To study the combined effect of different environmental factors on children in a classroom setting, 250 children from seven primary schools were exposed to 36 different environmental configurations (‘all’ and ‘fewer’ acoustical panels; ‘displacement’ and ‘mixing’ ventilation; sound type: ‘children talk’, ‘traffic’, and ‘none’; and ‘direct’, ‘indirect’ and ‘soft’ lighting). In a four-way factorial design, they assessed with 18 groups on eight different days temperature, draught, noise, light and smell. Correlation, three-way ANOVA, comparison tests and multi-regression analysis were used to analyse relationships, and main, cross-modal and interaction effects. The results show that more acoustical panels had a positive effect on the children’s assessment of sound. Sound type had a main effect on the assessment of sound. Statistical significant cross-modal effects were found for lighting and sound type on the assessment of smell. Significant three-way interactions between ‘Vent’, ‘Sound’, and ‘Light’ types were found for smell and light in the ‘fewer panels’ situations; and for light in the ‘all panels’ situations. Multiple-regression analysis also showed that perception of smell was significantly related with draught, sound and light perception in ‘fewer panels’ conditions. Further studies on these cross-modal interactions are recommended, specifically at individual level.@en

Due to the increasing demand for healthcare and the large impact on the finance of hospital buildings in the near future, study is needed on aspects that affect health and comfort of patients and staff in hospitals. Therefore, a literature review was performed on studies related to specific hospital departments and occupant groups, in order to contribute to a better understanding of relations of comfort and health indicators and the physical environment. Differences in comfort and health of occupants were compared between departments, and between occupant groups. It was concluded that staff was generally less satisfied than patients were. Some of the indicators studied (occupant, dose and building-related indicators) varied between departments. Most studies focused on a single dose or building-related indicator, although the occupant-related indicators, such as privacy, infection rate or mortality, were related to more than one dose or building-related indicator. It was concluded that staff in particular have been understudied in relation to the variation of health and comfort aspects in different departments.@en

To identify current problems in the classroom and to conceptualize design solutions by primary school children to solve these problems, 335 children from seven primary schools participated in a workshop held in the Experience room of the SenseLab, comprising of two parts. In part 1, the children were asked to think about their own classroom at school and to choose an IEQ-problem in their own classroom that they are bothered with. In part 2 of the workshop, the children were asked to imagine they are an inventor or scientist in 2040 with all resources available and to make a design for the future. The content analysis of the problems and solutions appearing in the drawings and the written text resulted in 5 themes (light, noise, temperature, air and other than IEQ) and 16 sub-themes (11 for the problems and 5 for the solutions). Noise-related problems were most frequently reported (58%), followed by temperature (53%), air (22%), and light (16%). Girls reported more problems than boys, which is possibly related to a better recollection of negative feelings towards those problems in their classrooms. 47% of the children proposed solutions related to more than one IEQ-problem. Solutions ranged from existing solutions, for example headphones to protect against noise to far-fetched solutions such as send noisy children away by means of a rocket. The outcome showed that children can be valuable contributors in co-designing ‘new’ or ‘adapted’ classroom environments.@en

The indoor environmental quality, control, layout and appearance may affect comfort and satisfaction of patients, as well as visitors and staff in hospitals. Due to differences in activities, duration of stay and health status, needs of the different groups may vary. In order to design hospitals, which positively support comfort and satisfaction of all occupants, information is needed about satisfaction and the perceived importance of different factors. This study compared comfort and satisfaction of patients, visitors and staff with inpatient bedrooms (single and multiple bedrooms). A questionnaire was designed with rating scale questions; 499 respondents participated. The groups varied in their satisfaction. Staff was the least satisfied group. All groups were most satisfied with the appearance of the patient room and least satisfied with control. A qualitative study on control may strengthen the validity of the questionnaire for future research. In order to gain more insight in the importance of different aspects, an extension of the questionnaire, regarding questions about health.@en

