Subjective assessment of indoor air quality in office buildings

Abstract

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in modern buildings has become a major concern for building designers, owners, and managers due to its adverse effect on occupants' health and productivity. This thesis discusses the Indoor Air Quality problems in Saudi office buildings. To identify these prolems a sample survey of thirty buildings was undertaken. The survey includes two main parts: Occupant's survey and Building survey. The first is for indentifying the IAQ problems related to the occupants. The second is for identifying the IAQ problems related to building systems. Thirty buildings in the Eastern Province, were surveyed. 846 occupants' questionnaires and 30 buildings' questionnaires were collected. Both of these surveys were analyzed by a statistical computer program called SPSS. It has been revealed by this survey, that some buildings have a low Indoor Air Quality, which has a negative effect on occupants health and productivity. Also it was found that the building envelop, the HVAC system, and the type of air handling system in the building could have a leading roll in reducing the IAQ.