Reframing environmental building design guidelines to account for user’s attitudes and behaviour
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Architecture, School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Steiger, Michelle Sharon
issued: 2009-06-16T00:00:00
issued: 1999
related degree: Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture - MASA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The construction of a building negatively impacts the environment; however, its operation and use places an even greater burden on natural systems. Most environmental design guidelines provide recommendations that address the former issue, but not the latter. Despite the importance of understanding human-building interactions, this aspect is currently not well reflected in office building design guidance, and the fact that an environmentally,responsive building's success relies in large part on user behaviour, needs to be made more explicit. As such, the behaviour of workers in a Swiss and Canadian office building was studied through questionnaires. There are two important findings from the research. First, since most environmentally responsive buildings have most of their control features along the perimeter, a design that places individuals in close proximity to a window is successful because it results in greater user satisfaction with the ability to regulate thermal conditions, ventilation, and daylighting. Due to the fact that the reluctance to freely alter indoor conditions is proportional to the number of people working in a shared office, the most ideal situation - at least form a user control perspective - is an individual office for occupants. Second, the building users best dictate the extent to which technological systems should be incorporated into a design. Technology is applied most sensibly when it is able to minimize energy use without being perceptible by occupants, or compromising the users' sense of control over his/her environment. Based on this insight, certain recommendations in a set of guidelines were reframed to better acknowledge and respond to users' expectations and needs.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/9224
extent: 12419517 bytes
format: application/pdf
note: REFRAMING ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING DESIGN GUIDELINES TO ACCOUNT FOR USER'S ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR by MICHELLE SHARON STEIGER B.Sc, The University of British Columbia, 1994 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER. : OF ADVANCED STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (School of Architecture; MA.SA.) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 1999 © Michelle Sharon Steiger, 1999 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada ABSTRACT The construction of a building negatively impacts the environment; however, its operation and use places an even greater burden on natural systems. Most environmental design guidelines provide recommendations that address the former issue, but not the latter. Despite the importance of understanding human-building interactions, this aspect is currently not well reflected in office building design guidance, and the fact that an environmentally,responsive building's success relies in large part on user behaviour, needs to be made more explicit. As such, the behaviour of workers in a Swiss and Canadian office building was studied through questionnaires. There are two important findings from the research. First, since most environmentally responsive buildings have most of their control features along'the perimeter, a design that places individuals in close proximity to a window is successful because it results in g…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 1999-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0089035
language: eng
degree discipline: Architecture
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9224