Purpose. To provide an overview of factors influencing the sense of home of older adults residing in the nursing home. Methods. A systematic review was conducted. Inclusion criteria were (1) original and peer-reviewed research, (2) qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, (3) research about nursing home residents (or similar type of housing), and (4) research on the sense of home, meaning of home, at-homeness, or homelikeness. Results. Seventeen mainly qualitative articles were included. The sense of home of nursing home residents is influenced by 15 factors, divided into three themes: (1) psychological factors (sense of acknowledgement, preservation of one's habits and values, autonomy and control, and coping); (2) social factors (interaction and relationship with staff, residents, family and friends, and pets) and activities; and (3) the built environment (private space and (quasi-)public space, personal belongings, technology, look and feel, and the outdoors and location). Conclusions. The sense of home is influenced by numerous factors related to the psychology of the residents and the social and built environmental contexts. Further research is needed to determine if and how the identified factors are interrelated, if perspectives of various stakeholders involved differ, and how the factors can be improved in practice.@en

Purpose. To provide an overview of factors influencing the sense of home of older adults residing in the nursing home. Methods. A systematic review was conducted. Inclusion criteria were (1) original and peer-reviewed research, (2) qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, (3) research about nursing home residents (or similar type of housing), and (4) research on the sense of home, meaning of home, at-homeness, or homelikeness. Results. Seventeen mainly qualitative articles were included. The sense of home of nursing home residents is influenced by 15 factors, divided into three themes: (1) psychological factors (sense of acknowledgement, preservation of one's habits and values, autonomy and control, and coping); (2) social factors (interaction and relationship with staff, residents, family and friends, and pets) and activities; and (3) the built environment (private space and (quasi-)public space, personal belongings, technology, look and feel, and the outdoors and location). Conclusions. The sense of home is influenced by numerous factors related to the psychology of the residents and the social and built environmental contexts. Further research is needed to determine if and how the identified factors are interrelated, if perspectives of various stakeholders involved differ, and how the factors can be improved in practice.@en

Purpose. To provide an overview of factors influencing the sense of home of older adults residing in the nursing home. Methods. A systematic review was conducted. Inclusion criteria were (1) original and peer-reviewed research, (2) qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, (3) research about nursing home residents (or similar type of housing), and (4) research on the sense of home, meaning of home, at-homeness, or homelikeness. Results. Seventeen mainly qualitative articles were included. The sense of home of nursing home residents is influenced by 15 factors, divided into three themes: (1) psychological factors (sense of acknowledgement, preservation of one's habits and values, autonomy and control, and coping); (2) social factors (interaction and relationship with staff, residents, family and friends, and pets) and activities; and (3) the built environment (private space and (quasi-)public space, personal belongings, technology, look and feel, and the outdoors and location). Conclusions. The sense of home is influenced by numerous factors related to the psychology of the residents and the social and built environmental contexts. Further research is needed to determine if and how the identified factors are interrelated, if perspectives of various stakeholders involved differ, and how the factors can be improved in practice.@en

Building-related health symptoms are multifactorial, hence a comprehensive study is needed to identify associations of such symptoms with building aspects. Previous studies have identified certain building characteristics as risk factors for both dry eyes and headaches, which are among the most prevalent symptoms suffered by office workers. This study investigated associations of dry eyes and headaches with building characteristics in outpatient areas because these conditions may vary between office and hospital buildings. A survey was performed in six hospital buildings, which included administering a questionnaire to 556 outpatient workers and an inspection of the building locations, services and 127 outpatient rooms. Multivariate regression models were produced for dry eyes and headaches. Both models were adjusted for personal and work-related aspects. The prevalence of self-reported dry eyes and headaches in outpatient areas was related to building-related aspects that affect the indoor air quality and visual quality, and to room types. In general, this study is consistent with previous office studies. However, a specific finding of this study is the association of the most frequently used room types and the presence of a window to the corridor with dry eyes and headaches.@en

