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Critical Frameworks for Building Evaluation: User Satisfaction, Environmental Measurements and the Technical Attributes of Building Systems (POE + M)

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Building Performance Evaluation

Abstract

An integrated approach to building performance evaluation mandates that post-occupancy evaluation subjective tools be matched by metrics (POE + M). While leveraging occupants as sensors to quickly capture indoor environmental quality or IEQ conditions in a work environment is valuable, the addition of measured environmental conditions across all variables, and of carefully captured records of critical workplace attributes that define their physical environments, are equally critical to understanding building occupant comfort, satisfaction, health, and performance. With over 15 years of POE + M field measurements in office workplaces, the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics (CBPD) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has a database of over 1600 workstations with statistically significant findings about the measured and user-perceived quality of the indoor environment, as well as the technical attributes of building systems that contribute to successful, high performance buildings. This chapter provides an overview of the National Environmental Assessment Toolkit (NEAT) developed with the US General Services Administration (GSA), and an array of findings that will catalyze future indoor environmental standards and improve building enclosure, mechanical, lighting, and interior design.

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Acknowledgements

This National Environment Assessment Toolkit research and development was made possible by support from the U.S. General Services Administration. The authors would like to thank Kevin Kampschroer, Judy Heerwagen, Kevin Powell, and Michael Atkinson of the GSA, as well as a host of Ph.D. and Masters students of the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University, who supported data acquisition, processing, analysis and reporting.

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Correspondence to Vivian Loftness .

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Loftness, V., Hartkopf, V., Aziz, A., Choi, JH., Park, J. (2018). Critical Frameworks for Building Evaluation: User Satisfaction, Environmental Measurements and the Technical Attributes of Building Systems (POE + M). In: Preiser, W., Hardy, A., Schramm, U. (eds) Building Performance Evaluation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56862-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56862-1_3

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