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BUILDING SERVICE REPORT ASSIGNMENT
Indoor Environmental Quality in
Healthcare/Office
School of Architecture, Building and Design
Bachelor of Quantity Surveying 08/14
Lecture: Mr Leong Boon Tik
Group Member:
Liew Yong Sheng 0315108
Darren Lee Kim Thiam 0310710
Muhammad Hasif 0316414
Enoch Wong Geng Sen 0321690
Kevin Lee Hee Xian 0315192
Deepesh Ferag 0320760
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction 1
Indoor Air Quality 2
Building Acoustics 2
Temperature 3
Odour 4
Daylight 4
Installation of Cassette Type Air Condition
Units
5
Case Study 7
Methodology 8
Results 9
Discussion 17
Recommendation 22
Reference 24
Bibliography 24
Learning Outcome 25
Appendix 26
Introduction
Internal Environmental Quality or Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is perhaps one of the
most important aspect in a building structure. United States citizens spent approximately
90% of their time staying indoor even when they are working (United States Environmental
Protection Agency EPA, 2011). As a citizen of Malaysia, we dare conclude that we are no
different from such a lifestyle. As such, just as how the quality of a natural habitat would
affect animals and plants that live in it, the environmental quality of the area of which we
spend our lives in are equally important.
A building of poor environmental quality lead to two major classes of health problem to those
who spend a significant amount of time in it (if worst, a short amount); Sick Building
Syndrome (SBS), describes as “an assortment of symptoms experienced by a majority of
building occupants and for which no specific cause can be identified” and Building Related
Illness refers to “symptoms of a diagnosable illness that can be attributed directly to a
defined Interior Air Quality (IAQ) problem.”. The study to resolve said problem lead to a
study of Indoor Air Quality and believed that the quality of air of the indoor environment
contributes to the health quality of occupants.
However, it was later discovered that indoor air quality is not the only factor that causes Sick
Building Syndrome and Building Related Illness. As mentioned, the environmental quality of
indoor are comparable to that of a natural habitat. Thus, the complexity of an indoor
environmental quality are just as or, if not, more complex than the environment quality of a
natural habitat. The study have branched out to more factors such as odours, brightness,
vibration, temperature, humidity, acoustics and more.
For the sake of simplicity, the overall factors are classified into physical, chemical and
biological. Physical factors would involve factors that are identifiable by users such as
brightness, temperature, vibration and so on. Chemical factors on the other hand are factors
that are not as identifiable without device but would, most of the time, affect occupiers
nonetheless such as the intensity of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and
more. Finally, biological factors are similar to chemical factors, they are mostly unidentifiable
without the help of device and would, most of the time, cause health risks. These factors not
only contribute effect to the physical state of the users but also affect the psychological state
of the user and result in efficiency in work.
Indoor Air Quality
A healthy structure would require Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning designed system
that satisfy Part III of Uniform Building By-Laws (UBBL). HVAC system is an important
system that ensures movement, interchange, filter and also conditioning of air within the
interior space. To some countries, heating is required and could be achieved by heating the
air within the space or directly heating the occupants by radiation. Ventilation refers to the
exchange of air to maintain the mixture of gases, control odours and also remove
contaminants within occupied space. Most ventilation are controlled by either natural
ventilation such as wind or mechanical distribution system powered by fans. Finally, air
conditioning refers to the air being conditioned in forms of temperature, humidity, and
cleanliness to ensure that the condition of desired temperature and humidity in different
building as well as its zones are met.
A poor quality of air conditioning units will produce grating noise or failure to bring the
temperature of the room to desired condition or ventilate the indoor environment. For the
topic of acoustics, the problem can be easily solved should the problem be derived from the
fan vibrations. However, when the air velocity is too high or the duct space is too tight, the air
will cause the duct to vibrate. The solution could be either lowering the velocity of air or
increase the cross sectional area of duct space with the ideal result of maintaining the same
amount of air quality to the indoor environment quality. On the other hand, problem would
arise if the duct is placed in a very tight ceiling space which would affect the environmental
quality should the solution mentioned be applied. Thus, it is important to plan the services of
the interior building wisely and preferably with a worst case scenario considered.
