Extract

ABSTRACT: The authors have surveyed and analysed the users’ perceptions of a world-wide set of sustainable commercial and institutional buildings located in a range of climatic zones. Their overall aim, based on a detailed questionnaire survey of the users of thirty-one buildings in eleven countries, was to determine how well these buildings were performing from the point of view of the occupants. The users’ responses to forty-five aspects of building performance were sought. The 2035 respondents were asked to rate each aspect on a 7-point Likert scale. Following a brief introduction describing the nature of the buildings involved, the design of the questionnaire, and the methodology adopted for its administration and analysis, the paper describes in detail the distributions of the perception scores for each one of the forty-five aspects on which responses were sought during the surveys. These distributions support the view that users are well able to assess variations in a wide range of aspects of the premises they occupy and that more systematic use should be made of their perceptions in building design and evaluation.

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