Measuring the Impact of a High-Performance All-Glass Building on the Indoor Acoustic Environment and the Occupants Perception of Health, Satisfaction and Productivity

摘要

The aesthetic and functional appeal of high-performance all-glass buildings presents special challenges that create a hyped expectation of better daylighting performance and improved indoor environmental quality, typically hypothesized to improve occupant health, satisfaction and productivity. Most recent studies have failed to prove these linkages leading to inconclusive evidence of all-glass building performance. Extensive use of glass at the building's perimeter and interior to improve visual comfort can negatively impact acoustic comfort without proper design considerations. The paper will describe the existing conditions of a traditional building (pre-move) and extensive improvements to a LEED® certified building (post-move). Acoustical measurements were conducted to visualize background noise levels and speech privacy in the open-plan space between workstations, as well as sound isolation between meeting rooms. Acoustic comfort mapping results for spatial decay and distraction distance using speech transmission index will be graphically illustrated for internal and perimeter workstations. Design strategies employed to improve acoustic comfort will be highlighted and connected to the results of the assessment, as well as correlated with the occupant's surveyed experience. Results indicate that the employees' multi-comfort perception of the acoustical environment at the LEED certified building was much higher than in the traditional office building.