Building Acoustics
Architectural acoustics are greatly influenced by the design of the interior itself. One of the
great example would be the type of floor used in an indoor would affect how sound travels
exempli gratia; the use of carpet will absorb sound and reduce echoes or the area of the
indoor space will affects the reflection of sound. Building acoustics of indoors can be
improved by with the installation of partition walls which is easy and cheap to construct. The
type of material used for partition wall needs to be considered because some material tends
to be a better insulator than another while some are better in reflecting sound. At the same
time, the design of the partition wall will also affect the indoor environment such as the
inclusion of door and windows or the shape of the partition wall. Despite so, the overall
design of the building in both form and engineered structure will also form a difference in
acoustics. The acoustics of a steel framed building, concrete frame building and timber
frame building absorbs sound differently because of the material used on the exterior.
Structure-wise, the thickness of each floor would also contribute to how sound could transfer
to the upper or lower floor. Either way, a poor indoor acoustics would affect the mood of
occupant and decreases efficiency of work.
Temperature
The definition of an ideal temperature is difficult or impossible to define because there is a
need to consider the environmental range and personal factors. Globally speaking, some
countries need heating systems because of cold winter and even within those countries,
some have different temperature range; some would want slightly hotter than the outside
while others would want temperature way hotter than the outside. In general, the indoor
comfort range is usually located in the centre of the psychometric chart of that region.
The effect of temperature is relatively similar to building acoustics. The type of material used
for the structure both on exterior and interior will affect the temperature of the indoor
environment including the exchange of heat due to the heat capacity of the material.
Thermal equilibrium contributes to the exchange of heat from the outside to the inside as
well. To ensure the room is conditioned to the reasonable comfort, HVAC system is
designed and used.
Odour
Compared to other factor, odour are the hardest to detect. The possibility of the source are
high. Sometimes, the smell could derive from the new furniture or even the occupant’s smell
themselves unless it is protected and “Green Labelled” (EPA, 2011). Therefore, it is hard to
find the source of the horrible smell or to prevent it.
The solution to the problem can branch to either have a better HVAC system or ensure the
air within is constantly exchanged at a desired rate or using chemical to suppress the
horrible stench. Most of the case, office and healthcare would use both. The only difference
would be the chemical used for the suppression of foul smell. Office would tend to use
chemicals that are function only to suppress bad odours such as room sprays or fragrance
whereas healthcare centres would use chemicals that was designed to eliminate health-risk
microorganism while at the same time suppress foul odours.
Daylight
Most of modern buildings operates with artificial lighting when it comes to the brightness of
an interior environment space. Ideally speaking, the brightness of the interior environment
should be equivalent to the natural brightness. According to some studies, the spectral
distribution of light frequencies, from red to violet, are all combined to form a single white
colour light. Even though most artificial light produce the same colour (or more for other
purpose), it is bound by the laws of physics and the frequencies of visible light that are
emitted are also limited.
As a species who originates from the earth that was exposed to sunlight which brightness
would change according to the climate, weather and formation of clouds rather than a
constant brightness of artificial light, our eyes would be strained for being exposed to the
constant flow of light into the eyes.
There are methods that could prevent such a problem. One of which would decreasing the
intensity of light in the room by using a weaker bulb or fluorescent light. However, the issue
would arise that when light too subtle would cause a psychological effect on the mood and
decrease the efficiency of perception which in turn affect the productivity of work. Another
more suggestable solution would be the design of the building cooperates with the natural
daylight by allowing it to penetrate into the interior environment. The mixture of both natural
and artificial lighting would not only economically saves the costs of light but also
aesthetically improves the interior environment.