While the pressure on hospital workers keeps growing, they are generally more dissatisfied with their comfort than other occupants in hospitals or offices. To better understand the comfort of outpatient workers in hospitals, clusters for preferences and perceptions of the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and social comfort were identified in a previous study before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This qualitative study explains the outpatient workers’ main preferences for comfort during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation were used. Contextual changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic were included. The questions in the interviews were based on the characteristics of the profiles, corresponding with the clusters. The data were analyzed with content analysis according to the steps defined by Gioia. Seventeen outpatient workers who had been part of the previous study participated. For some outpatient workers differentiation of preferences was illogical due to interrelations and equal importance of the comfort aspects. The main changes in perceptions of comfort due to the pandemic were worries about the indoor air quality and impoverished interaction. Because the occupants’ preferences for comfort can change over time, it was suggested that further development of occupant profiles needs to accommodate changes.@en

Comfort and health of outpatient staff is important due to the growing demand of healthcare and its crucial influence on society. Previous studies have mostly focused on the perception of comfort and indicated a large prevalence of building-related symptoms and dissatisfaction with comfort of staff in hospital buildings. Unfortunately, limited information was available of the individual preferences in relation to building aspects, especially in outpatient areas. This study aims to understand the preferences of outpatient staff in relation to their comfort, health, work- and building-related aspects. Data were collected with a survey from 556 outpatient workers in six hospital buildings and building inspection of 107 rooms. TwoStep cluster analysis was performed to identify groups with clear differences in preferences and comfort, that justify the variation of individual comfort and preferences of outpatient workers. Six clusters were produced for preferences and comfort with IEQ; three clusters were produced for preferences and comfort with social aspects. The clusters indicated that preferences and comfort of IEQ are related to health. The social clusters varied in activities of outpatient staff. As the overlap of the profiles of the IEQ clusters with the profiles of the social clusters was limited, the results suggest that it is important to study both simultaneously. Surprisingly, relations with building-related aspects were for both cluster-sets limited. This suggests that outpatient staff members do not relate their preferences to the actual building where they are working.@en

Understanding students' preferences of their study place, in particular acoustical and psychosocial preferences, is important to students' health and comfort. This study aimed to identify clusters of students with similar acoustical and psychosocial preferences, and to identify reasons for certain preferences of students in each cluster. A mixed-methods approach was applied, consisting of a questionnaire, which was completed by 451 bachelor students, and a field study conducted with 23 students from the same sample. The questionnaire data included among others acoustical and psychosocial preferences scores, while the field study data comprised interview transcripts, building checklists, and sound pressure level measurements. The questionnaire data were analysed using TwoStep cluster analysis to identify clusters of students based on their acoustical and psychosocial preferences. This produced five clusters of students that significantly differed in 14 variables, including preferences and perception of indoor environmental quality (e.g., noise from outside). Then, the field study data were analysed and categorised based on the five clusters of the students. The outcome explained the aspects associated with the acoustical preferences of students in each cluster. Building-related indicators such as the location of the building were found as an aspect that could affect the student's acoustical preferences. This study provides insight into the profiles of students based on their acoustical and psychosocial preferences, which are important for their health and comfort at their study places.@en

Due to the ageing society, policy focuses on independent living of elderly in need for care. While the preferences of the elderly to live autonomously vary, there is limited information on variation in needs for the physical environment, e.g., shared and private places. A pilot study was done to develop insights into preferences for social and physical environment of the elderly in need for care. A questionnaire (N=52) and workshop (N=22) were conducted with future elderly. The study showed that preferences for ways of living largely varied. Many were willing to share facilities and help each other, although they did not want to provide somatic care. Based on the results two new concepts were explored, i.e. farm like housing in the city centre and small-scale housing with friends. The concepts, resulting from the questionnaire and workshop, suggest that the method can be used to further explore connections between preferences and design.@en

