Facilitating responsive interaction between occupants and building systems through dynamic post-occupancy evaluation

Abstract

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a process that can reveal the interrelations between key building performance factors and successfully integrate indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort, functionality, environmental strategy and occupants’ satisfaction. POE has become a prerequisite for several building certification systems and it is often presented as a method to improve the commissioning of buildings and as a user experience feedback mechanism. This paper is based on a POE undertaken through stages at the University of Southampton Mayflower Halls of Residence complex. The first stage included the evaluation of occupant satisfaction, indoor environment quality and energy use. Results from temperature and relative humidity monitoring and an online POE questionnaire were analysed in the context of energy use, thermal comfort and building controls’ functionality. The second part of this study monitored the air temperature in a sub-sample of 30 rooms where the residents participated in a thermal comfort survey with a “right-here-right-now” questionnaire and a portable instrument that monitored air temperature, relative humidity, globe temperature and air velocity in the rooms. This paper presents the results of the POE and discusses approaches for the improvement in the buildings’ energy performance and the environmental conditions in the living spaces of the students. Results suggest that current use of controls is not always effective, with implications for the buildings’ energy use. Large variability was found in occupants’ thermal perception and preferences, which points to a need for occupant-centric solutions. In this study, POE is approached as a dynamic process that could be used to facilitate the responsive interaction of occupants with building systems and deliver through their engagement high energy performance and comfort.

Research on dynamic visual attraction evaluation method of commercial street based on eye movement perception

“…It is an evaluation of human perceptions after the design has been implemented and used for a period of time, so the results inevitably have a more pronounced lag and do not reflect the immediate reactions of the human subject in the context of the situation. Torun [16] , Bourikas [17] and Day [18] , for example, have pointed out the need to pay attention to the differences between subjective and objective data in post-use evaluation studies of public spaces. For example, there are differences between perception (user evaluation) and objective (grammatical analysis) measures.…”

Innovating digital POE platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of co-production in Brazilian social housing

“…POE approaches have been continually restructured in the face of new environmental, social, economic, and technological demands. Starting from face-toface traditional paper questionnaires and focus groups, there has been an expansion and improvement of POE methodologies through digital interfaces, facilitated by the dissemination of cellular phones connected to the internet Bourikas et al, 2020). Through interdisciplinary approaches and the adoption of different methods of data collection and visualization, such improvements aim to make POE processes more efficient, educational, and collaborative (Villa and Ornstein, 2021).…”

“…Innovative embedded technology offers a further understanding of the use of homes by covering more topics and creating a more dynamic POE process (Bourikas et al, 2020) involving the environment, residents, and various sensors present, both in smart homes and the house. This type of POE research has tested new communication and information technologies such as sensors and information from global positioning systems (GPSs) and drones (Li et al, 2018;Manju et al, 2021).…”