Installation of Cassette Type Air Condition Units
As mentioned before, HVAC system must be installed to improve the interior air quality as
well as other physical factors. Ceiling cassette type air condition units are one of the most
frequently used in interior spaces such as offices. These type of cassette unit are usually
mounted in the ceiling and proved to be more effective as cold air are denser than hot air
and thus air travels towards the floor. The installation process of the air condition starts off
with the marking on the ceiling with either laser point or measuring tape. Once the ceiling
was marked, anchors will be placed into a drilled hole and bolt with the correct specs will be
screwed tightly. Before mounting the air conditioner, the unit will be checked by the hissing
sound of the released nitrogen by unfastening the flare nuts. If the hissing sound is absent,
or nitrogen injection is not done properly and air tight test will be perform to check for leaking
area. The unit is mounted and the levelness of the indoor unit is checked with a level meter.
The indoor unit is connected with copper pipe using a flaring tool, the inner surface of the
pipe is applied with refrigerant oil to avoid frictional leakage of gas can be avoided. Drain
pipes are install to facilitate the smooth discharge of condensed water produced in the
cooling operation. The drain pipe is connected to the flexible hose with a manufactured with
insulation material and bonded with a PVC bond as shown in figure 2.1
Figure 2.1 Installation of flexible pipe and drain pipe
The power supply to the indoor unit was supplied from the additional supply distribution
channel instead of the outdoor unit. The power and communication cable are protected with
protection pipes. There are two types of terminal used, a ring terminal for the connection of
power cable and Y terminal for the connection of communication table.
Once the power and communication cables are connected the indoor unit is covered to
prevent dust from construction. After the installation of suspended ceiling are finished, the
panel will be installed.
Case Study
We have conducted a survey to further understand what workers feel about their workspace.
The survey used qualitative method to understand in what way the does the workspace
affect the workers whereas quantitative method to understand using levels (in words instead
of numbers) to understand how the worker feel about the workspace.
The form was divided into three sections. The first sections function as a manipulative
demography to understand the background of the worker. The reason this was done
because we believe that different race, gender, and age will have different effect laid upon
them and thus different preference. The second section was designed to understand
schedule of the worker and also what their daily activity would involve to understand how
their activity relates to the workspace.
The third section holds two purpose. The first purpose is to, as mentioned before, to
understand the environment of the workspace and how it affects them. Starting from
Temperature, Acoustics, Smell and Lighting. The limitation of the survey is the physical and
psychological relationship between the environment and the occupants and are, thus,
subjective. Due to this reason, the factors involved in the survey are all physical factor
because it is impossible for our volunteer to detect biological and chemical factors with their
five senses unless a serious Sick Building Syndrome is developed in that area.
The other purpose of the third section also include preference which would aid in the
recommendation workspace. To support the idea, we also took pictures of the area to
understand the workspace better and could be used as proof or for visualization.
We decided to choose 4 main settings for comparison of its own kind. Taylor’s
Administration Centre versus Taylor’s Block C5 Office and Sunway hospital versus Taylor’s
Healthcare Service Centre. However, due to the lack of volunteer for the Healthcare Service
Centre, we decided to add in another Clinic that fits its category by size and services and
thus we included Taylors Clinic as well.
To ensure that the survey is entirely confidential and protects the volunteers privacy,
volunteers were assured of their protection in the survey form itself. The survey was checked
by group members several times before printing.
Methodology
Aim:
To understand the relationship between the interior design in both form and services and the occupants who works within it.
