INCREASING THE VALUE OF A BUILDING BY ADDRESSING WELL BEING - THE PRINCIPAL TOOLS: THERMAL AND OLFACTORY COMFORT

摘要

Until recently, cost has been the primary consideration in the management of real estate. Nowadays investors and users require that buildings are built and operated to a standard known as 'performance based building' (PeBBU). These buildings go well beyond traditional methods of addressing the well being of building occupants, resulting in enhanced productivity, reduced absenteeism and reduced health risks. Physiological and neurophysiological research shows that air quality, encompassing both olfactory and thermal comfort, plays an important role. The elimination of pollutants is far from being sufficient and does not significantly reduce the dissatisfaction rate of building occupants. This paper will demonstrate how the economic value added was increased in a Berlin office building as a result of improvements in the indoor air environment. These improvements are based on physiological and neurophysiological studies on the perception of air that have focused on olfactory comfort and its relation to thermal comfort.