office building

States that buildings in Saudi Arabia are often constructed without attention to the occupant discomfort caused by hot summer temperatures. Single-zone thermostats tend to limit comfort to the sun-side of office buildings, and there is also a possibility of asymmetrical radiation. Describes a pilot study conducted in a room in which airflows and temperatures were measured and then simulated using CFD techniques. Several factors were identified which contributed to the problem.

Faults and malfunctions in HVAC systems can be difficult to detect with current tools. The survey developed automatic faults detection diagnostic tools for the improvement of buildings facilities supervision.

Mycological investigations were performed on a modern multistorey office building in the southeastern coastal US. Extensive colonization was found in the air handling units and fibreglass duct liner of the HVAC system. Concentrations in air samples were low however. Removal of colonized insulation material reduced indoor air quality complaints.

Describes a project to examine the secondary air filters in the air handling units on four floors of a multi-storey office building which had a history of fungal colonization of insulation in the air distribution system. Fungi were observed throughout the system. Lower concentrations of volatile organics were emitted from fungal affected air filter medium. Concludes that the growth of fungi in air distribution systems may affect the content of volatile organics in indoor air.

The study aimed to assess prevalence of complaints and symptoms in relation to sick building syndrome for workers in an air conditioned building in Italy, in the absence of earlier reported complaints. The control was 281 workers in three naturally ventilated buildings. There was a significantly higher number of complaints from the air conditioned office building's employees, including strong lighting, high temperature and dry, dusty and stuffy air. No significant difference was noted in respiratory or general symptoms.

The outdoor air supply was manipulated over a period of six week in two mechanically ventilated offices in Montreal, and symptoms and environmental parameters noted. Higher dust and higher nitrogen dioxide concentrations led to eye symptoms reports. Higher TVOCs were associated with mucosal symptoms. Higher dust levels were associated with systemic symptoms.

Refers to the Office Illness Project from northern Sweden which showed that female gender, asthma/rhinitis, high psychosocial workload, visual display terminal and paperwork were related to an increased prevalence of facial skin symptoms. The study reported in this article used data from the Swedish study's questionnaire, supplemented with information from a clinical examination, a survey of psychosocial factors at work, building data and VDT-related factors from inspection and measurements taken at the workplace.

An attempt was made to find any association between employees' respiratory tract symptoms and immediate skin test reaction with exposure to fungal and house dust mite aeroallergens at the workplace. Six mechanically ventilated non-industrial buildings were considered in Montreal. Concludes that potentially avoidable exposure to aeroallergens accounted for symptoms in a small subgroup of office employees with frequent work-related respiratory tract symptoms.

Describes a new method used to measure the amount of outdoor air supplied to individual building occupants, under field conditions. The method includes factors associated with office design. It is based on the measurement of the constant release of tracer gas into the outdoor air in the ventilation system. The obtained values are termed outdoor air supply indexes (OASIs). States that the type of diffuser, office, partition and return air inlet and their position relative to each other can have a considerable effect on the amount of outdoor air received at individual work stations.

A model-based technique is described to raise the level of sophistication of building automation systems (BAS). Models are derived using stochastic multivariable identification, and describe the behaviour of air temperature and relative humidity in a full-scale office zone equipped with a dedicated heating, ventilating and air conditioning plant. The models give good accuracy. Investigates the usefulness of the models for facilities management. The 'temperature' model demonstrated substantial improvement of temperature regulation and reduction of energy consumption.