Independent Variable:
* Gender and The condition of workspace for each site
Dependent Variable:
* Preference and Feelings towards the workspace
Extraneous Variable:
* Amount of volunteers for each site
Materials:
50 set of 5 paged survey forms and writing material
Volunteers:
45
Taylor’s Clinic and Health Service Center-9
Sunway Hospital-10
Taylor’s Administration Office-11
Taylor’s Block C5 Office -15
Results
Section 1- Understanding Worker
Male= 44%
Female= 56%
Male= 25%
Female= 75%
Male= 64%
Female= 36%
Male= 47%
Female= 53%
Fig: 1.2 Job duration
Fig: 1.1 Percentage of Male vs Female
Section 2- Understanding Workspace
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, longtime
Yes, butfor
awhile
Not at all
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, longtime
Yes, butfor
awhile
Not at all
Hospital Male
Hospital Female
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
Yes,longtime
Yes, butfor
awhile
Not atall
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, longtime
Yes, butfor
awhile
Not at all
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
Yes, withmany
people
Yes, withless
people
Not at all
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
Yes,withmany
people
Yes,withless
people
Not atall
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, withmany
people
Yes, withless
people
Not at all
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
0
2
4
6
8
Yes, withmany
people
Yes, withless
people
Not at all
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
Fig: 2.1 Heat Exchange
Fig: 2.2 Heat from outsider
0
1
2
3
4
5
Clinic Male
Clinic Female01234567
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
012345678
Administration Office Male
Administration OfficeFemale
01234567
Block C Level5 Office Male
Block C Level5 OfficeFemale
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
Clinic Male
Clinic Female012345678
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
0123456
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0123456
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
Fig: 2.3 Source of indoor noise
Fig: 2.4 Source of outdoor noise
0123456
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0123456
Hospital Male
Hospital Female0
0.51
1.52
2.53
3.54
4.5
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
Fig: 2.5 Source of odour
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
Administration Office Male
Administration OfficeFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
Block C Level5 Office Male
Block C Level5 OfficeFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
Fig: 2.6 Exchange of odour
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Yes, for along time
Yes, but forshort time
No
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, for along time
Yes, butfor short
time
No
Hospital Male
Hospital Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes, fora longtime
Yes, butfor
shorttime
No
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Yes, for along time
Yes, but forshort time
No
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
Fig: 2.8 Odour lifespan
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes No
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Yes No
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes No
Administration Office Male
Administration OfficeFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes No
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
Fig: 2.9 Sunlight
Obtained
Section 3- Understanding the effect on worker
Table 3.1 Temperature Satisfaction
Table 3.2 Noise Tolerance
Table 3.3 Smell Tolerance
Table 3.4 Brightness Satisfaction
Clinic Hospital Administration Office Block C Level 5
Office
Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Not ideal 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 5
Tolerable 3 2 0 5 4 1 4 0
Ideal 0 2 3 2 1 2 2 3
Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8
Clinic Hospital Administration
Office Block C Level 5
Office
Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Unnoticeable 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tolerable 3 1 3 3 5 2 6 5
Annoying 0 4 0 4 2 2 1 3
Unbearable 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8
Clinic Hospital Administration
Office Block C Level 5
Office
Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Unnoticeable 1 0 1 2 4 0 1 3
Tolerable 3 4 2 5 2 1 6 3
Nasty 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 1
Unbearable 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8
Clinic Hospital Administration Office Block C Level 5
Office
Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Not ideal 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
Tolerable 1 3 2 1 5 1 3 2
Ideal 3 1 1 6 2 2 4 6
Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8
Section 4- Worker’s Preference
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Slightlycold
Natural Slightlywarmer
Block C Level 5Office male
Block C Level 5Office female
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Slightlycold
Natural Slightlywarmer
AdministationOffice male
AdministationOffice female
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Slightlycold
Natural Slightlywarmer
Hospital male
Hospital female
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Slightlycold
Natural Slightlywarmer
clinic male
clinic female
Fig 4.1Temperature Preference
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Naturallighting
ArtificialLighting
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
Naturallighting
ArtificialLighting
HospitalMale
HospitalFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Naturallighting
ArtificialLighting
Administration OfficeMale
Administration OfficeFemale 0
12345678
Naturallighting
ArtificialLighting
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
Figure 4.2 Light Type Preference
0
1
2
3
4
5
Darker thanafternoon
Brighter thanafternoon
Clinic Male
Clinic Female
0
2
4
6
8
Darker thanafternoon
Brighter thanafternoon
Hospital Male
HospitalFemale
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Darker thanafternoon
Brighter thanafternoon
AdministrationOffice Male
AdministrationOffice Female
0
1
2
3
4
5
Darker thanafternoon
Brighter thanafternoon
Block C Level 5Office Male
Block C Level 5Office Female
Fig 4.3 Light Intensity Preference
Discussion
The Workers
To begin with, female in clinic tend to work morning till evening whereas male would work on
shift from morning to evening, morning to night, afternoon to evening and afternoon to night.
