ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING PE EXAM SPECIFICATIONS

Building performance can have short-term and long-term effects on the building, but more importantly, it affects the building’s occupants. Whether it’s a residential building, an office building, a school, a public facility, or a warehouse, the building’s performance affects the health, well-being, comfort, and productivity of everyone who uses the building.

A number of factors can dramatically influence the comfort level perceived by a building’s occupants. Construction methods and materials, building orientation, adjacent structures, temperature and humidity control, lighting levels, etc. all play a role in the comfort of the occupants.

Whether you’re the building owner, an architect, an engineer, or a contractor, you have a responsibility to understand how different aspects of a building’s construction and systems interact with each other and affect the occupants. A few aspects of building performance that will be covered in this article are vibration, noise, lighting, and climate control. Other aspects include odor control, building sway (in high-rise buildings), water quality, indoor air quality (ventilation air requirements, odor control, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), etc. ), and electric power quality.

Vibration

Building vibrations can originate from a wide variety of sources including plumbing pipes, heating and air conditioning pipes, HVAC ductwork, HVAC fans, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, and light fixture ballasts. Some vibration sources outside the building include:

• nearby roadways and interstate highways
• HVAC equipment from adjacent buildings (fans, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, etc.)
• nearby construction sites
• proximity to airplane landing zones
• passing helicopters

Regardless of the source, the duration, or the intensity, vibrations can affect an occupant’s hearing (tinnitus, hearing damage, or hearing loss). Building vibrations can also have an emotional effect on the occupants causing them to become irritable and frustrated.

Building vibrations can also negatively impact productivity of the occupants by affecting concentration and focus, which leads to decreased productivity, more mistakes, and reduced motivation to complete tasks.

Noise

Similarly, noise has many of the same sources and outcomes as building vibration explained above. Depending on the volume and duration of the noise, it can impact concentration, conversations, phone calls, and meetings. Abrupt noises like a car backfiring or a transformer exploding can startle building occupants, disrupting their focus and attention to detail.

Lighting

Lighting can affect people in several ways. As noted above, noisy fixture ballasts can disrupt a person’s focus and concentration, which ultimately affects their productivity. If the noise is severe enough, it can also cause hearing damage or a persistent ringing sensation that can last hours after a person leaves the building.

In addition, flickering fluorescent lights can cause eye strain, headaches, and possibly, migraines. The effect is even more dramatic for people with Autism, Epilepsy, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lyme Disease, and Vertigo.

Lastly, lighting quality (distribution, intensity, glare, color, etc.) impact a person’s mood, productivity, accuracy, and energy levels. Warm lighting color temperatures (2700K-3000K) induce relaxation and promote a feeling of welcome and comfort. Cold lighting color temperatures (4000K-5000K) tend to create a more stimulating environment that can lead to better focus and increased productivity. See How Lighting Affects Mood for more detailed descriptions.

Climate Control

In addition to temperature adjustments, climate controls must also regulate and manage humidity, air flow, air quality, and ventilation. Climate controls must be flexible enough to allow adjacent workstations to experience different environments suitable to the occupants. People’s productivity and moods will be affected if they are uncomfortable due to high or low temperatures, fluctuating humidity levels, air drafts, areas with inadequate airflow, or inadequate ventilation (fresh air). Climate control systems range from simple thermostats up to complex building management systems that can manage air flow, temperature, humidity, and ventilation automatically. Localized equipment such as dampers, air deflectors, variable air volume (VAV) boxes, and radiant heaters can provide individual control capable of satisfying each individual.

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Aspects of Building Performance That Affect Human Comfort

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