This article presents a method to conduct non-invasive subjective surveys applied to the evaluation of the indoor environmental conditions of a secondary school building by means of students’ subjective responses. The case study is a secondary school in Treviso (Italy). Field campaigns have been carried out three times during the heating season 2016-2017 in seven among thirty classrooms, in order to conduct the evaluation in representative conditions limiting the interference with teachers’ and students’ activities. Students were asked to assess their overall satisfaction about the environment, their behavior towards discomfort and their interactions with the building and the systems. A specific questionnaire has been developed paying particular attention to the occupants’ target and to the questions intended to grasp not only the comfort feedbacks, but also the interactions and the individual students’ attitudes that can influence the building energy performance. The students’ satisfaction has been analyzed for all the comfort areas (i.e., thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality) applying the method proposed by the technical standard EN 15251 for thermal comfort and extending it to all the other comfort aspects. Then, statistical tests have been implemented in order to investigate the significance of the date chosen for administering the surveys, the classrooms’ location inside the building (e.g., orientation and level) and the heating system with the thermal satisfaction and sensation. Subjective responses have also been used to understand the perceived causes of discomfort and to assess if students aged from 14 to 19 years old react to discomfort or if they are subjected to it without taking actions. Despite the great variability of the percentages of satisfied people in the selected classrooms, the statistical tests performed on satisfaction and sensation votes regarding thermal environment have shown that the day of the survey has a higher impact on the evaluation than the floor level or the type of heating system. Finally, the analysis reveals that students of secondary schools tend to rely on the teacher to adjust uncomfortable conditions.

In recent decades, a new generation of “green indoor” spaces has fulfilled the latest regulations and guidelines for a carbon-neutral society. Their targets are reachable through certifications embracing sets of measures and the adverse effects on occupants. Notwithstanding this, it has constituted a significant step forward in building design. However, the challenges given by climate change and the ecological crises lead to the need for new disruptive approaches to indoor design and function, enhancing human health and adopting regenerative design” at the forefront of buildings’ conception. Besides the positive energy-performance attributes, the creation of a Regenerative Indoor Environment utilizes appropriate construction technologies and systems, to reinforce human health, and enhance users’ experience. This regenerative paradigm shift foresees putting ecosystems at the centre and the users’ psycho-physiological wellbeing, thus magnifying their collaboration. Despite regenerative design gaining some attention, a framework towards its implementation promoting the actual performances of the indoor environment is still missing, and designers do navigate among guidelines with no apparent performance indicators to be achieved, technologies to be implemented, or methodologies for post-occupancy evaluations. These three levels, constituting a stepwise methodology, are addressed by the authors within the sections of this paper, and validated as an example of the office buildings’ typology. i) What characterizes a Regenerative Indoor Environment? ii) What technical solutions underpin the realization of a Regenerative Indoor Environment? iii) What methods or standards are crucial for its evaluation? With these premises, the paper contributes to supporting the creation of a regenerative indoor’ design, by sampling and outlining regenerative indoor performances to be obtained, describing the adequate tools to implement them, as well as by displaying approaches and solutions for their final verification.

Towards a carbon-neutral society, the building sector has a pivotal role with still a great potential for improvement. A new generation of buildings is rising but, to set a more ambitious shift in the paradigm and to fully justify the additional efforts (technological and economic) needed to fill the gap between net zero and plus energy performances, it is essential to consider not only the direct effects, but also all the indirect impacts. However, research conducted in the last decade solely focuses on the direct effects, mainly energy savings, while the indirect impacts neither have a clear identity nor terminology and a defined list of the impacts and methodologies for their quantification is still missing. With these premises, a systematic literature review on the current state of the art was performed in this work, with the aim of (i) investigating the heterogeneous terminology used for such indirect effects, (ii) identifying a final potential list of impacts both at the household and at the community level and (iii) their macro-categorizations, and (iv) exploring the current implemented methodologies and indicators for an economic quantification. As a final result of the analysis, the authors propose a unique terminology for addressing the indirect effects of high-performance buildings. This paper sets the needed basis and common ground for future research in this field, meant to economically quantify the indirect effects in the building sector.

Purpose: Despite the increased retrofitting of Finnish residential buildings, there are limited post-retrofit studies on the actual measured indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and occupant satisfaction during summer-time. This paper provides a better understanding of the actual performance of retrofitted residential apartment buildings in Finland, focusing on some aspects of and the risk of summer overheating through post-occupancy evaluation (POE). Design/methodology/approach: The study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including satisfaction surveys, indoor air temperature and relative humidity measurements, self-reported behaviour forms, open-ended discussions, and site visits in five apartments in different residential buildings in Tampere city, monitored during the summer-time, for at least 2 weeks at a time. Findings: While occupants were positive regarding most aspects of IEQ, concerns about indoor air quality (IAQ), summer overheating and acoustic comfort were raised. The summer-time monitoring highlighted that indoor air temperatures could reach as high as 27 °C for 2–9 days depending on the monitored apartment. Little cloud cover and warmer outdoor temperatures directly influenced indoor air temperature overheating. For some aspects of the investigated IEQ parameters, it was noted that while occupants’ satisfaction was influenced by the length of their residence, their acceptance of the same conditions remained positive over time (i.e. more than one year) as they adapted over time. Research limitations/implications: The number of participants and case studies was relatively small due to the well-known difficulty in gaining access to private homes, so the results do not allow generalisation but do provide interesting insights of these specific cases to be validated with future additional research. The short sequential rather than long-term parallel monitoring of the case study apartments was another limitation making comparison between cases and understanding reasons for differences difficult. Practical implications: Findings highlight the need to maintain the performance of housing in Finland during summer-time. The highlighted subjective issues emphasised in this study underscore the necessity for enhanced pre- and post-retrofit quality processes and the prompt resolution of issues as they arise. The integration of POE studies into all residential construction practices becomes pivotal for the advancement of sustainable homes now, but also in the future, especially when subjected to a warming climate. Originality/value: This study is among the few POE studies conducted in Finland, offering insights into post-retrofit performance and occupant satisfaction during the summer-time. The study highlights the potential of POE to understand the performance of retrofitted Finnish apartments from a user-centric perspective.