Whereas in hospital, workers mostly work from morning to afternoon and female working
from morning till night. In Administration Office, most male work from morning to evening
with some from morning to night whereas all female worked from morning to evening. In
Block C Level 5, lecturers, both male and female, would tend to work from morning to
evening where class normally ends. Some female came from morning till afternoon and
some would work from morning till night. One a few men worked from morning till night or
afternoon till night.
In clinic, we dare say that most of the workers spent time sitting in front of the desk.
However, comparing between male and female, female tend to move around the interior a
lot. While in the hospital, most worker work in front of the desk while a number would spend
time walking in and out of the workspace during work. In Taylor’s Administration office and
Block C Level 5 office, however, spent most of their time walking in and out of the office.
From this, we understand; that workers in clinic spent from morning till evening in front of the
desk, workers in hospital spent from morning till evening work both in front of the desk and
also walking in and out of the workspace. Whereas most of the time from morning to
evening, the worker would be absent from their workspace. In comparison, worker in clinic
and hospital would have their sense more merged to their environment.
This means that there are possibility that any smell that outsiders detect may not be
detected by the workers while the other half of hospital workers, Taylors Administration
Centre and Block C Level 5 Office would be more susceptible to the environment of their
workspace because of the change of environment.
Clinic
Regarding the temperature of the clinic, most complained that the temperature changes
when the door opens. One half felt that the increase in the number of people would affect the
clinic workspace while the other half doesn’t feel the change at all. The source of indoor
noise by majority comes from machineries, some complained that it’s from electronic devices
but most of them find that chit-chat and laughter are more noticeable. Whereas outside of
the workspace are majorly affected by the chit chat and laughter of outsiders. To some,
construction works are equally noticeable.
It is expected that for a clinic, medical chemical odour are most noticeable among others.
Some female however, noticed aromatic smells such as perfume better than the rest. The
exchange of odour in clinics are quite rare to most male but some female find that
sometimes the smell does change when the outsider enters the space. Almost all of the staff
claim that the smell doesn’t stay in the space for long. One felt for a short time.
In the aspect of light, most of the worker have natural light in the office, only one complained
that there were none.
Most of the worker did not find the temperature ideal, they find it rather tolerable, and two
people find that the temperature is not ideal. In terms of noise, the female find the noises
rather annoying, while most male find it tolerable to a point where one find it unnoticeable.
The clinic holds smell that the worker is tolerable, one of them find it nasty while another one
found it unnoticeable. Equal amount of worker find that the brightness of the clinic is both
tolerable and ideal. Only one female find that the area does not have ideal lighting.
Majority of the male worker hoped that the workspace is slightly colder than natural
environment while most female worker prefer the workspace to be equivalent to the natural
environment. Most of the worker also prefer natural lighting over artificial lighting. Only one
male prefers artificial lighting. The intensity of lighting is preferred to be brighter than
afternoon.
We can dare conclude that the clinic is ventilation is rather weak. The ventilation system
failed to reach desired temperature when there is an exchange of temperature. However, the
exchange rate of air is functioning when the workers did not feel the change in odour. One of
the problem the clinic faced is the noisiness of the setting. Judging by how small the Taylor’s
clinic and health service center, it is quite expected to see such a result. The workspace also
have sufficient natural light overall and are quite open to sunlight.
Hospital
A lot of female felt the difference in temperature when the door opens but only for a while. A
small amount doesn’t felt the change in temperature. Unlike clinic, the hospital doesn’t feel
the increase in temperature as the amount of people increase in the workspace.
