Open-plan Space Research Articles

Acoustic conditions in innovative learning environments

New generation or innovative learning environments are being developed in many OECD coun-tries, including Australia and New Zealand. These spaces are often criticized as being 'noisy', dis-tracting, unattenable, and yet, there has been a link between deep learning outcomes and the new generation environments. Education spaces primarily revolve around speaking and listening activities. Although new space typologies have been, and continue to be, developed, the acoustic standards applied to them are often the same as those applied to traditional cellular classroom spaces. This paper presents the results of systematic acoustic testing undertaken within numerous physical spaces for traditional and new generation learning environments in Australia and New Zealand, to compare the differences in performance between traditional cellular classrooms and open plan spaces, and summarise any trends evident in the information. It also acknowledges the differences between traditional cellular spaces and new generation environments as determined from the results.

Exploring the Benefits of Mass Timber Construction in the Workplace: A Novel Primer for Research

Mass timber construction has recently gained popularity due to its outstanding environmental benefits and building performance, which hold revolutionary potential for the construction industry. However, its impacts from the perspective of occupants have not been thoroughly explored. This study introduces an innovative empirical approach that explores the potential benefits of mass timber construction for individuals and organizations, with an emphasis on the workplace. We review the conceptual framework regarding how visual and physical exposure to timber construction materials and finishes have a positive effect on individuals and organizations at a broad level. We propose a more holistic mixed-method behavioral approach to studying occupant behavior and well-being by integrating self-reported questionnaires, objective biomarkers (heart rate variability and hair cortisol), and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) measures. Our study offers a novel research primer on the exploration of mass timber construction impacts and benefits for both office workers and construction workers. Participants from different office settings completed pre- and post-occupancy evaluation surveys to assess their experiences, including IEQ satisfaction, productivity, and health. Office workers were located in three different offices: a controlled laboratory environment, an open-plan office, and an open-plan space with a timber interior. The construction workers worked in a timber space for three months and then moved to work in a building with a concrete structure. The analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, and linear regression to compare differences between office settings and assess the relationship between environmental variables and overall satisfaction in IEQ, comfort, productivity, and health. In office workers, in terms of building image, thermal comfort, and artificial lighting, the data analysis revealed significant differences in occupants’ satisfaction levels between office settings. However, the low number of participants affected the results, and some factors were not found significant in relation to the office setting. Among tradespeople, there was no relationship between the building environment and productivity, health, or comfort. However, the results of hair cortisol testing indicated that working in a timber space can decrease the level of cortisol (stress) and have an impact on the productivity of workers. Such occupant’s perspective research is pivotal to informing policy makers, developers, business owners, construction professionals, timber industry stakeholders, environmentalists, and researchers in their decision-making processes. Fostering the future widespread adoption and advancement of mass timber construction.

Creating the conditions for inclusion: Investigating optimal physical spaces for supporting neurodivergent staff and postgraduate students

One commonly reported area of difference reported by neurodivergent individuals are sensory differences (e.g. hyper- or hypo-sensitivities and sensory processing difficulties). The objective of this pilot project was to investigate the lived experiences of current postgraduate students and staff within a university faculty who have self-identified as having sensory differences. Neurodivergent researchers interviewed 11 participants about their experiences working within the faculty's physical environments and the various enablers and barriers for inclusion. We used a combination of reflexive thematic analysis and content analysis to code the data and identified three overarching themes: (a) there are many sensory and spatial challenges to navigate within the faculty, (b) it takes a lot of time and energy to navigate the complex terrain of accommodations, and (c) neurodivergent people have many aspirations for inclusive university spaces. We also identified a series of subthemes. Overall, participants shared a series of barriers to inclusion within the faculty's existing physical spaces, including sensory challenges and difficulties working in open-plan spaces. Additionally, many participants did not have formal accommodations as they were viewed as too difficult to access and required “outing” themselves as neurodivergent. Building from participants’ suggestions, we offer several recommendations for reducing barriers to inclusion, including universal design for accommodations, the development of more sensory-friendly workspaces, and neurodiversity-affirming professional development for all staff.