A PhD study was carried out on comfort and health of workers in outpatient areas because hospital workers are generally less satisfied with comfort than patients and outpatient areas were understudied. To better understand differences in preferences and satisfaction of individuals, profiles were produced with Two-Step Cluster analysis, based on a questionnaire, responded by 556 outpatient workers, and building inspection of six hospital locations. Thereafter, interviews were performed to explain the preferences. As the COVID-19 pandemic started after production of the profiles, changes due to de pandemic were included. A gap between preferences and satisfaction was identified for all profiles. Also, those with similar preferences for social comfort (privacy, interaction, distraction) performed similar activities. Contact with others was for all profiles important, while satisfaction was overall high before the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the shift to digital care during the COVID-19 pandemic, impoverished interaction was a main concern of the outpatient workers. In conclusion the profiles for social comfort show that preferences for social comfort are associated with work-related aspects and can change. The profiles may open a new horizon to accommodate for flexibility and variety beyond standardized solutions.@en

For several years indoor comfort is measured in halls of hospitals by architecture students from the Delft University of Technology. Questionnaires and interviews have shows that patients and visitors have very few complaints about the indoor comfort in hospital halls. This, in hindsight, is not so very surprising. Patients and visitors usually come out of the cold into the hallway. A hallway which is at least marginally warmer, a hallway where it does not rain and hallway that is sheltered from the outside wind. Secondly, the indoor comfort is not the main concern of the patients and visitors entering the hospital. The patient’s and visitor’s upcoming consults with the doctors or nurses is much more important. Coming from the consult, patients and visitors always have the choice to immediately leave the hospital if they do not like the indoor comfort. Complaints from staff, however, are very common. Staff personnel usually complain about low temperatures and draught. A reception desk is the main workplace in a hospital hall. A reception desk can be closed, i.e. physically separates the personnel from the environment of the hall. A reception desk can also be open, thus without a physical separation between personnel and patients and visitors. In a hospital, in general, an open reception desk is favoured for a more welcoming atmosphere for patients and visitors. This more open reception desk, however, often causes the personnel to experience low temperatures and draught. From this study it is clear that it is very difficult design a thermally comfortable reception desk in a hospital. The quest for a reception that expresses openness and transparency clearly hinders the design for a comfortable reception desk. On the other hand, the small number of people at the reception desk is in no comparison to the hundreds of staff and patients for which the hospital is also designed. Many solutions to improve thermal comfort at a reception desk are already known. The exact cause of the experienced draught and the best solutions, however, are difficult to determine. Scale models or CFD simulations should be used as a guide for design a reception desk in a hospital or when solving thermal comfort problems. A new cause of draught, people moving past the reception desk, was identified and quantified. As a result, a completely open reception desk inside a large atrium with a lot of people moving past might not be possible without either closing off the reception desk, or increasing the temperature at the reception desk.@en

People are staying indoors for most of their time (on average 90%), where they are exposed to different environmental stimuli (e.g., noise, temperature) that are related to the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors (Bluyssen, 2020). Students in higher education spend substantial time at their study places (at home or educational buildings) for their study-related activities (Beckers et al., 2016a). Noise is one of these environmental stimuli that could affect the students’ health and comfort. It was found that noise affected students’ health (Tristan-Hernandez et al., 2017), perception (Dzhambov et al., 2021), and performance (Shu & Ma, 2019). However, previous studies mainly focused on the students’ sound environment perception in classroom settings, while few (e.g., (Ramu et al., 2021) and (Beckers et al., 2016b)) investigated their perception in their study places. This study aims to identify the sound sources that students are exposed to at their home study places. Furthermore, this study shows to which extent students are satisfied with the sound environment of their study places.@en

Research has shown that students differ in their preferences of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and psychosocial aspects of their study places. Since previous studies have mainly focused on identifying these preferences rather than investigating the different profiles of students, this study aimed at profiling students based on their IEQ and psychosocial preferences of their study places. A questionnaire was completed by 451 bachelor students of the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. A TwoStep cluster analysis was performed twice separately. First, to cluster the students based on their IEQ preferences, and second based on their psychosocial preferences. This resulted in three clusters under each cluster model. Then, the overlap between these two models was determined and produced nine unique profiles of students, which are: (1) the concerned perfectionist, (2) the concerned extrovert, (3) the concerned non-perfectionist, (4) the visual concerned perfectionist, (5) the visual concerned extrovert, (6) visual concerned non-perfectionist, (7) the unconcerned introvert, (8) the unconcerned extrovert, and (9) the unconcerned non-perfectionist. A number of variables was found to be significantly different among these profiles. This study’s outcome indicates that studying the overlap between IEQ and psychosocial preferences is required to understand the different possible profiles of students. @en

