Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Indoor Environmental Quality Parameters for Thermal, Visual, and Acoustic Comfort Conditions in a Malaysian Green Building: A Preliminary Study

Although most international green building rating tools emphasise green features to enhance indoor environmental quality (IEQ), several post-occupancy studies have reported occupant dissatisfaction with specific IEQ parameters during the operational stage of a building. Therefore, a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was carried out in this study to assess the occupant perceptions and satisfaction with IEQ concerning thermal, visual, and acoustic comfort in a Malaysian green building. A total of 151 participants responded to a questionnaire survey employing the seven-point sensation, tolerance, preference, and acceptance scales to evaluate their experiences and satisfaction with their workspace environment. Even though the respondents predominantly expressed satisfaction with the relative humidity (86.1%), air movement (85.4%), and noise level (94.7%) conditions, their perceptions of temperature and lighting conditiong demonstrated certain variability. These results confirmed that the examined green building possessed comfort with well-designed workspaces, effective maintenance, and sustainable building practices. The findings highlighted potential areas for further improving the IEQ conditions based on the perceptions of the occupants. Future studies should consider a comparative analysis of IEQ data across similar building types while incorporating objective measurements with occupant surveys to yield a more precise assessment of IEQ.