Despite the fact that the workers are in a hospital, the most noticeable noise the workers
heard is chit chatting in their workspace, another half find that the electronic device are the
one being noisy. Similarly, the outside are also filled with chit chat and laughter. Few of them
find loud events being noisy while another find the indoor too noisy to hear any outdoor
noises.
The source of odour, as expected, derives from both medical chemicals. A number find that
aromatic chemical are rather noticeable. The exchange of odour, by majority are rare to
never. The smell stayed for a short amount of time, according a majority of female. Equal
amount of male and female claimed the smell doesn’t stay. The nurses agreed that they got
sufficient sunlight. However, one male and female disagreed.
The temperature of the area are majorly tolerable to ideal. Noise however, are annoying to a
few but equal amount of people felt that the noise is rather tolerable. Most of the worker felt
that the smell is tolerable but some find it unnoticeable to begin with. None of the worker find
the smell nasty and unbearable. The workers also find the brightness of their workspace
ideal if not tolerable.
The nurses, prefer the temperature of the area to be as natural as the environment. A few
want it to be slightly cold. The workers favour the workspace to have more natural lighting.
There are a few female prefer that the workspace to be artificial lighting. All of them prefer
the brightness to be brighter than afternoon.
In a nutshell, the supposed deduction regarding the ventilation system of the hospital is that
the space is pressurized ventilated air and thus when the door opens the exchange rate of
air is higher from the inside to the outside. From here, we can say that the hospital is well
ventilated. The overall temperature and smell are well controlled including the brightness of
the work. The only seemingly uncontrollable factor that they are suffering from is noise from
chit chats and laughter.
Administration Office
Preponderance amount of male felt that the temperature changed when the door opens
while a number of men doesn’t seem to agree with the observation. Female however, felt the
change in temperature but only for a short moment. Both male and female staff member felt
that the temperature increases as the amount of people increases too many while only a few
felt nothing at all.
Most of the male staff member felt that the sound most noticeable is machinery with
electronic coming second place. Both equal amount of female and male find that chit chat
are noticeable in that sense. Outside, however, chit chat and laughter are most noticeable
whereas loud events come in second. Construction noises, both equal and slight amount of
male and female find it noticeable as well.
Unlike clinic and hospitals, there are no medical chemical smell to be detected but the male
staff find that aromatic chemical most noticeable. Cleaning and machinery chemical are also
noticed by men. Female however, point out that others are more noticeable. The exchange
of odour happens rare to never for men but for women each felt from rarely to sometimes too
often and finally to always. Women staff felt that the smell stayed for quite a long time, while
men feel that the smell dissipates to none without a notice. Some felt that the smell stayed
for a short time.
Most of the worker felt that they have got the sufficient sunlight they needed but only 2 male
and 1 female out of 11 felt that they did not have sufficient sunlight they wanted.
Majority of the worker are tolerable with the temperature they have now. Equal amount of
staff member find that it’s ideal and not ideal. Noise on the other hand is also tolerable to the
majority of them, a few find them annoying. The smell are equal sum to either unnoticeable
or nasty. Similarly, the find that the brightness is tolerable, a few found it ideal while only one
find it not ideal to her liking.
The temperature most preferred is natural environmental temperature. Although some men
prefer the workspace to be slightly colder than the natural environment. Nearly all of the staff
member prefer to have a natural lighting over artificial lighting and the same goes to the
workspace being brighter than afternoon.
The administration office can be said to have a well ventilated area seeing how the
temperature of the workspace weren’t affected too tremendously when there are change in
situation as well as the exchange in odour. The sufficient light the worker got is the result of
using a glass wall of the exterior illuminating the interior at a great extent.
Block C Level 5 Office
Heat exchange happens to a majority of lecturers, most of them find that it stays for a while.
A few, felt that it stayed for a long time. A vast amount of female complained about large
amount of people increases the temperature of the room while a vast amount of male
doesn’t seem to feel the change in temperature as the amount of people increases.
