for that are unclear and often differ from case to case . Possible reasons include unrealistic assumptions of user behaviour , inadequate building performance , or simply users lacking an incentive to conform to the design assumptions ( Santos Silva and Ghisi , 2014 ; Bourgeois et al , 2006 ; de Wilde and Tian , 2009 ; Gill et al , 2010 ).
A secondary reason is the relative lack of validation of the predicted design performance . While most buildings today incorporate at least some degree of pro-sustainability technologies , this is typically done on the design stage via meeting specific requirements set out in the local building regulations . Only a small percentage of completed buildings is monitored for environmental performance once it ’ s been put in use , usually when there is specific research interest . Even then , the monitoring only happens for small periods of time which might not be representative , or might be subject to a range of technical problems ( Swan et al , 2015 ).
As such , the importance of Post-Occupancy Evaluation ( POE ) surveys cannot be understated . They are fundamental in closing the aforementioned loop . Menezes et al have shown how they can be used to address the performance gap ( 2012 ), while Bordass and Leaman ( 2005 ) called for POEs to become a routine part of project delivery over a decade ago . While the benefits are obvious , a key barrier was identified early in environmental design research : most clients do not see a direct benefit from a POE thus creating fragmented incentives ( Zimmerman and Martin , 2001 ). It is not difficult to appreciate why this appears so from a client ’ s perspective : from a strictly business perspective there is no legal requirement to conduct one and the results might show design flaws that a developer might prefer hidden .
This , however , does not justify why there is relatively limited take-up amongst architects as well as big institutional clients who commission and manage buildings for their own use . A possible factor is the relative disconnect between the presentation tools architects use and the format of data gathered by data loggers , the devices that measure , record , and store parameters related to the environment for further analysis by environmental specialists . Designers work with highly visual tools ( these days almost exclusively in 3D ) while the output of data collected by loggers is typically in a Comma Separated Values (. csv ) or variations of this . Similarly , the significant amounts of data collected by loggers are not always easy to communicate to senior managers , building users , or other decision makers and stakeholders without built environment expertise .
The EnViz software application
In order to address some of these issues , a prototype software application was developed as part of a research project . The application is called EnViz ( for “ Environmental Visualisation ” app ) - visualises temperature and relative humidity data in a 4D context of volumetric 3D models over time ( Figure 1 ). The standard usability process consists of : input of a building model ; input of data logger output ; selection of timescale and time ratio ; ( optionally ) selection of desired thermal comfort criteria . The user can then see static ( 3D ) and dynamic ( 4D ) visualisations of the respective data ( Figure 2 ) based on predefined colour maps .
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