Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Green Technologies for a High-Rise Building Based on User Experience

Abstract

Post-occupancy evaluations of buildings help us understand the effectiveness of building designs. Most of such evaluations focus on the overall building performance and on the indoor air environment, and few focus on individual technologies. In this paper, we report a user experience-based evaluation on multiple green technologies applied in a high-rise building constructed 17 years ago. These technologies include a circular building design, innovative floor plans, a corridor-type, double-skin facade with cavity shading, and three-dimensional greening design. Data were obtained through a questionnaire for the building occupants and on-site measurements of environmental variables. The results show that the occupants were most satisfied with the three-dimensional greening, natural lighting and ventilation in the public spaces, and the sound and thermal environment of the rooms with the double facade. They were not satisfied with room ventilation, solar shading, or lighting adjustment provided by the double facade. In addition, the aesthetic appearance of the circular building was not recognized by the occupants, who appeared to pay more attention to its space efficiency than the external appearance. This was true especially for older occupants. The users expressed a strong demand for outdoor leisure spaces and green vegetation. However, the practicality and functionality of three-dimensional greening, along with the interference of the glass curtain wall on vegetation growth, calls for more attention to the design. The female occupants were found to be more sensitive to the thermal and acoustic environment. Based on these results, we provide recommendations on the maintenance of the building and the future design of these measures.