Modelling the Dynamic Interaction between Building Performance and Occupant Well-Being

Knowledge workers are the greatest asset of any corporation. Environmental factors like air quality and temperature impact knowledge workers’ well-being, and influence concentration and motivation to work. Built environment research focuses on occupant comfort which typically prioritizes tangible factors, such as temperature, over imperceptible yet impactful factors like indoor air carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration levels. Well-being offers a comprehensive perspective that includes comfort, psycho-physiological, social and personal needs. The accuracy of current models to predict building performance and occupant well-being is compromised by assumptions and simplifications leading to discrepancies between model results and measured performance. We present a case study to understand the CO₂ concentration variability due to occupant biometric and psycho-physiological states. The results reflect the lack of adjustment of the building systems to CO₂ concentration variability in response to the diverse activities in the spaces, and the lack of occupant awareness to the impact of the increased CO₂ concentration levels on knowledge work productivity. We present a comprehensive framework to model the dynamic interaction between building performance and occupant well-being.