Fire spread in a large compartment with exposed cross-laminated timber and open ventilation conditions: #FRIC-01 – Exposed ceiling

Exposing cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures in buildings is increasingly popular in modern buildings. However, large timber surfaces, window facades, and different geometries can change the fire dynamics in a compartment. The effect of those parameters, therefore, needs to be studied. Two large-scale CLT compartment fire experiments (95 m2) have consequently been performed. The experiments were designed to represent a modern office building with an open-plan space and large window openings. In this experiment, #FRIC-01, the ceiling was exposed. The wood crib fire developed slowly and travelled approximately 1.5 m before the ceiling ignited at 32.5 min. Thereafter the fire spread rapidly across the ceiling and wood crib before it shortly after retracted. Three such cycles of rapid spread followed by a retraction occurred within 13 min, whereby the wood crib fire grew larger for each cycle. After the flames extended through the compartment for the fourth time, the fire remained fully developed. After a short period of intense burning, the CLT self-extinguished while the wood crib fire was still burning. The compartment withstood full burnout, and no reignition occurred despite some delamination and using an adhesive that lacks a demonstrated resistance against glue-line integrity failure.

Structural Optimization of Lightweight Composite Floors with Integrated Constrained Layer Damping for Vibration Control

Due to current architectural trends, contemporary public buildings are becoming open-plan spaces with much less weight and damping. Consequently, Vibration Serviceability Limit State (VSLS) due to human-induced vibrations has become an increasing concern for structural engineers, especially when designing offices, hospitals, or gymnasiums. When dealing with resonant vibrations, a slight increase in the floor-damping enables decreasing considerably the vibration level. The damping strategy studied in this work is usually known in the literature as Constrained Layer Damping (CLD) and consists of a viscoelastic layer constrained between the concrete slab and the steel beam of a lightweight composite floor. In this paper, a complete structural checking methodology has been developed for analyzing all the limit states that determine the final sizing of a steel–concrete composite floor treated with CLD, including a detailed analysis of the VSLS. The methodology has been used for setting a structural optimization problem for floors with and without CLD treatments. Thus, it has been demonstrated that the integration of CLD treatments at the design stage of the building allows the development of lighter floor structures with a smaller embodied carbon (EC) footprint, especially for long-span schemes with restrictive vibration limitations.

Healthy Workplaces: Offices that Support Employee Health and Well-Being

Abstract: Offices are transforming for the better! Gone are the dull cubicles or overly full open-plan spaces. Instead, companies are looking to create workplaces that are productive, highly functional and most importantly healthy. This research paper aims to establish a connection between workplace environment and employee well-being, as well as to identify the elements of design that impact the well-being of employees. The study is based on a comprehensive literature review of existing research on the topic, combined with interviews and surveys of employees in various industries. The paper provides an overview of the current state of research on workplace design and its impact on employee well-being, and then focuses on specific design elements that have been shown to have a positive impact on employee health, such as natural light, greenery, ergonomic furniture, and acoustic control. The findings of this research are intended to inform workplace designers, managers, and policy makers on the importance of creating work environments that support employee well-being, ultimately leading to increased job satisfaction, productivity, and overall organizational success. Studies justify that there are benefits of healthy workplace. In a healthy work environment, the productivity is increased by three times. There are 50% less chances of injuries in a healthier work space and also the workforce engagement is five times more.

Dynamic daylight performance oriented design optimizations for contemporary reading room represented deep open-plan spaces

Appropriate daylight environments are essential for library reading spaces that commonly meet long-term reading and writing. While conventional window form, position, and orientation designs felt increasingly difficult to comply the transformation towards deep, multi-functional open-plan modes of contemporary reading spaces. Insights of key design variable optimizations that can effectively enhance the dynamical daylight performance of open reading room represented deep open plans, therefore, become urgently needed. Employing dynamic daylight simulations validated by scaled-model measurements, this study firstly screened out the key design variables affecting both perimeter and deep areas through coupled orthogonal test-based sensitivity analyses. Afterwards, through daylight simulations considering differentiated illumination thresholds of both areas, single-factor analyses evaluating impacts of key design variables (window height and width coefficients, room heights, transmittances, and orientations) over both daylight intensities and glare probabilities have been thoroughly carried out. Qualified depths of both lighting threshold had been examined. The window width coefficient and transmittance were validated as critical design variables for perimeter area glare control. Window height and width coefficients, as well as room height were confirmed as main impacting factors to ensure mid-deep and deep zone illuminations, respectively. Moderately large window height (0.7∼0.8) and width (around 0.7) coefficients, glass transmittance (around 0.7) while moderately small room height (3.3∼3.6 m) are recommended. The research outcomes can assist in more effective decision-makings of early design phase daylight optimizations for common deep open-plan spaces. • Dynamical daylight simulations for varied depths among deep open-plans performed. • Orthogonal test based sensitivity analyses and single-factor analyses conducted. • Key variables for perimeter area glares and deep zone illumination levels validated. • Suitable design strategies of key variables for balanced daylight quality proposed.