The most noticeable sound is chit chat and laughter. Another amount of people feel that
noticeable noise comes from electronic devices and lesser for machineries. Chit chat and
laughter are equally noticeable even outside of the building especially for women. However,
male equally noticed loud events and chit chat.
The smell most noticeable is cleaning chemicals. Female felt that some other smells are
more noticeable than cleaning chemical. The odour exchange is rare to sometimes for men
while for most female find that it rarely happen while identical amount of female find that it
happened from sometimes too often. Majority of the lecturer find that the smell stayed for a
short time, however there are also little who find that the smell doesn’t stay.
A number of people felt that they have obtained sufficient daylight while a slightly lesser
quantity of people felt that they did not have enough daylight.
More lecturers find that the temperature is not ideal for them especially female. There’s also
a large amount of people find that the workspace’s temperature is ideal for them. Most of the
lecturer, like before, find the workspace’s noise tolerable while a few find the noise annoying.
The smell are majorly tolerable while a few unnoticeable. Little of them find the smell rather
nasty and one find it unbearable. The brightness of the room is majorly ideal to the lecturers,
a minute amount find it tolerable.
Nearly equal amount of lecturer prefer natural environmental temperature and slightly cold
but natural environmental temperature was supported more. A majority of lecturers prefer
natural lighting while a few prefer artificial lighting. Shockingly, the lecturers, in slightly larger
amount, prefers their workspace darker than afternoon while the other prefer the workspace
brighter than afternoon.
The office is well ventilated but not as ventilated as administration office. The ventilation
system could not balance the thermal equilibrium dissipated from the outsider and are thus
hot when a large amount of outsider are in the workspace. Due to this, there are amount of
lecturers finding that the office does not have an ideal temperature. However, the ventilation
system manage to remove the odour in the room. The acoustics of the office isn’t well
managed but not severe and the lighting of the room bright enough to work and are glad that
it’s not brighter than afternoon daylight.
Recommendation
Natural ventilation - Install operable windows or vents that allow natural ventilation to enter
the premises. The admissions office has very little natural ventilation points, and those points
are only the doors of the main building. Their secondary entrance is very small, limiting
natural ventilation from entering the office. The employees cannot rely entirely on
mechanical ventilation such as air conditioning. This is mainly because, if there is a sudden
break down of air conditioning or electricity, the entire work place will be affected, causing
the temperature in the premises to increases drastically, especially without the access to
natural ventilation.
Increase air ventilation rate – The administration office has been reported to be too cold
during working hours. We recommend that air ventilation rates should be increased as to
regulate temperatures, providing the ideal temperature suited work place for the employees.
Since the workplace is too cold, the increase in air ventilation rate will allow warmer air to
enter, regulating the cold temperature, resulting in the thermal comfort of the employees.
With the achievement of thermal comfort, employees will have a much higher productivity
rate allowing them to perform better instead of being sluggish and slow in colder
temperatures.
Reduce or prevent the use of air fresheners – To avoid having to smell odours that enter the
workplace, most employees use air fresheners to cover the problem. However, this is a very
misconception by most people as using air fresheners actually worsen the problem of bad
odour in the workplace. Air fresheners do cover up the smell, but they do not eliminate the
particles that contribute to the bad odours. With the extensive use of fresheners, the
particles of bad odours will continue to build up and eventually seeping into the carpet floor.
Employees are unaware of the source of the bad odour that is building up which becomes
much harder to get rid of later on in the future. When the source of odour has built up to an
extent where even air fresheners cannot mask or extensive daily cleaning will not suffice, the
entire carpet floor must be removed and replaced. Delaying the act of removing the source
of odour with air fresheners only increases the expenses of extensive washing and
purchasing more air fresheners.
