Evaluating indoor environmental quality of a wellness center through objective, subjective and architectural criteria.

Abstract

Designing a good indoor environment is necessary for its health effects on the users. Therefore, the assessment of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) should include analysis of objective measures and architectural assessment as well as users' comfort evaluations. In this research, a wellness center in Ankara, Turkey is chosen as a case space. In order to assess its indoor environmental quality, acoustical, lighting, thermal and humidity measurements on indoor environment, questionnaires on user experience and architectural assessment of the chosen case space is presented. The findings obtained from the measurements and questionnaires are presented in detail. In addition, the relationship between objective and subjective data is statistically tested. Moreover, overall architectural assessment and material type and usage analysis are also included. Special spaces such as, exercise and treatment rooms in the case space are focused specifically for in depth function and activity related analyses. In addition, demographical and space usage data are also statistically tested with considering the importance and physical perception ratings of the IEQ parameters. Obtained results show that, age, frequency of visit and purpose of visit are the factors that affect the subjective evaluation of the IEQ parameters. Furthermore, the measured objective data are compared to international standards, where incompliances are found in the acoustic and lighting conditions of the case wellness center.