Mixed mode (MM) buildings open up a new arena for energy efficient design. Zoned MM buildings are the most common, particularly in the developing world where only some areas in a building are air- conditioned (AC) based on programmatic requirements while the rest of it is naturally ventilated (NV). Occupants in the NV zone frequently visit the AC zone and are well aware of the conditions there.

Buildings and communities need to be more resilient in the face of increasing weather extremes due to climate change. Current building models lack adequate definition to address this new challenge. This paper defines resilient design in terms of four ecosystemic factors: robustness, redundancy, feedback and co-evolutionary adaptivity. It builds upon previous work on usability and extends this to include resilient performance in relation to three new UK case studies covering retrofit and new build housing. In each case usability studies are evaluated in terms of resilient design.

Beijing is in the Cold Climate Zone of China. This study carries out a long-term survey of indoor environmental parameters, the clothing of occupants, and the metabolic rate of occupants as well as people’s voting of their sensation in classrooms in Beijing. The study was conducted in 2011 and 2012, trying to explore people’s requirement of indoor thermal environment. Relationships between thermal parameters and people’s sensations are found. The acceptable temperature range can meet the requirements of most of users.

Multi-storey steel-and-glass office buildings suffer from a strong thermal load during the summertime, particularly in Mediterranean countries, and thermal discomfort is a very likely occurrence, even when a massive air conditioning centralized system is operated. Significant departures from thermal comfort conditions have been proven to result in decreased performance for office workers, which translates into a additional costs for the employer.

This study evaluated the thermal environment in an air-conditioned mosque in Malaysia during the various daily prayer times. The objectives of the study includes determining the clo values, the neutral operative temperature, comfort temperature, and assessing the reliability of the PMV model predictions in determining thermal comfort in these situations. A field study was conducted in November 2012 and April 2013 during Subuh, Zohor, Asar, Maghrib and Isyak prayer times. Results show that PMV model predictions and AMV were found to be 25.88 °C and 30.44 °C, respectively.

This paper presents some of the results of a field study carried out in 2013 in two University buildings in Paris and in Champs-sur-Marne, nearby Paris. The aim of the study was to examine students‟ thermal judgements and thermal adaptation by combining an objective and a subjective approach. First is presented a comparison between “real” thermal responses (thermal sensation, preference, acceptability) and predicted ones (Predicted Mean Vote, Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied), after which follows an analysis of students‟ actions to improve their thermal comfort.

Although the adaptive comfort model has gained unprecedented popularization during the past few decades, the mechanism behind the model, especially with regard to certain key hypotheses, still requires further clarification. To validate whether people with greater individual control tend to attain comfort state in wider ranges of indoor thermal environments, we designed an investigational study in Beijing apartments with different degrees of individual control over space heating systems.

This paper presents the results from the thermal comfort studies at three airport terminal buildings in the UK where seasonal on-site surveys were conducted. The investigation involved extensive monitoring of the indoor environmental conditions along with 3,087 questionnaire-guided interviews with terminal users. The paper quantifies the thermal requirements of the terminal population and focuses on the thermal perception of passengers and staff in different terminal spaces.

In the past 20 years, better representation of occupants’ window operation in building performance simulation has received great attention, and several useful window opening behaviour models have been developed. Beyond these, this paper describes the development of window opening behaviour models based on alternative occupant classification approaches, namely, modelling occupants’ window operation actions as a whole; modelling actions based on sub-groups (i.e.

In achieving low-energy operation, occupant-controlled mixed mode buildings rely as much on the judicious use of active climate control by occupants as they do on the efficiency of the building services. The extent to which occupants choose to use natural ventilation for creating a thermally comfortable environment is informed in part by the human heat balance, and by the availability and effectiveness of adaptive comfort devices, but is also a function of social, cultural, and local context. Qualitative study is suited to exploring these factors in more detail.