LEED-NC), version 3 (v3)-certified projects include at least 13 different space types. However, the impact of space types on LEED certification strategies is not yet fully understood. This study assessed the impact of different building types on achieving LEED-NC v3 categories and credits in gold-certified projects in Poland. The exact Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test and Fisher’s exact 2 × 2 with Lancaster’s correction test were used to estimate the difference between four space types (i.e., through pairwise comparison) with small sample sizes (n): industrial manufacturing space (IMS) (n = 9), office space (OS) (n = 7), multi-family residential space (MRS) (n = 6), and lodging space (LS) (n = 8). With these sample sizes, meaningful conclusions could be drawn with these tests. Design structure: IMS and OS refer to two subgroups nested in the production group, while MRS and LS refer to two other subgroups nested in the live group. This design structure was used to perform the logical analysis. The results showed that the number of significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) (i) between two subgroups (IMS vs. OS) within the production group was 1 out of 46, and (ii) between two subgroups (MRS vs. LS) within the living group was 6 out of 46, while (iii) the difference between the production and living groups was 45 out of 184. When comparing the production and living groups, LEED indoor environmental quality credit achievements showed the largest contribution (37%) to the number of significant differences. The practical implication of the study is to offer recommendations on LEED certification strategies for production and living spaces.

Developing a multi-criteria prioritization tool to catalyze TOD on publicly owned land areas

Public agencies can take a leading role in catalyzing TOD by making land available to developers (selling or leasing land, potentially below market prices). In particular, park-and-ride areas that are publicly owned can be leveraged to support TOD uses, such as affordable housing, office space, small businesses, and mixed-use buildings given their convenient access to transit systems and often large land areas. However, few previous studies have discussed the use of publicly owned park-and-rides, which are an important component of publicly owned land, as a catalyst for TOD. To fill the gap in the literature and effectively support TOD planning, this research developed a multi-criteria prioritization tool to identify the most promising locations for TOD and tested it at three park-and-ride sites owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The tool was developed through the Delphi process, which is an effective and inexpensive approach to evaluate relevant indicators by synthesizing the opinions of experts from various backgrounds. Five categories with a total of 14 TOD indicators, including transit supportive land-use zoning, job accessibility, land price, land-use mix, and household income, were selected as measures of TOD suitability. The importance of these indicators varied with three different TOD scenarios: (1) emphasis on affordable housing, (2) emphasis on market-rate housing, and (3) emphasis on mixed-use development. Using the calculated suitability scores, this tool can prioritize potential TOD sites for further review.

Understanding Design Approach of the Workplace Through Value Creation and Satisfaction

The study explored how a newly designed facility met the needs of the workers. Professional office workers of a recently renovated office space comprised the sample for this study. A questionnaire and an interview were the methods of data collection. Additional data sources included over 200 photographs illustrating various new building design elements. Data analysis included descriptive findings as well as thematic analysis ultimately describing the phenomenon. Participants described building-design-driven elements that impacted satisfaction. Factors such as behavioral, psychological, and physiological well-being; personal values; as well as organizational values, culture, and image also influenced satisfaction. The findings suggested that the interior design of an office space drives satisfaction based on several perspectives. We found that the key drivers of satisfaction, in addition to personal needs being met, were impacted by behavioral, psychological, and physiological well-being, personal values, as well as organizational culture and values. Constructs of the social theory and Personality Adjusted Model (PAM) were also implicated suggesting the previous school of thought and understanding of perceived satisfaction related to the office space and the workplace have changed. Based on the findings, we suggested a framework to explore new space planning and design approaches based on several perspectives.

Flexibility and Conversions in New York City's Housing Stock: Building for an Era of Rapid Change

Post-COVID, New York City faces reduced demand for commercial space in its central business districts, even as residential demand is resurgent. Just as in past eras of New York’s history, conversion of commercial spaces into housing may help the city adapt to these new market conditions and provide an additional pathway for producing badly needed housing. If 10 percent of office and hotel spaces were converted to residential use, around 75,000 homes would be created, concentrated in Midtown Manhattan. However, there are considerable obstacles to such conversions, including a slew of regulatory barriers. Allowing greater flexibility in building uses—including by reducing the distinction between short- and long-term use and rethinking the separation of uses embedded in the city’s zoning code—could help facilitate these shifts.

