Post-occupancy Evaluation with Emphasis on Thermal Comfort： A Case Study in Public Squares

The article presents a case study about thermal comfort in two public squares located in the coastal region of southeastern Brazil, within a post-occupational assessment context where it was sought to estimate the thermal sensation and perception of the users generating systematized knowledge about the built environment. The objective is to instruct future interventions for improvement in the living condition where it is particularly important for the success of the activities predicted there. Surveys on thermal comfort along with goers of the squares were held on three consecutive days in April 2013 and February 2014 with microclimate monitoring of the places adopting the predictive PET （physiological equivalent temperature） index calculated based on the bioclimatic model Rayman. The obtained data set generated valuable information about the pattern of thermal comfort allowing understanding the analytical correlations between PET index, climate variables and the perception of comfort. The article seeks to contribute towards the recognition of bioclimatic specificities in the project process aimed to the improvement of the environmental and social performance of public squares and aspects that are relevant to the urban planners.

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Waterfront Space in the Context of Urban Renewal: A Study Case of Reconstruction of Donghaochong River in Guangzhou City

Taking the Donghaochong River as a study case, the environmental evolution process and spatial characteristics of Donghaochong River are analyzed through field investigation, questionnaire and in-depth interview in the context of urban renewal and combining relevant historical documents and statistical data. From the perspective of users, the behavior characteristics and use demand of surrounding users for waterfront space of Donghaochong River in Guangzhou City and the evaluation of usage situation before and after reconstruction of Donghaochong River are summarized to provide relevant optimization suggestions for the creation of satisfactory waterfront landscape environment for users.

Design of hospital healing gardens linked to pre- or post-occupancy research findings

This work examined the evidence-based design （EBD） and post-occupancy research of hospital healing gardens. The lack of statutory design guidelines raises concerns on how such gardens are created and whether they meet the intended design purpose. This issue is particularly important for hospitals because a neutral or even a negative effect on users can be generated. A systematic analysis of the literature in two databases （Scopus and Web of Science） was undertaken. Results showed that pre- and post-occupancy research findings on hospital healing garden design are sparse and design recommendations vary among users. Despite the tack of research on the design of healing gardens, the review showed that while post-occupancy research findings evaluate the effectiveness of design recommendations, pre-occupancy research findings, combined with site analysis, constitute a traditional approach followed in landscape architecture practice and determine the site and user features that must be addressed for each hospital. Pre- and post-research findings must be considered in the design process to create a “successful” healing garden. A summary of EBD recommendations for different users is presented, and the need to enrich the existing amount of EBD recommenda-tions is highlighted.

New challenges for optimal design of nearly/net zero energy buildings under post-occupancy performance-based design standards and a risk-benefit based solution

One of the challenges in construction of nearly and net ZEBs is how to truly achieve the nearly and net energy goals after building occupancy.Traditional building design standards and practices are mostly based on design performance evaluation,but practices show that many designed nearly/net ZEBs failed to achieve the energy goals after building occupancy.To facilitate the practical achievement of nearly and net ZEBs,recently most of the newly-released ZEB design standards have turned to post-occupancy performance evaluation,posing great challenges to nearly and net ZEB design.However,the detailed challenges have not be comprehensively investigated,and effective optimal design methods which can facilitate the achievement of nearly and net ZEBs under these standards are still absent.In this study,new challenges of nearly and net ZEB design under the post-occupancy performance-based design standards are fully investigated,and a risk-benefit based optimal design method is proposed to facilitate the achievement of nearly and net ZEBs under these standards.The newly-released ZEB standard in China is taken as an example to investigate the challenges and test the proposed method.Results show that nearly and net ZEBs designed using conventional design method have high risk in achieving energy goals under these standards due to high risk in satisfying the requirement regarding non-renewable primary energy consumption after building occupancy.The proposed design method is effective to facilitate achieving energy goals under these standards based on the risk that decision-makers would like to take.

The Influence of Residents’ Opinions on the Redesign of Urban Underground Streets: A Case Study from <i>Diyi</i>Underground Street

The rapid development of urbanization and rapid growth of urban population have brought about various urban problems, and the development of cities to the ground and underground has become an inevitable choice. Underground street is a kind of underground space types, and it is also an important urban recreational resources and tourism resources. The evaluation of underground street users, especially the residents and tourists, has important reference value for the recreational resources’ redevelopment of underground street. Firstly, this paper reviews the relevant research literature on underground street and Post-Occupancy Evaluation theory, then chooses Diyi Underground Street, Chengdu, China, as the research object, and conducts a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews on residents’ shopping intention from five dimensions of underground street environment, decoration, commercial form, public facilities and other aspects. Finally, the survey data are analyzed quantitatively. The results show that some influence factors such as air quality, daylighting, decoration style etc. greatly affect the willingness of residents to enter the street. Therefore, residents’ recreational experience should be emphasized during the underground street re-planning according to the above factors.

