Understanding how occupants perceive the built environment is a growing interest in sustainability research. This article looks into how design interventions in a workplace renovation project impact occupants’ satisfaction through a pre-and post-occupancy survey. In two years (from 2016 to 2018), an interdisciplinary research team from the University of Minnesota administered online occupancy surveys at the headquarters of the Cuningham Group, a national renowned design firm in Minnesota. The surveys included 12 indoor environmental quality categories (with 26 criteria on a 7-point Likert scale) that measured how occupants perceived their existing workplace and the renovated environment. Mann–Whitney U tests and Chi-square tests were conducted for 12 indoor environmental quality categories between the pre-and post-surveys. Results showed that occupants’ satisfaction significantly increased with the design interventions in the renovated workplace. Perceived work performance and health also improved in the post-survey. Among 12 indoor environmental quality categories, occupants perceived the biggest improvements in lighting such as adjustability and quality of task lighting. Design interventions in electric lighting, especially improved ease of control, effectiveness of automatic systems, plus visual and acoustic comfort, contributed to occupants’ satisfaction. Overall, the pre-and post-occupancy evaluation survey analysis confirmed the positive impact of the renovated Cuningham Group facility. The article presents a comprehensive measure of the impact of the data-driven design interventions derived from pre-and post-occupancy evaluation surveys on occupant satisfaction.

Purpose This study aims to explore the impact of experiencing virtual reality (VR) and three-dimensional (3D) printing during the design process on the creativity of interior design students in a luminaire design project. Design/methodology/approach This study used the case-study approach within the context of a nine-week luminaire design project. Collected data included self-reported interest and engagement of students from a Qualtrics questionnaire and the ratings of their creativity via the Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS) with two judges. Findings Descriptive statistics from the Qualtrics questionnaire indicated an overall high level of student interest and engagement with the VR and 3D printing learning experience. Paired t-tests from CPSS ratings of the two judges showed a moderate increase in novelty and a significant increase in style with the introduction of VR and 3D printing technologies, respectively. Research limitations/implications Spearman’s correlations (rho) showed no statistical evidence for the relationships between CPSS ratings for creativity and students’ self-reported interest and engagement in VR and 3D printing learning experience. Practical implications Ample access time to VR technology and sufficient control over the 3D printing process are important for effective applications of Industry 4.0 technologies in organizations. Social implications This study dissected the confounding variables in its results as practical considerations for intergrading VR and 3D printing technologies for organizations in Industry 4.0. Originality/value This study acknowledged VR and 3D printing technologies as simulants for interest and engagement, which benefit creativity.

Interior design education aims to provide students with real learning experiences. The authors, hence, combined problem-based learning (PBL) and design thinking to design a seven-week studio project in the Interior design program at a land-grant Midwest university. Thirty-two sophomores were engaged in different stages of the design process for the education wing of Minnesota’s official natural history museum in collaboration with Perkins+ Will, a global architecture and design firm. Students explored design thinking via interactions with stakeholders and practitioners who participated in the creation of the Museum. This approach allowed students to gain insights about the design challenge plus the pros and cons of their solutions. For seven weeks, students in teams of three immersed themselves in a diverse and real design environment. They learned how to communicate, collaborate, and compromise to accomplish the common goal of finding the most relevant solution for the design problem at hand. The authors collected students’ reflections on their learning experiences at the end of the project. This paper discusses the lessons we learned from this interior design PBL case.

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PurposeIn this study, an interdisciplinary research team at a Midwest US University collaborated with a local county to co-envision interior design strategies for five county buildings: three libraries and two government buildings to reduce in-person contact in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors' interdisciplinary team used a community-based participatory design process which focused on creating consensus, while seeking out divergent perspectives among stakeholders to serve the needs of diverse users. The design process involved meetings with stakeholders remotely and analyzing survey results from the target occupants collected by the county.FindingsThe county with a population of 550,321 is the second most populous and diverse county in the state. The authors' collaborative efforts resulted in short-and long-term recommendations for the interior space planning to promote health, safety, and well-being for the county's diverse user groups of young children, adults, elderly and vulnerable populations. The short-term recommendations focus on service redesigns that can be implemented as the state shifts out of the stay-at-home order and the community returns to the county's public-facing buildings. The long-term recommendations focus on experiences and design strategies that can be carried forward to future-proof buildings in a post-COVID era and provide models for other counties.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation is the dynamic nature of how rapidly our team responded to a critical need in the community to develop tangible interior design solutions during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic for the county. The solutions we proposed were based on the scientific evidence available earlier on during that phase of the pandemic. The authors hope to conduct further studies in the future and conduct assessments of our rapid design responses.Practical implicationsThis paper documents a dynamic experience during a once in a lifetime pandemic and thus contributes to further the body of knowledge about the role of interior design in shaping health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThe article presents a timely interdisciplinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic to promote community safety inside public buildings at the county. The interior design solutions reflected intensive literature reviews, critical space planning, innovative use of lighting, and thoughtful furniture/material selections.