Building regulations in Australia and elsewhere are increasingly directed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving an efficient use of energy and water. These regulations significantly impact on aspirations with regard to the building design. Five case study houses recognized in awards from the Australian Institute of Architects are investigated for whether they met the aim and criteria of the relevant regulations for energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions. Qualitative and quantitative issues surrounding their environmental performance are examined, including occupants' comfort and energy consumption. The findings suggest that the assessment processes underpinning the regulations do not correlate well with measured environmental performance, the perceptions of occupiers, and how these houses are actually designed and operated. The regulatory concept of ‘meeting generic needs’ fails to account for the diversity of socio-cultural understandings, the inhabitants' expectations and their behaviours. In particular, standards and regulations failed to predict adaptive comfort as well as the low-energy consumption in the five case study houses. A governance challenge is to evaluate the interaction of individual preferences, technical concerns, bio-climatic matters, and the socio-cultural context. The goals and behaviours of inhabitants must be recognized and rewarded because they benefit both the environment and the community. La réglementation de l'industrie du bâtiment en Australie et ailleurs est de plus en plus axée sur la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et l'obtention d'une utilisation économe de l'énergie et de l'eau. Cette réglementation a une influence considérable sur les aspirations relatives à la conception des bâtiments. Cinq études de cas de maisons reconnues par des prix de l'Institut Australien des Architectes sont examinées afin de savoir si ces maisons satisfont à l'objectif et aux critères de la réglementation correspondante relative au rendement énergétique et aux réductions des gaz à effet de serre. Les problèmes qualitatifs et quantitatifs liés à leurs performances environnementales sont examinés, y compris le confort et la consommation énergétique des occupants. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que les processus d'évaluation sous-tendant la réglementation ne sont pas en bonne corrélation avec les performances environnementales mesurées, la manière dont les occupants perçoivent les choses et la manière dont ces maisons sont réellement conçues et fonctionnent. Le concept réglementaire visant à «satisfaire les besoins génériques» ne parvient pas à rendre compte de la diversité des compétences socioculturelles, des attentes des habitants et de leurs comportements. En particulier, les normes et les réglementations n'ont permis de prévoir ni le confort adaptatif, ni la consommation basse énergie des maisons de ces cinq études de cas. L'évaluation des interactions entre les préférences individuelles, les préoccupations techniques, les questions bioclimatiques et le contexte socioculturel constitue un défi en matière de gouvernance. Les objectifs et les comportements des habitants doivent être reconnus et récompensés, car ils sont profitables à la fois à l'environnement et à la communauté. Mots clés: confort adaptatif, réglementation du bâtiment, conception, demande énergétique, maisons, human agency, évaluation après occupation, confort thermique, rendement thermique

Older people are often over-represented in morbidity and mortality statistics associated with hot and cold weather, despite remaining mostly indoors. The study “Improving thermal environment of housing for older Australians” focused on assessing the relationships between the indoor environment, building characteristics, thermal comfort and perceived health/wellbeing of older South Australians over a study period that included the warmest summer on record. Our findings showed that indoor temperatures in some of the houses reached above 35 °C. With concerns about energy costs, occupants often use adaptive behaviours to achieve thermal comfort instead of using cooling (or heating), although feeling less satisfied with the thermal environment and perceiving health/wellbeing to worsen at above 28 °C (and below 15 °C). Symptoms experienced during hot weather included tiredness, shortness of breath, sleeplessness and dizziness, with coughs and colds, painful joints, shortness of breath and influenza experienced during cold weather. To express the influence of temperature and humidity on perceived health/wellbeing, a Temperature Humidity Health Index (THHI) was developed for this cohort. A health/wellbeing perception of “very good” is achieved between an 18.4 °C and 24.3 °C indoor operative temperature and a 55% relative humidity. The evidence from this research is used to inform guidelines about maintaining home environments to be conducive to the health/wellbeing of older people.