As hospital workers are generally less satisfied with comfort than patients and limited information was available on health and comfort in outpatient areas, a PhD study was carried out on staff in outpatient areas. The study design, main conclusions and recommendations of this PhD study are discussed. To gain a more representative view of the occupants’ perceptions, IEQ and social comfort were included. Social comfort was studied as a new construct, based on literature of privacy and crowding. A mixed methods approach was selected to justify the occupants’ reallive experience of the physical environment. First, data were collected with building inspection of six hospitals and a questionnaire responded by 556 outpatient workers. Subsequently, a representative sample of them (17) was interviewed with photo elicitation. The survey was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, the interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analysed with several techniques to describe comfort and health (descriptive statistics), determine associations of work and building-related aspects with comfort and health (regression analyses), to identify IEQ and social comfort profiles (Two-Step Cluster analysis) and to identify changes in preferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic (content analysis). The different analyses strengthened associations of contextual aspects, such as room types, with health and comfort. Also, the results indicate limited overlap of social comfort and IEQ. Therefore, it is recommended to include room types and social comfort aspects in future studies. Furthermore, as the results show differences in the occupants’ preferences associated with differences in health (IEQ) and activities (social comfort) while their preferences can change in time, it is recommended to develop design strategies for an optimal fit beyond standardized solutions.@en

Design solutions bases on Evidence Based Design (EBD) principles vary due to the context and organizational aspects of hospitals. This paper explains how EBD principles were included during the design process of an academic hospital, including design guidelines that were developed with a representative group of key stakeholders from the organization. The hospital comprises several buildings on a campus, that also includes several university buildings. Some of the hospital buildings are connected through “the main axe.” The principles were applied on different scales in the design of a new main building and transformation of an existing building and the main axe, connecting other buildings. Specific design solutions for daylight access, connection to nature, art, privacy, and interaction are discussed.@en

It is well known that the demand on hospital staff is increasing and that their comfort and health may be affected negatively by dose and building-related aspects. Comfort and health may differ between hospital departments. However, outpatient areas are understudied. To better understand comfort and health of staff in outpatient areas a survey was performed in which social comfort, personal and work-related aspects were all accounted for. This study aimed to identify comfort and health in relation to different room types. Of the 1694 invitations that were sent to outpatient staff of six buildings, 566 respondents (33%) were included in the analysis. There was little difference in the prevalence of the main self-reported symptoms, dry eyes and headache, and indoor air complaints, whereas acoustical, visual, thermal and social comfort differed statistically significantly between those working in different room types. Compared to other (inpatient) hospital and office studies, the prevalence of symptoms and dissatisfaction with comfort was high, especially dissatisfaction with daylight. Considering the dynamic use of workplaces in outpatient areas and the high ERI, this study reinforces the necessity for inclusion of personal and work-related characteristics in studies on comfort and health of occupants.@en

Students are exposed to various environmental stimuli at their home study places. However, different students have different preferences in terms of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) aspects and psychosocial aspects of these places. A previous study on students' preferences of their study places resulted in nine profiles based on their IEQ and psychosocial preferences of their study places. It was found that there are profiles that were not highly concerned with sounds at their study places, while other profiles are concerned about sounds. Accordingly, this present study aims at clustering students based on their acoustical-related preferences of their study places. A questionnaire survey was completed by 451 first-year bachelor students at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. TwoStep cluster analysis was performed, and five unique profiles were identified. These are: 1) sound extremely concerned introvert, 2) sound unconcerned introvert, 3) sound partially concerned introvert, 4) sound concerned extrovert, and 5) sound unconcerned extrovert. The outcomes of this study showed that TwoStep cluster analysis facilitate researchers to better understand the different profiles of students based on their acousticalrelated preferences in study places.@en