COVID-19 has forced people to spend more time indoors due to lockdown and social distancing, and clients demand personalized indoor spaces designed to increase individual satisfaction indoors. Consequently, various fourth industrial revolution technologies have been applied to support construction spaces to satisfy those clients lacking architectural knowledge and experience by reflecting individual tendencies and perceptions to build personalized indoor spaces. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how users evaluate the space according to behaviors and emotions felt in the space. A systematic review is performed to integrate significant categories from multiple disciplines to investigate the various decision-making aspects. In this study, 124 papers were selected, applying the PRISMA checklist to conduct a systematic literature review with scientometric analysis to propose a conceptual framework by reflecting the research trend related to indoor space decision-making. Accordingly, research on indoor space decision-making is increasing with pursuing convergence with various fields of study. The research is focused on the following four clusters: indoor space components, human tendencies, technology, and spatial evaluation. The framework proposed by integrating these trends could be utilized by clients as a practical tool to support people-centered indoor space decision-making post-COVID-19. Moreover, a framework should be developed to expand effectiveness in indoor spaces through convergence and collaboration research with psychology, physiology, and the medical field.

The recent pandemic era of COVID-19 has shown social adjustment on a global scale in an attempt to reduce contamination. In response, academic studies relating to smart technologies have increased to assist with governmental restrictions such as social distancing. Despite the restrictions, architectural, engineering and construction industries have shown an increase in budget and activity. An investigation of the adjustments made in response to the pandemic through utilizing new technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT) and smart technologies, is necessary to understand the research trends of the new normal. This study should address various sectors, including business, healthcare, architecture, education, tourism and transportation. In this study, a literature review was performed on two web-based, peer-reviewed journal databases, SCOPUS and Web of Science, to identify a trend in research for the pandemic era in various sectors. The results from 123 papers revealed a focused word group of IoT, smart technologies, architecture, building, space and COVID-19. Overlapping knowledges of IoT systems, within the design of a building which was designed for a specific purpose, were discovered. The findings justify the need for a new sub-category within the field of architecture called “smart architecture”. This aims to categorize the knowledge which is required to embed IoT systems in three key architectural topics—planning, design, and construction—for building design with specific purposes, tailored to various sectors.

This study examines the case of a shopping mall in Seoul, South Korea, based on its offline retail sales data during the period of the enforcement of the COVID-19 pandemic social distancing policy. South Korea implemented strict social distancing, especially in retail categories where people eat out, due to the danger of spreading infectious disease. A total of 55 retail shops’ sales data were analyzed and classified into five categories: fashion, food and beverage (f&b), entertainment, cosmetics and sport. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and exponential smoothing (ETS) models were employed, and the autocorrelation (ACF) and partial autocorrelation (PACF) of each retail category’s sales data were analyzed. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was used to determine the most suitable forecasting model for each retail category. In this way, the f&b and entertainment retail categories, in which people eat out, were found to have been significantly impacted, with their 2022 sales forecasted to be less than 80% of their 2018 and 2019 sales. The fashion retail category was also significantly impacted, slowly recovering sales in 2022. The cosmetics and sport retail categories were little impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, with their retail sales having already recovered by 2022.

As Korea has declared to realize a net-zero emission by 2050 in the Paris Agreement, the country has begun to implement national energy efficiency policies through the Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design (G-SEED) certification and revision of building insulation thickness standard. However, some studies have reported the ineffectiveness of G-SEED certification and insulation thickness standard in reducing the energy consumption in certain buildings. Therefore, this study investigated the effectiveness of G-SEED certification and the revision of buildings’ insulation thickness standard, and evaluated the energy consumption of courthouse buildings. In addition, this study investigated the total annual energy consumption (electricity, gas, and heating energy) per gross floor area of courthouse buildings located in the central and southern regions of South Korea. Although many studies about the energy consumption analysis of non-residential buildings have been performed previously, a study evaluating the effectiveness of green certification and building insulation thickness standard on the energy consumption of courthouse buildings was performed for the first time. The results revealed that the revision of building insulation thickness standard and G-SEED certification resulted in an energy consumption efficiency of 34.61 and 31.14%, respectively. These results indicated the effectiveness of G-SEED certification and the revision of the building insulation thickness standard for enhancing energy efficiency in Korean courthouse buildings. However, some negative results were observed in the southern area, indicating that it is essential to increase the effectiveness of the building insulation thickness standard and G-SEED certification implementation.