Ensuring that cleaning products do not contribute to the smell – The office in C5 has been
reported to smell a lot like cleaning products. Taylor’s should advise the cleaners to refrain
from using products that have these “fragrances”. Cleaning services should be carried out
during the weekends to ensure that the smell does not affect the employees.
Zoning of work areas that have higher levels of noise in the workplace – Some parts of the
workplace in the Admissions department are noisy due to loud discussions or phone calls.
Zoning out these areas may be able to level down the amount of noise created
simultaneously that may affect other areas that disrupts other employees from working. This
would require the relocation of some employees.
Replacing ceilings and walls – Ceilings should have a minimum NRC (Noise Reduction
Coefficient) of 0.9 in open plans of the office work area and a minimum NRC of 0.8 in
enclosed areas such as meeting rooms. At least 25% of walls should be replaced with sound
absorbing panels with NRC of 0.8. Walls should be replaced with walls that acquire STC
(Sound Transmission Class) 53 to isolate video conference rooms. STC 40 should be the
minimum requirement to isolate rooms or cubicles in the workplace to provide more privacy
to the employee in it. These may cost a lot, but it is a much better investment in ensuring the
employees are at their fullest comfort and productivity.
Reference
Improving indoor air quality at your place of work. (2013, July 1). Retrieved June 21, 2015.
Kibert, C. (2008). Sustainable construction: Green building design and delivery (2nd ed.).
Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Muszynski, L. (Ed.). (2010, July 1). IEQ Factors Daylighting, Thermal Comfort and Acoustics
for Healthy Space - Facilities Management IAQ Feature. Retrieved June 21, 2015,
from http://www.facilitiesnet.com/iaq/article/IEQ-Factors-Daylighting-Thermal-
Comfort-and-Acoustics-for-Healthy-Space-Facilities-Management-IAQ-Feature--
11922
Sound Matters. (2011, December 1). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from
https://www.wbdg.org/ccb/GSAMAN/gsa_soundmatters.pdf
Bibliography
Enhance Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). (2014, April 9). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from
http://www.wbdg.org/design/ieq.php
High-Performance HVAC. (2014, April 11). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from
http://www.wbdg.org/resources/hvac.php
Learning outcome
We spent so much time in our interior environment to a point where we have simply failed to
observe out surroundings and how these minor detail affects us. This group project is what
lead us to that observation, to that understanding. To remind us that even though the
building was constructed by human, there will always variables, constantly changing, for the
better or for the worst.
Factors such as acoustics, odours, brightness, and so on could be annoying to us at times
even to a point of unbearable hindrance but there is also a need that there is a need to have
a balance of such factors. They are elements that makes what an interior an interior, for the
lack of such, will destroy the harmony of such elements. The lack of sound would drive us
mad, the lack of light would cause us to form our own imaginary light such as the prisoner’s
cinema and the lack of temperature would leave us shivering in cold.
We may have ruled the earth but by the end of the day, we are still governed by nature.
Seeing how our environment in our homes need to be designed in such a way where the
interior must imitate nature. Where our homes need to be designed in such a way where it is
not a cave in the form of cube but a beautiful field of greens and nature in a more aesthetic
form.
From the group project, we not only understood the relationship between occupants and the
interior space, elements of interior space that affects occupants and its causes but also the
fact that this entire project was made through the spirit of teamwork. This group project
allowed us to understand the importance of teamwork by helping each other and fill up parts
where we could not fill ourselves due to the lack of ability. As a team, we back each other up
and helped each other understand studies that are too complex.
Appendix
Report written by
Liew Yong Sheng and Darren Lee Kim Thiam
Survey form designed by
Liew Yong Sheng, Wong Geng Sen, Mohammad Hasif, Parvesh Ferag
Surveyed by
Wong Geng Sen and Parvesh Ferag
Presentation slides designed and organized by
Mohammad Hasif
Tabulation of data and graphed by
Darren Lee Kim Thiam, Mohammad Hasif and Kevin Lee Hee Xian
Researched by
Liew Yong Sheng, Darren Lee Kim Thiam and Mohammad Hasif