The impact of a view from a window on thermal comfort, emotion, and cognitive performance

Ko, Won Hee; Schiavon, Stefano; Zhang, Hui; Graham, Lindsay T.; Brager, Gail; Mauss, Iris B.; Lin, Yu Chang

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106779

Cited by 165 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…New technologies from medical sciences (e.g., wearable sensors) are gradually being introduced to assess the health aspects of human responses to environmental stimuli or to improve comfort models on the basis of occupants' physiological response [31,32]. Examples of this continuous and ongoing evolution in IEQ research and practice include the development of personal comfort models [32,33] and personal comfort systems [34], the application of circadian lighting design [35], and the valuation of qualitative aspects affecting visual quality [36,37]; but what about acoustics in this "pursuit of wellbeing" [15]?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research

et al. 2020

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The focus of the building industry and research is shifting from delivering satisfactory spaces to going beyond what is merely acceptable with a wave of new research and practice dedicated to exploring how the built environment can support task performance and enhance people’s health and well-being. The present study addresses the role of acoustics in this paradigm shift. Indoor soundscape research has recently emerged as an approach that brings a perceptual perspective on building and room acoustics in order to shape built environments that “sound good” according to building occupants’ preference and needs. This paper establishes an initial discussion over some of the open questions in this field of research that is still in an embryonic stage. A thematic analysis of structured interviews with a panel of experts offered a range of perspectives on the characterization, management, and design of indoor soundscapes and health-related outcomes. The discussion pointed out the importance of both perceptual and multisensory research and integrated participatory design practices to enable a holistic view regarding the complex building–user interrelations and the design of just cities. Soundscape methodologies tailored to the peculiarities of indoor soundscapes can help to measure and predict the human perceptual response to the acoustic stimuli in context, thus reducing the risk of mismatches between expected and real building experiences. This perceptual perspective is expected to widen the scientific evidence for the negative and positive impacts of the acoustic environment on human health, well-being, and quality of life. This will support prioritizing the role of acoustics in building design and challenge many current design practices that are based on a noise control approach.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research

et al. 2020

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“…Another aspect widely discussed in the literature is the positive distraction caused by nature [33], whereby visual scenes and sounds of nature significantly reduces ratings of pain [34], and influence recovery times from surgery [35] and elevated stress [36]. Ko et al [37] showed positive emotions (e.g., happy, satisfied) were higher and negative emotions (e.g., sad, drowsy) were lower for the participants in a space with window on close nature versus the windowless condition. Herzog and Chernick [38] showed that settings that had distant natural and urban landscapes were perceived as more open (i.e., perceived amount of space).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the effect of landscape distance seen in window views on visual satisfaction

Kent

Schiavon

2020

Building and Environment

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Daylighting standards dictate that the view seen through a window can be evaluated using several criteria. Among one of them is the distance at which the visual content can be seen. However, not enough guidance is given on how this criterion can be applied in practice. We used two approaches to address this problem: online surveys and human subject assessment in a controlled experiment using an artificial window. Images were used in both cases to represent window views. Two independent groups of participants took part in either study and both gave subjective satisfaction ratings to three parameters, namely, connection to the outside, visual content and visual privacy. Eighteen images were evaluated in the online surveys by a total of 91 participants while eight images were rated by 50 participants that took part in the controlled experiment. We developed a calculation method, named the Observer Landscape Distance (OLD), to quantify the distance of the window view landscape from the occupant. Our initial results showed that people are more satisfied when features are far away. However, we also showed that when the landscape contained nature, the effect of distance was smaller. If far away views cannot be provided due to site constrains, nature (e.g. trees) should be integrated nearby to increase satisfaction. Current daylighting standards promote distant views regardless of its visual content (nature or urban). We found that visual content matters and occupants prefer urban features to be viewed from a distance, whereas this same recommendation does not apply for nature.

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“…Another plausible explanation of our findings could be the natural ventilation from window opening (Fisk 2018;Ko et al 2020;Najafi et al 2019). Opening window can increase the indoor infiltration rates and reduce prevalence rates of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms (Fisk et al 2009;Fisk 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…A recent study also highlighted the beneficial effect of window ventilation for emotion and mood, and it showed that more positive emotions (e. g., happy, satisfied) and fewer negative emotions (e.g., sad, drowsy) for the participants in the window versus the windowless condition. It also suggested that providing a window with a view might boost the comfort, emotion, memory and concentration for the occupants (Ko et al 2020). Additionally, the benefits of higher levels of natural viewing through window- opening might be attributed to the mechanisms of biology, physiology, and lifestyle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another benefit of window opening is that indoor air exchanging, also defined as natural ventilation (Escombe et al 2007), could directly or indirectly affect health through following pathways: lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants (Tong et al 2016), managing indoor temperature and moisture levels (Francisco et al 2017; Ye et al 2017), as well as reducing the risk of airborne contagion such as tuberculosis (Escombe et al 2007) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Chen and Zhao 2020). In addition, window opening has protective effects on cognitive functions (Ko et al 2020) and can also decrease the risk of sick building syndrome (i.e. a medical condition displaying respiratory symptoms and mental illnesses such as headache, fatigue, difficulty in concentration, and personality changes) (Fisk et al 2009; Fisk 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature contact by window opening and depressive symptoms among Older Adults: A cross-sectional analysis of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Jin

Zhang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests that window-view and window-ventilation may contribute to mental wellbeing. Compared to their younger counterparts, older adults spend more time at home and have less contact with natural environments due to social isolation and physical decline. However, the association of residential window-opening with depressive symptoms is understudied among older populations. METHODS: We used data from a community-based cohort study conducted in 23 provinces of China including 13,125 adults age 65 years or older (mean age: 83.8 years [SD: 11.1]). We created the window opening index (WOI) as a proxy of window-view and window-ventilation, leveraging relevant data on self-reported frequencies of manual window opening at home. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the 10-item version of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale no fewer than 10. We used multivariate logistic regression model to examine the association between window opening and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: In the multivariate logistic regression model controlling for a set of well-designed mood-influencing environmental and individual-level covariates, a protective effect of window opening on depressive symptoms was observed, with 16% lower odds per interquartile increment in WOI (odds ratio: 0.84, 95%-CI: 0.81-0.87). Subgroup analyses indicated that the beneficial effects were more pronounced among those with higher socioeconomic status (higher levels of education, urban residents) and better surrounding environments (lower exposure of ambient fine particular matter, proximity to park, or higher levels of residential greenness). DISCUSSION: The results point to the benefits of well-designed household window-opening environments on the mental health of older populations and suggest a synergistic effect of window-opening and favorable surrounding natural environment.

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The impact of a view from a window on thermal comfort, emotion, and cognitive performance

Cited by 165 publications

References 89 publications

Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research

Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research

Evaluation of the effect of landscape distance seen in window views on visual satisfaction

Nature contact by window opening and depressive symptoms among Older Adults: A cross-sectional analysis of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

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