Percepción Confort Ocu

Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 407–413

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Energy and Buildings
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

The effect of indoor environmental quality on occupants’ perception of performance: A case study of refurbished historic buildings in Malaysia
Syahrul Nizam Kamaruzzaman a,∗ , Egbu C.O. b , Emma Marinie Ahmad Zawawi c , Azlan Shah Ali a, Adi Irfan Che-Ani d
a

Building Performance & Diagnostic Department of Building Surveying, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, Maxwell Building, Salford, M5 4WT, England, UK c Centre of Research & Graduate Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, University Technology MARA,40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia d Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
This paper presents an assessment of occupants’ opinion of the internal environment of buildings, based upon their responses to questions relating to a range of discretefactors. The survey considers many aspects of the internal environment and seeks to gain occupants responses to each of these in terms of “User Satisfaction” and “Degree of Importance”. The questionnaire utilised a seven-point bi-polar scale to score these responses against each of the factors. In addition, the questionnaire elicits a ‘fingerprint’ that combines up to 22 factors relating tosatisfaction with the building. The study documents and considers aspects of the building environment for which the users noted that they were least satisfied as well as those that are considered by the occupants as being of most importance. It is critical that sustainable development results not just in resource conservation, but also in increasing productivity and occupant well-being within buildings.This study hopes to provide insight for the design community on the perceptions of occupants in relation to building performance based on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) criteria. It also seeks to add to the growing body of research on sustainable design and occupants’ perception of IEQ. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 8 March 2010 Received in revised form 13August 2010 Accepted 3 October 2010 Keywords: Environmental quality Historical buildings Malaysia Occupants feedback

1. Introduction It can be taken as axiomatic that the majority of people spend most of their time indoors and that various aspects of the indoor environment affect their well-being and performance in this context. Furthermore, the design of high performance, green buildingspromises to provide a better and healthier environment for occupants. Research indicates that people spend approximately ninety per cent (90%) of their time indoors [1,2]. For many, therefore, the risks to health posed by exposure to indoor air pollution may be greater than those posed by outdoor air pollution. Several earlier studies [3–7] document numerous factors that have been found to affectoccupants’ performance and well-being. These include, amongst others, exposure to nature and daylight, air quality, temperature, odours, noise and ergonomics as well as opportunities for social gathering, relaxation, and exercise. As a result of information arising from such studies, various models have emerged that seek to assess or measure these factors. Such

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 37967 6833; fax: +60 3 7967 5713. E-mail address: syahrulnizam@um.edu.my (S.N. Kamaruzzaman). 0378-7788/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2010.10.003

models include the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) in the UK [8], the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System in...