Japan is facing a demographic challenge of a falling birthrate coupled with an aging society that is already adversely affecting the economy. The situation is only expected to worsen as the working-age population cont...Japan is facing a demographic challenge of a falling birthrate coupled with an aging society that is already adversely affecting the economy. The situation is only expected to worsen as the working-age population continues to decrease. Well aware of this situation, businesses and offices are seeking ways to enhance the intellectual productivity of their workers. This paper explores environmental elements of work spaces that might stimulate intellectual activity. Using a CAD （AutoCAD） miniature garden program, subjects were asked to design a project room that is optimized for creative work using a certain number of elements--11 types of walls, 14 types of floors, 4 types of scenery, 3 types of furniture and 3 types of plantings--but the subjects were free to position and arrange these elements any way they want. The subjects were then interviewed using the evaluation grid method. Based on the results, we created an evaluation structure diagram by analyzing key words and phrases emphasized by subjects in the interviews. The overall evaluation structure represents a summary overview of all 30 subjects who participated in the experiment. This approach captures all the key elements of the office environment that might be used to stimulate intellectual activity of employees.展开更多
The purpose of this study is to examine how daylight exposure affects the health and well-being of office workers.Sleep actigraphy and health and well-being related survey data were the main dependent variables in thi...The purpose of this study is to examine how daylight exposure affects the health and well-being of office workers.Sleep actigraphy and health and well-being related survey data were the main dependent variables in this study.Research samples were composed of participants from the United States and South Korea,each set of workers divided into those having daylight at their workplaces and those without.Fifty participants in total wore for two weeks actiwatches equipped with light sensors to measure sleep quality and exposure to ambient light levels.Additional health and well-being measurements were taken using well established survey instruments such as the SF-36 for general and mental health,and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)for sleep.In order to estimate the levels of daylight participants were exposed to,computer simulation was used to generate the total annual daylight levels in each participant’s office.Our results seem to indicate that working in daylit office spaces would lead to higher sleep quality and higher scores of the health and well-being scales compared to those who do not work under daylight conditions.Our findings indicate that it is important to provide and maintain significant daylight levels at the workplace.Consequently,in terms of architectural design,building orientation,building dimensions,and the size and height of windows should be taken into consideration to optimize or maximize daylight exposure.展开更多
文摘Japan is facing a demographic challenge of a falling birthrate coupled with an aging society that is already adversely affecting the economy. The situation is only expected to worsen as the working-age population continues to decrease. Well aware of this situation, businesses and offices are seeking ways to enhance the intellectual productivity of their workers. This paper explores environmental elements of work spaces that might stimulate intellectual activity. Using a CAD （AutoCAD） miniature garden program, subjects were asked to design a project room that is optimized for creative work using a certain number of elements--11 types of walls, 14 types of floors, 4 types of scenery, 3 types of furniture and 3 types of plantings--but the subjects were free to position and arrange these elements any way they want. The subjects were then interviewed using the evaluation grid method. Based on the results, we created an evaluation structure diagram by analyzing key words and phrases emphasized by subjects in the interviews. The overall evaluation structure represents a summary overview of all 30 subjects who participated in the experiment. This approach captures all the key elements of the office environment that might be used to stimulate intellectual activity of employees.
文摘The purpose of this study is to examine how daylight exposure affects the health and well-being of office workers.Sleep actigraphy and health and well-being related survey data were the main dependent variables in this study.Research samples were composed of participants from the United States and South Korea,each set of workers divided into those having daylight at their workplaces and those without.Fifty participants in total wore for two weeks actiwatches equipped with light sensors to measure sleep quality and exposure to ambient light levels.Additional health and well-being measurements were taken using well established survey instruments such as the SF-36 for general and mental health,and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)for sleep.In order to estimate the levels of daylight participants were exposed to,computer simulation was used to generate the total annual daylight levels in each participant’s office.Our results seem to indicate that working in daylit office spaces would lead to higher sleep quality and higher scores of the health and well-being scales compared to those who do not work under daylight conditions.Our findings indicate that it is important to provide and maintain significant daylight levels at the workplace.Consequently,in terms of architectural design,building orientation,building dimensions,and the size and height of windows should be taken into consideration to optimize or maximize daylight exposure.
