This site is no longer actively updated; if you have a current subscription to Earthscan journals please go to https://www.ingentaconnect.com/register/institutional to register on the new site and gain access to your journal; if you are not a current subscriber go to sales@portland-services.com to subscribe, or to www.earthscan.co.uk/journals for more information.

Advances in Building Energy Research

Advances in Building Energy Research 1 (2007) 151–175

Post-occupancy Evaluation and Thermal Comfort: State of the Art and New Approaches

Elke Gossauer and Andreas Wagner

Building occupants are a valuable source of information on building performance as well as indoor environmental quality and their effects on comfort and productivity. A large number of different studies have been carried out over recent decades focusing on various aspects of the broad field of comfort, well-being and health at workplaces. Two main methodical approaches can be identified analysing the history of comfort research: laboratory tests in climate chambers, and field tests in running buildings. Advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are pointed out in this paper and some of the most well-known studies from Europe and the US are described with respect to their specific objectives and methodologies. No difference is made between pure comfort field studies and more general post-occupancy evaluations because the borderline is vague in most cases and the purpose of this paper is to collect as much useful information as possible on comfort research methods. A current study on overall comfort at workplaces introduces a new multivariate approach, including building-related and further contextual parameters.

Keywords: comfort research methods; post-occupancy evaluation; workplace; comfort parameters; thermal comfort; indoor climate; general satisfaction

download full article