The value of post-occupancy evaluation for building occupants and facility managers

• DOI: 10.3763/inbi.2009.si04
• Publication Date: 2009-10-16T01:50:27Z
• Authors: Vivian Loftness; Azizan Aziz; JoonHo Choi; Kevin Kampschroer; Kevin Powell; Mike Atkinson; Judith Heerwagen
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

User satisfaction studies and measured performance studies reveal that there are significant gaps between the design intent and the performance of buildings and systems over time and occupancy shifts. Whether this gap is due to failures in the design, construction, management or use of buildings is often unclear, user satisfaction studies, augmented by as-built records and measured performance studies to fully understand the performance of buildings and building systems over time. The article introduces the General Services Administration's (GSA) National Environmental Assessment Toolkit (NEAT) field study tools and database and their contributions to advancing the goals of high-performance buildings that meet ongoing occupancy needs and management resources. The NEAT studies undertaken by Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Building Performance GSA have been used to illustrate the value of instrumented post-occupancy evaluation to: promote occupants as sensors and controllers; identify technologies a...