There is mounting evidence suggesting that workplace design directly connects with workers’ health and wellbeing. Additionally, the personal status of the mind can affect subjective attitudes and feelings towards the environment. In this study, the impacts of biophilic design attributes in offices on workers’ health and wellbeing are examined. A new post-occupancy evaluation (POE) questionnaire is developed for evaluating the biophilic design for workplace health and wellbeing. A questionnaire and field observations of two green building offices in Singapore and Shenzhen, China, are performed. The main obtained results are: (i) the questionnaire results show that the workers have a moderately high evaluation of the biophilic attributes in the workplace for improving health and wellbeing; (ii) there are significant differences between the self-reported health and nature relatedness of various ages and genders. Furthermore, the present study provides designers with new weighted biophilic design guidelines, specifically for workplace design practices.

With the world population having reached 8 billion people, waste generation is expected to continue its growth in the coming years. Solid waste management (SWM) is an essential part of sustainable development that aims to minimize adverse environmental impacts. Although waste problems have been monitored for decades, some regions still struggle to achieve their sustainability goals in this area. In particular, Hong Kong is still affected by overloaded landfills, with an average daily disposal of 14,739 tonnes. The major waste category is municipal solid waste (MSW), which originates from households and commercial activities. This paper provides an overview of the current SWM strategies and the advancement of technologies adopted in the SWM industry. Supported by a comprehensive literature review, this paper identifies the challenges of SWM in Hong Kong and suggests possible solutions. The findings lead to the direction of future research, which should include innovative solutions for improving recycling behaviors. Adopting technologies such as virtual reality on education platforms and developing mobile applications with a theme of SWM could promote a stronger awareness of waste reduction and recycling among the public.

This study investigates the differences in outdoor thermal comfort in different spatial types over long-term observations during the transition season in a cold region. Using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) as an evaluation index, subjective questionnaires and field surveys were conducted on thermal comfort in three different typical outdoor environments (sunlight, tree shade and building shade) in Dalian (Northeast China). The results demonstrated the following: (1) Air temperature and mean radiant temperature were the dominant meteorological factors affecting outdoor thermal comfort in Dalian. (2) The main thermal sensation recorded in the transition season was “slightly cool”. Over time, the human thermal sensation experienced a gradual transition from “hot” to “cold”. (3) Compared with direct sunlight, the average UTCI decreased by 6.6 and 3.5 °C for building shade and tree shade environments, and the neutral UTCI in Dalian was found to be 18.8 °C. Subjects were most sensitive to the thermal environment in building shade, then in tree shade and the least in sunlight. (4) When UTCI ≥ 21.9 °C, the thermal acceptability rate in building shade remained the highest; when 10.2 °C ≤ UTCI < 21.9 °C, it was highest in tree shade; and when the UTCI < 10.2 °C, it was highest in sunlight. This study verifies the UTCI applicability in the transition season in cold regions and analyzes the spatial differences in human thermal comfort. These differences play a positive role in developing optimization strategies for outdoor thermal environments, improving environmental satisfaction and facilitating pedestrian outdoor activities.

This study aims to understand the relationship between bedroom privacy and well-being of the elderly in aged care facilities with a compact living situation. A majority of studies on this topic were carried out in a low-density population context. The crowded living situation might compromise the well-being of residents. This study proposed five architectural parameters to measure bedroom privacy in aged care facilities: total open surface per unit, openness/solid ratio per bed, height of partition wall, number of people per unit, and personal control over bedroom privacy. SF-12 v.2 Health Survey was used to collect information on physical and mental health status. The study surveyed nine Care & Attention homes and their 213 residents in Hong Kong. The total open surface per unit and the openness/solid ratio per bed were positively associated with the physical health of residents. The height of partition walls was associated negatively with their physical and mental health conditions, and the number of people per unit was negatively associated with their physical health. More than half of respondents preferred a single unit with high partition walls; however, 40% of respondents preferred low partition walls. The provision of privacy for the elderly should be balanced with their needs for social interactions; total open surface per unit, openness/solid ratio per bed and height of partition wall should be taken into consideration. The study provides evidence and design guidelines for improving privacy in aged care facilities with a compact living environment.

This study explores the waiting space environment of pediatric clinics in general hospitals and the relationships between the use of space, behavioral activities and overall satisfaction. Patients often spend a lot of time waiting for doctors, and child patients waiting to be seen are particularly likely to feel bored, depressed and anxious, which negatively affects their overall experience of seeking medical attention. Since the launch of China’s second-child policy, the number of children born in China has surged. As medical resources for children are in short supply and of uneven quality, it is urgently necessary to carry out research on optimizing the design of children’s waiting space in Chinese hospitals to improve their medical environment and experience. Method: This study identified four first-level indicators and twenty-seven second-level indicators in four dimensions: functional layout (layout and area), flow organization, supporting facilities and environmental details (physical and landscape environment). The research combined subjective and objective methods, including comprehensive observation, a questionnaire survey and interviews, taking three hospitals in Shenzhen as case studies. Results: The study found that the waiting space in pediatric clinics currently fails to meet key patient needs in areas such as mother and infant rooms, children’s play areas and drinking water facilities, and there are widespread problems with the creation of natural environments, such as views of natural scenery from windows and indoor green plants. Six factors were found to significantly positively influence overall satisfaction with waiting space, describing 69.76% of the changes in the respondents’ degree of satisfaction with the waiting environment. Supporting facilities and aspects of the physical environment had the greatest influence on overall satisfaction with the waiting space. Conclusion: Optimizing the design of the waiting space in pediatric clinics, with a focus on functional layout, flow organization, supporting facilities and environmental details, can improve overall satisfaction with pediatric waiting rooms. The results are preliminary; they need to be further tested in practice to complete the process of evidence-based design. This will lead to suggestions for refining the design of pediatric waiting units which can be used by architects and hospital administrators.

Design teams’ work is greatly influenced by green building rating systems (GBRSs). Early GBRSs that had an energy- or resource-based hierarchy and prioritized mechanical components and active technologies were unable to adequately support the architectural design (AD). Due to the recent rise in awareness of the importance of AD in the creation of GBs, many GBRSs may now improve requirements pertaining to AD. However, it has not been examined in earlier studies. As a result, this study uses a comparative approach, content analysis, and significance evaluation to examine the effectiveness of six GBRSs as applied to AD in terms of significance, inclusiveness, comprehensiveness, and certainty. Six GBRSs include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Assessment Standard for Green Building (ASGB), Green Mark (GM), WELL Building Standard (WELL), Assessment Standard for Healthy Building (ASHB), and Living Building Challenge (LBC). A heuristic theoretical evaluation framework (TEF) is developed with the goal of providing guidelines and references for the improvement of GBRSs and the strategic idea of AD. There are four key findings. Firstly, LBC assigns the highest and certain weight to AD, followed by LEED and ASGB, then ASHB, and finally GM and WELL. Secondly, green and regeneration GBRSs emphasize resource, environment, and physiological health, while wellbeing GBRSs emphasize physiological and psychological health. Thirdly, GM, ASGB, WELL, and ASHB are the most inclusive and comprehensive in process, resource, and environment, physiological health, and sociological and psychological health, respectively. Fourthly, LBC performs best in setting mandatory requirements in included aspects.