Comfort and use in building evaluation: Information modelling and post-occupancy in the built environment

Abstract

Advances in computer science and information management increasingly allow built environment professionals to envision the day when there will be ‘cradle-to-grave’ modelling of buildings. This will involve measurement and storage of multiple and diverse variables in large datasets composed of meta, hard, and soft data (collectively known as ‘Big Data’) during a building’s lifespan. It will also necessitate sophisticated graphical user interfaces for various users to easily access datasets about a building in successive stages of its life. Some stages might include design and engineering on behalf of clients, construction and management on behalf of the building industry, and continuous responsive post-occupancy evaluation and space planning on behalf of end users. This paper begins to explore this data-driven future by pursuing a collaborative approach amongst multispecialty clusters of the built environment at Qatar University. The purpose is to attempt to 1) develop a methodology spanning from pre-construction Building Information Modelling (BIM) to hard/soft data tools common in post-occupancy evaluation such as space use, movement, and thermal comfort measurement of end-user satisfaction and 2) test out the effectiveness of space syntax as a foundational technique in perhaps better uniting such disparate data sources from pre-construction for design evaluation to post-occupancy for user experience. This paper primarily focuses on the results of post-occupancy evaluation for the second purpose. The study detected a consistent relationship between sitting and interacting in common areas of the building independent of spatial layout (in terms of area and/or integration) and a consistent but weak relationship between spatial layout and movement in the entire building primarily due to the strongly programmatic nature of classrooms and student schedules.