Occupants’ Satisfaction toward Indoor Environment Quality of Platinum Green-Certified Office Buildings in Tropical Climate

Masoud Esfandiari, Suzaini Mohamed Zaid, Muhammad Azzam Ismail, Mohammad Reza Hafezi, Iman Asadi, Saleh Mohammadi, Salah Vaisi and Ardalan Aflaki
Additional contact information
Masoud Esfandiari: Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Suzaini Mohamed Zaid: Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Muhammad Azzam Ismail: Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Mohammad Reza Hafezi: Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 69411, Iran
Iman Asadi: School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 66191, Iran
Saleh Mohammadi: Department of Architectural Engineering & Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands
Salah Vaisi: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177, Iran
Ardalan Aflaki: Faculty of Architecture and Art, University of Guilan, 41996 Rasht, Iran

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: The quality of the indoor environment has become a vital component for buildings due to the time spent indoors. To this extent, the performance of the indoor environment is considered as part of the greenery criteria by green rating schemes such as the Green Building Index in Malaysia. This study aims to investigate and assess the quality of the indoor environment of Platinum-certified office buildings in a tropical climate. This research applied a case study approach over two Platinum-certified office buildings. Post-occupancy evaluation is employed integrating full-scale measurement with an occupants’ survey. The measurement was carried out from May to August, and 112 questionnaires were retrieved to evaluate occupants’ satisfaction with aspects of the indoor environment. Thermal comfort, indoor air quality, acoustic, lighting, furniture, and cleanliness are considered as the main study variables. The findings of full-scale measurement indicated high relative humidity, and low air velocity and illuminance. While occupants reported overall indoor environment quality (IEQ) comfort, a significant correlation of variables was observed. The main sources of dissatisfaction were identified as overcooling around 24 °C, high relative humidity (RH), around 70% RH, glare, and background noise around 51.9 dB. Statistically, a significant difference between occupants’ responses to IEQ of two cases was identified, although both buildings are labelled with a Platinum certificate.

Keywords: building performance assessment; indoor environment quality; occupants’ satisfaction; post-occupancy evaluation; Green Building Index; tropical climate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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