A responsible architect or engineer taking sustainable design seriously will aim to create a built environment that exhibits cohesion in the contexts of environmental, social/cultural, and technological realms. In addition, the very notion of sustainability extends an actual (or implied) duty of care to peoples and environments now and into the future. Advanced computer simulation of environmental and technological performance offers one way of tackling this obligation. However, claims about simulation can lead to a spurious impression of accuracy and therefore legitimacy. Likewise, inappropriate applications of simulation may result in wrong decisions and an erroneous allocation of resources. Almost all discussions of the validity of computer simulation for decision-making focus on its quantitative accuracy; however, the problems addressed are often far from well defined. Two concepts from the social sciences, ‘trustworthiness’ and a taxonomy of ‘ignorance’, are introduced as ways of assessing the appropriate use of simulation. Simulation applications should not be seen as surrogates of reality and interpreted as logical answers to substantive problems. Although simulations have potency as perspectives to support wise human judgements, a more mature approach is needed when applying these tools and outputs to decision-making. Un architecte ou un ingénieur responsable, prenant au sérieux la conception durable, visera à créer un cadre bâti manifestant de la cohésion dans le contexte des domaines environnementaux, socioculturels et technologiques. De plus, la notion même de durabilité implique une obligation réelle (ou implicite) d'attention à l'égard des personnes et des milieux dans le présent comme à l'avenir. Une simulation informatique évoluée des performances environnementales et technologiques offre un moyen de s'attaquer à cette obligation. Néanmoins, les affirmations relatives à la simulation peuvent conduire à une fausse impression d'exactitude et par conséquent de légitimité. De même, des applications inopportunes de la simulation peuvent entraîner de mauvaises décisions et une attribution de ressources erronée. Presque toutes les discussions relatives à la validité de la simulation informatique pour la prise de décision se concentrent sur son exactitude quantitative ; cependant, les problèmes abordés sont souvent très mal définis. Deux concepts empruntés aux sciences sociales, «la crédibilité» et une taxonomie de «l'ignorance», sont introduits en tant que moyens d'évaluer l'utilisation appropriée de la simulation. Les applications de la simulation ne devraient pas être considérées comme des substituts de la réalité et interprétées comme des réponses logiques à des problèmes de fond. Bien que les simulations aient la capacité d'offrir des perspectives permettant d'appuyer des jugements humains judicieux, une approche plus mûre est nécessaire dans l'application à la prise de décision de ces outils et des résultats obtenus. Mots clés: performance des bâtiments, prise de décision, éthique, modélisation, simulation, conception durable

Purpose: This paper presents the development of personal thermal comfort models for older adults and assesses the models’ performance compared to aggregate approaches. This is necessary as individual thermal preferences can vary widely between older adults, and the use of aggregate thermal comfort models can result in thermal dissatisfaction for a significant number of older occupants. Personalised thermal comfort models hold the promise of a more targeted and accurate approach.Design/methodology/approach: Twenty-eight personal comfort models have been developed, using deep learning and environmental and personal parameters. The data were collected through a nine-month monitoring study of people aged 65 and over in South Australia, who lived independently. Modelling comprised dataset balancing and normalisation, followed by model tuning to test and select the best hyperparameters’ sets. Finally, models were evaluated with an unseen dataset. Accuracy, Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient and Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) were used to measure models’ performance.Findings: On average, the individualised models present an accuracy of 74%, a Cohen’s Kappa Coefficient of 0.61 and an AUC of 0.83, representing a significant improvement in predictive performance when compared to similar studies and the “Converted” Predicted Mean Vote (PMVc) model.Originality/value: While current literature on personal comfort models have focussed solely on younger adults and offices, this study explored a methodology for older people and their dwellings. Additionally, it introduced health perception as a predictor of thermal preference – a variable often overseen by architectural sciences and building engineering. The study also provided insights on the use of deep learning for future studies.

The design of houses to suit the Australian environment has been a preoccupation from the first day that Europeans set foot on the shores of Port Jackson. Following WWII, a scientific approach to researching the relationship between building design and the climate commenced. From then and up to the present three periods of research can be identified. This paper concentrates on the first formative period between 1945 and 1972 when the thermal performance research work in Australia was dominated by two organizations, the Department of Works, Commonwealth Experimental Building Station (CEBS) located in Ryde, Sydney, and CSIRO, Division of Building Research (DBR) situated in Highett, Melbourne. During this period, thermal performance research conducted by these organizations was recognized throughout the world for its innovation. The paper summarizes the major work undertaken and how many of the concepts that informed this work are still with us today.