Probabilistic occupancy forecasting for risk-aware optimal ventilation through autoencoder Bayesian deep neural networks

Ventilation plays a noteworthy role in maintaining a healthy, comfortable and energy-efficient indoor environment and mitigating the risk of aerosol transmission and disease infection (e.g., SARS-COV-2). In most commercial and office buildings, demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) systems are widely utilized to conserve energy based on occupancy. However, as the presence of occupants is often inherently stochastic, accurate occupancy prediction is challenging. This study, therefore, proposes an autoencoder Bayesian Long Short-term Memory neural network (LSTM) model for probabilistic occupancy prediction, taking account of model misspecification, epistemic uncertainty, and aleatoric uncertainty. Performances of the proposed models are evaluated using real data in an educational building at the University of Cambridge, UK. The models trained on data of one open-plan space are used to predict occupant numbers for other spaces (with similar layout and function) in the same building. The probabilistic occupant profiles are then used for estimating optimal ventilation rates for two scenarios (i.e., normal DCV mode for energy conservation and anti-infection mode for virus transmission prevention). Results show that, during the test period, for the 1-h ahead prediction, the proposed model achieved better performance with up to 5.8% mean absolute percentage error reduction than the traditional LSTM model. More flexible alternatives for ventilation can be offered by the proposed risk-aware decision-making schemes serving different purposes under real operation. The findings from this study provide new occupancy forecasting solutions and explore the potential of probabilistic decision making for building ventilation optimization.

Space syntax analysis of urban housing transformation in Indonesia

Previous researches on urban housing transformation in Indonesia focused on the privacy and observable morphological changes of the house. This study aims to compare the spatial configuration between the original and transformed plan of the urban houses in Indonesia. Six houses in Jatiwaringin Asri, Bekasi were investigated as part of the case study. The original plan and transformed plan of the houses are obtained through the interviews with the occupants of the houses. The plans were analyzed graphically and mathematically using space syntax. The results show that the open plan space is central in both original and transformed plan. There is strong segregation between public and private area but the interior of the houses maintain low hierarchical organization.

LIGHTWEIGHT AND MULTI-PURPOSE PARTITION FOR VERTICAL HOUSING

Vertical housings have been developed to solve housing quality degradation due to rapid urbanization. These housings are often lack of privacy and comfort, since the lay-out mostly consists of one open plan space with limited area. This paper presents a lightweight and multi-purpose partition to improve the living quality in vertical housings. The lightweight characteristic is intended to minimize structural loads, while the multi-purpose property allows the partition to be transformed into some furniture for spatial efficiency. A literature review and material surveys were performed prior to material selection and the design process. Then, physical model experiments were carried out to simulate the installation process and the transformation process of the partition modules into some furniture. Result show that the partition’s weight is only 11-36.7% of the common partition wall, and when installed, the transformable property enables an adaptable space which can be adjusted to the occupants’ different conditions.

Modelling spatial variations in thermal comfort in indoor open-plan spaces using a whole-building simulation tool

The building space air temperature and mean radiant temperature are known to vary spatially. Lumped models, which are the basis for various building energy simulation tools, treat the thermal properties of the air in the entire space to be uniform. Using such tools, modelling spatial non-uniformity in the temperatures is a challenge. In the present work, a novel method is proposed that customises a building energy simulation tool for such applications. The proposed method divides the room into several lumped nodes and models the cross mixing between the nodes. The spatial variation in mean radiant temperature is estimated using a combination of analytical and numerical methods. The proposed approach is validated using real-world controlled experiments. Further, the paper demonstrates the usefulness of modelling the spatial variations in a room with multiple air-conditioning units. It is observed that representing the space as a single lumped node is inadequate for predicting spatial variations in both the air temperature and the glazing surface temperature. The proposed approach effectively models the spatial variations in the air, mean radiant, and operative temperatures. The proposed method outperforms the baselines that model air temperature as a single node and compares well with the measurements with a maximum error of approximately 1.3%. Further, it is shown that the proposed approach helps in achieving a better uniformity in operative temperature in a test-bed that is served by two AC units.