Building and Environment

Voluntary green-rating systems exist in different forms worldwide to certify the sustainability of residential and commercial buildings and help national policies promote energy-efficient design practices.Despite the general assumption that sustainable buildings also provide high comfort and healthy conditions,existing studies on green-rated buildings led to controversial conclusions in this regard. This paper aims to report the results of a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) conducted on four Swiss green buildings certified with the Minergie label to analyse their ability in providing comfort to their occupants.The POE protocol included winter and summer environmental monitoring campaigns (long-term and instantaneous measurements) as well as extensive and point-in-time comfort surveys. From the study it was found that,although the observed environmental factors were most of the time complying with the norm prescriptions,the indoor conditions were never attaining the commonly used 80 % satisfaction threshold by the users.Temperature and air quality appeared,in particular,as the most critical factors,with satisfaction rates never greater than 50 % in three out of the four case studies. Design factors related to the personal control on the indoor environment as well as personal factors like gender,climate of origin and duration of residence in the country were also found to have an impact in the comfort rating. Professionals involved in the design and management of these buildings all agreed that feedback of this kind from building in use could help inform the design and operational process and move towards more effective green building certification systems and regulations.

Space-Use Analysis in the Design of Neighborhood Walking Paths

SUA （space-use analysis） is about techniques that objectively describe environments and relate this description to specific problems of use. The purpose of this paper is to explore a space-use analytical tool--POE （post-occupation evaluation）--regarding a neighborhood accessibility condition. Based on a site-specific approach, the main research question is focused on how far neighborhood walking paths are compatible with different user needs, guaranteeing their safety and autonomy, as well as easiness of perception and use, thus providing access to local services and resources they need for participation in the day-to-day activities of community life. This paper is organized in three parts： The first one introduces the main concepts and explains how to ensure it in a practical application in urban design; The second part presents the practical approach, referring to the used methodology, the specific case-study and reached results; The third one establishes correlations between the two approaches and discusses the main findings.

Use Characteristics and Satisfaction Degree of Jinjiang 198 Greenway in Chengdu under the Background of Park City Construction

Greenway construction is one of the important measures for Chengdu to build a “beautiful and livable park city”, and is also a framework system for building a park city. According to the construction demand of the park city, a Tianfu greenway system with the theme of “one axis, two mountains, three rings and seven belts” will be formed throughout Chengdu. Jinjiang 198 Greenway is the first large-scale greenway in the main urban area of Chengdu. In view of the use of Jinjiang 198 Greenway in Chengdu, its use characteristics and user satisfaction degree are studied. The general situation of people's use of greenway is obtained from the characteristics of users themselves and its use conditions. According to the statistics of user satisfaction degree through field survey and questionnaire survey, it is known that the overall satisfaction degree of users on the greenway is good. Through factor analysis, the main factors affecting user satisfaction degree are obtained, which are in turn supporting facilities, service facilities, activity sites,green environment and accessibility. Finally, based on the above analysis and summary, suggestions and opinions are put forward for the future construction and development of Tianfu greenway system.

Evaluation of tobacco soil fertility suitability of the Sanmenxia area, China, based on geographic information systems

The growth of flue-cured tobacco is sensitive to changes in environmental conditions.Excellent tobacco leaf production is strictly restricted by regional cultivated lands.For the purpose of reasonable utilization and scientific management of Sanmenxia tobacco fields,it is meaningful to evaluate the soil fertility suitability of tobacco crops quantitatively and objectively.In this study,the global positioning system(GPS)technology was used to obtain sample point information automatically.Based on the analysis of fertility properties of soil samples collected from the Sanmenxia tobacco planting regions in Henan Province,we present the index system of soil fertility suitability for tobacco crops.The integrated evaluation of soil fertility suitability was studied with six indices,including organic matter,pH value,available nitrogen(N),available phosphorus(P),available potassium(K),and chlorine(Cl–1)content of surface soil.The subjective grade value was calculated according to S-type and parabola-type functions of the effect of evaluation factors on tobacco crops.Further,the weight value of soil fertility suitability indices was calculated by the method of Hiberarchy analysis.The soil fertility suitability level was evaluated and classified.The suitability map of the Sanmenxia tobacco planting regions in Henan Province was then drawn with the geographic information system(GIS)software mapGIS.It was found that highly suitable fields were mainly distributed in the high mountains in the Southwestern part of the investigated regions where soil pH value and the contents of organic matter were medium,but the contents of available P and available K were higher,accounting for 79.36% of the whole area.Suitable fields were 17% of the whole area,mainly distributed in the middle part of the investigated regions where soil pH value was higher.Unsuitable fields existed in the northern-east and middle part of the Sanmenxia where the contents of soil Cl^(–)was very high,accounting for 3.51%of the whole regions.

Perception of privacy in a university building: The transparency paradox

Informal face-to-face communication and chance encounters encourage knowledge sharing.This Post-Occupancy Evaluation(POE)examines how well a new building of a Dutch University Institute(Dl)supported interaction and perceived privacy among faculty members.The study is designed as a qualitative research project with in-depth interviews among faculty members before and after relocation into the new building.The transparent and centrally organized floor plan supported face-to-face communication but generated a lack of privacy for faculty members.Not all perceived affordances of the design were planned.Lack of visual privacy and the sense of being controlled by others were related to the hierarchical position of teachers in this Higher Education Institute(HEI)between students and the dean,which caused tension and diminished their well-being.