Façade properties influence human responses in a multidomain manner and these interactions needs to be accounted for effective façades design, particularly to increase resilience to extreme heat. From existing research, it remains unclear whether the glazing colour properties can influence occupant thermal sensation, preferences, and acceptance, or whether higher temperatures affect glare sensation or view perception. This study investigates the combined influence of tinted glazing in façades through a preliminary experimental campaign with human participants exposed to varying glazing hues (neutral and blue) and indoor air temperatures. While previous research has examined the impact of coloured daylight on thermal and glare sensation under thermal conditions close to neutrality, this paper compares occupant responses at neutral and warm thermal conditions by performing repeated measurements.

An experiment was conducted to measure potential differences in human thermal sensation, acceptance, preference, and glare sensation under two thermal conditions (operative temperatures of 25°C and 30°C) and two daylight colours (neutral and blue). Thirty-nine participants were exposed to different combinations of temperature and glazing colour in a randomized order. Data were collected using questionnaires and thermal physiological sensors to capture human responses to these varying conditions. In terms of visual perception, the results demonstrate a distinction between the two visual scenarios, particularly regarding obstruction and glare at a neutral temperature. At the level of thermal sensation, the impact of blue-tinted glazing is not statistically significant with this number of participants. However, a slight difference is observed between the two scenarios at both temperature levels.

Occupants’ comfort perception affects building energy consumptions. To improve the understanding of human comfort, which is crucial to reduce energy demand, laboratory experiments with humans in controlled environments (test rooms) are fundamental, but their potential also depends on the characteristic of each research facility. Nowadays, there is no common understanding for definitions, concepts, and procedures related to human comfort studies performed in test rooms. Identifying common features would allow standardising test procedures, reproducing the same experiments in different contexts, and sharing knowledge and test possibilities. This review identifies 187 existing test rooms worldwide: 396 papers were systematically selected, thoroughly reviewed, and analysed in terms of performed experiments and related test room details. The review highlights a rising interest in the topic during the last years, since 46% of related papers has been published between 2016 and 2020. A growing interest in non-thermal sensory domains (such as visual and air quality) and multi-domain studies about occupant's whole comfort emerged from the results. These research trends have entailed a change in the way test rooms are designed, equipped and controlled, progressively becoming more realistic inhabitable environments. Nevertheless, some lacks in comfort investigation are highlighted: some continents (like Africa and South America) and climate zones are found to be underrepresented, while involved subjects are mainly students performing office tasks. This review aspires to guide scientists and professionals toward the improved design or the audit of test room experimental facilities, especially in countries and climate zones where human comfort indoors is under-studied.