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Physical and psychological discomfort in the office environment

From National Research Council Canada

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Affiliation
  1. National Research Council of Canada. NRC Institute for Research in Construction
FormatText, Article
ConferenceLight, Performance and Quality of Life: Light and Health Research Foundation (SOLG) Symposium, 8 November 2007, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Subjectdiscomfort, windows, view, sleep, office, social density; Office/Workstation design
Abstract
Office employees spend a lot of time inside buildings, where the physical conditions influence their well-being and indirectly influence their employers' business performance. With data from a field study conducted in the Netherlands in April-May 2003, we used path analysis to further elucidate the relationship between personal (gender and seasonality of mood shifts), building (view type, view quality, window distance, and social density), and environmental conditions (light quality, and office impression) and physical and psychological discomfort, sleep quality, and hindrance. The results show that window views of nature, and those that are rated as being more attractive, are beneficial to building occupants, reducing discomfort. However, being close to a window and rating the lighting as being of lower quality can result in thermal and glare problems (hindrances). Reduced discomfort at work can improve sleep quality, indicating that physical conditions at work influence home life.
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  • Light, Performance and Quality of Life: Light and Health Research Foundation (SOLG) Symposium [Proceedings] (8 November 2007): 1–6.
NoteCopyright limited
LanguageEnglish
Peer reviewedYes
NRC numberNRCC 51230
NRC-IRC-20198
NPARC number20373948
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Record identifier9654a8b3-0cc6-4112-85e1-07a74363200a
Record created2012-07-23
Record modified2020-05-10
Date modified: