THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL FACTORS ON OCCUPANTS’BLIND USE BEHAVIORS IN MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

Existing studies show that occupants’behavior contribute to fluctuations in energy consumption of residential units within the same building configuration.Window blinds are one of the interior design elements that the occupants use to control indoor environmental conditions.The way that occupants adjust their blinds could affect the energy performance of buildings.Thus,the purpose of this research was to identify spatial and temporal explanatory variables that correlate with occupants’use of the blinds and determine whether those variables relate to building design and surround-ing sites.Data were collected by observing how occupants in apartment buildings located in a multifamily residential complex adjust their blinds.Descriptive statistics were used to define the effect of floor level,window orientation,day of observation,the hour of observation,and weather conditions on the blind status.In addition,a generalized linear mixed model was used to predict the effect of floor level and window orientation on the occupants’adjustment of blinds.The results revealed that occupants’use of the blinds correlated significantly with spatial factors,such as the apartment buildings’floor level and windows’orientation.Interesting blind use patterns were related to temporal factors,such as the day and hour of observation.

HOW DO GREEN BUILDINGS COMMUNICATE GREEN DESIGN TO BUILDING USERS?A SURVEY STUDY OF A LEED-CERTIFIED BUILDING

Studies investigating the benefits of green buildings can be approached by the affor-dance theory-the perceived properties of a thing that determine how it could pos-sibly be used.This study focuses on the sustainable communication and education that a green building should provide.By applying the affordance theory,we examined whether a LEED-certified university campus building effectively communicates green design and sustainability to its users and if so,then how?We employed a question-naire survey targeting campus users of a LEED-certified building by examining their awareness of the building’s LEED status and perception of green design elements at multiple spatial scales,as well as their general knowledge on green building topics.We collected 177 questionnaires,of which 153 were qualified for statistical analysis.The results suggested that the building itself can afford to promote awareness among users,but cannot afford to educate users on general green building knowledge.We found that building users perceived green design at different spatial scales,preferring either product or space-related design.Our results indicate that future design should continue promoting the use of educational signage,which was found to be the most effective communicator of sustainability.The communication of green design to users with different spatial preferences remains a future research focus.Further studies on the innovative use of green building design as effective communicators are needed to promote sustainability education among the building users.