Integration of Horizontal Light Pipe and Shading Systems in Office Building in the Tropics

ABSTRACT Many high-rise office buildings in the tropics have a full-glazed facade and a deep open-plan space. Without any external shading, the office space has a non-uniform daylight distribution and glare problem. A deep open-plan space design also causes insufficient daylight levels in the area distant from the building perimeter. Previous studies about Horizontal Light Pipe (HLP) mainly focused on system improvement in capturing, transporting, and distributing daylight into deep space. Integration of HLP as a light transport system that can deliver daylight deeper into building interiors and shading systems consist of Light Shelf (LS), blinds that can redirect and reduce the excessive daylight level near the side window are proposed and studied. The research objective is to explain the daylight performance of the integration of HLP and shading systems. The research method is experimental with Radiance-based simulation as a tool. Surabaya (latitude 7.38° S and longitude 112.79° E), a typical city in the Tropics, was chosen for the simulation. Daylight level, daylight distribution, and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) of office room with East-facing window are compared with office room with HLP and shading systems. The results showed that the integration of HLP and shading systems increased the average illuminance level in the deep area reached 135 % and reduced the average illuminance level in the area near the side window reached 55 %. HLP and shading systems also increase the daylight distribution inside space and slightly improve the DGP but still in the range of imperceptible for building users.

The environment of open-plan workspaces: space utilization, user satisfaction, and environmental measures

ABSTRACT This paper aims to identify how indoor environmental factors are associated with space utilization and user satisfaction in flexible open spaces in an academic building. Data were collected through mixed methods, including a survey, observation, and objective environmental assessment. The mixed-methods assessed users' environmental perception and satisfaction, types of activities, types of users (group vs. individual), lighting, noise, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide level in five open-plan spaces with different furniture configurations. The subject spaces were identified as underutilized because there was a mismatch between the demand and supply of furniture and spatial settings. Even though all subjective spaces were open-plan settings, students preferred space with shared-furniture or a combination of different types of furniture with individual-oriented furniture only. The findings of the study suggest a reevaluation of space planning and programming for increased spatial efficiency. The users were generally satisfied with the subject spaces, although ambient environmental measures were slightly outside the industry standards. The present study provides evidence of user preferences of spatial settings based on the type of users (group vs. individual) and type of activities performed in the space (i.e., paper-based work, laptop, phone/tablet, eating, resting, talking).

Visual discomfort assessment in an open-plan space with skylights: A case study with POE survey and retrofit design

Visual discomfort could be a significant issue in open-plan spaces with skylight. Due to the glazing size and position in the field of view (FOV) are different from that in perimeter area within side-lit rooms, the evaluation method generated from where may not be referenceable. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) survey including subjective feedback collection and instrument measurements are taken place in an open-plan office building with skylights to assess the visual discomfort evaluation method in the specific scenario. Based on the research findings, a simulation-based retrofitting plan of skylights and windows is proposed. The results of the glare rating experiment indicate that DGI outperforms DGP in core areas or deep spaces while the glazing appeared in the central area of FOV, the borderline thresholds of DGP shift to lower values as the stimulus range is lower than that in perimeter spaces (e.g. low vertical eye illuminance). Under the situation that the glare sources appeared around the upper edge of FOV, simple luminance metrics which defined within the region surrounding the glare perform better. Moreover, a field test also confirmed that the preferred light level on the workplane under skylight ranges from 150 lx to 1000 lx. The findings refers to glare rating and daylight retrofitting design process may provide insights into visual discomfort issue in open-plan spaces with skylights.

Repurposing Typical Institutional Hall as Temporary Covid-19 Quarantine Stations in Johor: A Review Study in KKTM

The current situation of the world with the pandemic of COVID 19 has brought a mass conversion of places as a temporary shelter recently. In Malaysia, the list of gazetted sites by the government for the COVID quarantine stations were being retrieved in March 2020 to facilitate Ministry of Health in coping with the sporadic diseases. To achieve lower production cost and rapid execution of disaster shelter for the pandemic, possible open plan spaces in institutional building will be identified to perform temporary medical shelter. Resuscitation area, wards, pharmacy, x-ray room, staff room and meeting rooms are among the required spaces in determining the medical layout planning of the particular quarantine station. A descriptive and qualitative design was being used based on the literature review and case studies in order to get the information and to identify clear demarcation of circulation and movement in the quarantine station. Ultimately, foreseeing holistic changes and novel solutions in construction industry in Malaysia, this result will contribute to further assist authorities to gazette other institutional hall as transitional stay which will be become the norms nowadays.

Modified Open-Plan Preschool Spaces and their Influence on Childrens Cognitive Development

Modified open-planning to define activity spaces is vital in preschool design. Childrens cognitive development is reflected in cognitive school readiness (SR). This study investigates the correlation between modified open-plan spaces and cognitive SR in Malaysian preschools. A prospective cohort study involving 378 children at 18 MOE preschools was conducted. Among all preschool physical design aspects (size, image, scale, circulation, facilities, indoor environment quality, safety, home bases, activity areas, and play yards), the quality of modified open-plan preschool spaces showed the strongest correlation with children cognitive SR (Pearson r=0.658, p=0.000). Findings are hoped to promote better planning in preschool designs.