Abolition Infrastructures

Abstract Over the past two decades, transformative justice has gained momentum as an organized effort to answer contemporary abolitionism’s thorniest question: How can a society handle the problem of harm without resorting to punishment? The movement has sought to develop responses to harm and violence that reject retribution and instead emphasize accountability, repair, care, and attention to the systemic roots of violence. In large part because the movement took form in explicit rejection of the state’s administration of justice, the work of transformative justice has most frequently been done on an unpaid basis of mutual aid. Here’s a movement that has germinated in collective homes, borrowed office spaces, online forums, activist convenings, parks—in other words, in the abolitionist commons. As transformative justice has gained currency over the course of the pandemic, its ideas have been taken up in new realms, including the university, the nonprofit, the prison, and the courts. The current moment is ripe for taking stock of where the movement is right now, and where it is going. What does it look like to build toward abolition infrastructures or infrastructures of collective care? How might an abolitionist theory of the state guide this work?

Tackling the strange wind noise on a commercial building—Case study

A mysterious noise was reported in a commercial building. This commercial building consists of multiple levels of car parks with one single level of office space at the top. This top-level office area is home to Renault Australia, Mulgrave, Victoria. The office staff at the Renault reported a dreadful “howling” noise around the office. It sounded like a huge truck thundering past the office, especially on windy days. Specialist engineers, acoustic and wind engineers, were summoned to investigate the root cause of this noise. The initial investigation revealed that on windy days, the exterior aluminium Z Perlin profile cladding created air turbulences, which resulted in this unwanted noise. After conducting tests in the Monash University wind tunnel, various recommendations were suggested and trialled. For example, removing some purlins to reduce the air-flow turbulence, attaching fibre cement sheets to seal the purlins, vibration damping treatment of the Z purling cladding, and absorptive infill on the metal purlins. This case study presents the analysis of the noise, the results of the various tests and the successful practical resolution.

S1751 Space Matters: Unveiling the Factors Behind Office Space Allocation at a Large Tertiary Care Center

S1751 Space Matters: Unveiling the Factors Behind Office Space Allocation at a Large Tertiary Care Center

68 Degrees: New York City's Residential Heat and Hot Water Code as an Invisible Energy Policy.

For over a century, New York's Residential Heat and Hot Water Code has controlled the distribution of heat in New York City. Established in 1918 by New York's Department of Health, it mandated that all residential and office spaces in the city be heated to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit at all times. Changes to it in the ensuing years sought not only to protect New Yorkers' health but reflected pressures in New York's fuel economy, which experienced periods of shortages and a transition from anthracite coal to oil that started between the two World Wars. Consequently, the standardization of sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit reflected shifting assumptions about health and the "right to heat" for different communities over time, and the practical need to ensure affordable fuel for the city's population. The Heat Code, accordingly, played a crucial role in shaping energy consumption in New York and helping to formulate an "invisible energy policy"-that is, a policy developed in non-energy fields, such as health and housing, that alters energy usage in important but inconspicuous ways, with important consequences for the environment and for social justice.

A comprehensive optimization study of personal cooling radiant desks integrated to HVAC system for energy efficiency and thermal comfort in office buildings

Personal comfort systems (PCS) maintain the occupant's preferred thermal environment and expand his thermal comfort experience under varying environmental conditions. Among PCSs, radiant-based systems are popular due to their comfort and energy efficiency. A personal cooling radiant desk (PCRD) in conjunction with conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) has proven to reduce energy costs. A system's energy and thermal performance, however, depends on various factors making it important to identify the optimal design parameters of a PCRD coupled with HVAC system in an office space. To optimize the energy and thermal performance of the PCRD-HVAC system, a numerical/mathematical model is developed simulating different design parameters. The model uses an artificial neural network (ANN), combined with a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to identify the optimal design parameters. The decision variables include the supply temperature, the temperature, and the flow rate of chilled water flowing inside the desk. The study's findings show that the optimal design parameters achieved a balance between thermal comfort and energy efficiency. The recommended design parameters result in an annual energy consumption of 3880 kWh and a predicted percentage of dissatisfied individuals (PPD) of 6 %. The experiment is carried out to validate the model showed a maximum relative error of only 12.54 %. The results of this study have important implications for designing sustainable cooling solutions for office spaces in hot climates. The successful optimization of the PCRD system highlights the importance of balancing energy efficiency and thermal comfort in designing sustainable cooling solutions.