The Influence of Modified Open-Plan Preschool Spaces on Cognitive School Readiness in Malaysia

Modified open-planning to define children’s spaces is important in preschool design. Cognitive school readiness (SR) is an objective of Malaysian preschools. This study investigates the correlation between modified open-plan spaces and cognitive SR in Malaysian preschools. A prospective cohort study involving 378 children at 18 Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) preschools was conducted. Compared to other preschool physical aspects (size, scale, circulation, facilities, indoor environment quality, safety, home bases, activity areas, and play yards), the quality of modified open-plan spaces showed the strongest correlation with children’s cognitive SR (Pearson’s r=0.658, p=0.000). Findings are hoped to promote better preschool designs. Keywords: Modified open-plan, preschool design, children education, school readiness eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i15.2374.

The spatial uniformity of an electronic sound masking system in an open-plan space

An electronic sound-masking system reduces workers' distractions in open-plan spaces by utilizing an artificial broadband sound. The artificial sound should raise a background noise level spectrum to the targeted masking sound level uniformly over the entire area.Uneven distribution of the masking sound levels can cause unnecessary loud background noise or inefficient sound masking performance at the same time and in different locations. The ASTM E 1573-18 standard provides a procedure to quantify the uniformity of the masking sound but does not specify any acceptable degree of uniformity. Thus, this study aims to investigate the uniformity of the masking sound field in an open-plan space under varying room acoustic conditions. The acoustic measurement was carried out in an open-plan office with a measurement grid of 0.6 m. The spatial variation of the sound pressure levels was calculated with the measured one-third-octave band SPLs from 250 Hz to 4 kHz. The study also employed computer-aided acoustic simulation to find key design parameters, impacting the uniformity of the masking sound. The results show that the number of loudspeakers, a partition height, scattering, and absorption coefficients can significantly influence the spatial uniformity and speech privacy within the space. Finally, the results proposed an acceptable variation of the masking sound field by examining the Articulation Index (AI) change in the space.

Density-Based Measurement and Manipulation via Magnetic Levitation Enhanced by the Dual-Halbach Array

This work explores the design of a magnetic levitation configuration enhanced by a dual-Halbach array that enables density-based measurement and manipulation in a flexible, open-plan space. The two-parallel arranged Halbach arrays with concentrated magnetic flux allow the use of magnetic gradients parallel to the faces of the magnets to levitate samples in paramagnetic solutions. Compared to the commonly used MagLev device in which a sample container remains obscured by the magnets, the dual-Halbach array places no physical barriers to physical sampling while levitating in the magnetic field, gaining easy access to specific populations of samples in paramagnetic solutions. The strength of the linear gradient in density can be tuned by setting the gap between the two arrays, enabling accurate and convenient density measurement with tunable sensitivity. The access to manipulate specific populations of samples and ability to tune measurement sensitivity provide an operationally simple method for iterative separation and purification procedures. The design of the magnetic levitation configuration enhanced by the dual-Halbach array provides an accurate, inexpensive and easy-to-operate method that would be useful for analysis, quality control, purification in the fields of agriculture science, pharmaceutical industry and materials science.

공간문법 분석을 통해서 본 싱가포르 HDB 아파트 평면의 진화

This study aims to understand how western housing typology has been adapted in the unit plans of apartments in Singapore, which have evolved according to changes in period. This project has collected 58 Housing and Development Board (HDB) apartment unit plans, built from the 1960s to the 2010s, and applied the “space grammar” methodology, adapted from the graph-theoretical approach of Seo (2007). The major findings are as follows. First, in their earlier period, HDB apartment units were designed to respond to the hot and humid climate and to maximize ventilation; therefore, the space grammar of this early period was found to be a reversed form of other countries’ unit plans. Second, traditional spatial configuration principles continue to govern the site planning and layout of primary spaces, hiding the kitchen from the entrance and facade. Third, the separation of the kitchen from the other spaces and the decreased importance of the dining space can be explained as a reflection of the unique socio-cultural phenomena and lifestyle of Singapore. Fourth, a clear separation between public and private spaces was found, as in the units of other countries, and the unit plans tended to be modified according to global design principles, such as open-plan spaces and wide front layouts. In conclusion, the unit plans of Singapore’s HDB apartments have been largely developed in response to Singapore’s climatic conditions and traditional customs, but they have evolved to adapt to new lifestyles and global design trends. Many of which have also been adapted in the apartments of other Southeast Asian countries.