This paper reports on an analytical investigation into the energy saving potential associated with modified comfort limits in transitional spaces in buildings. Such spaces may not require the same high level and close environmental control of more fully occupied spaces and thus a wider variation in conditions and interpretation of thermal comfort may be permitted. Estimations are made of energy saving potential based upon typical floor area proportions utilised for transition spaces of various types in office/commercial buildings. The data are combined with suggested norms for comfort expectation that have wider temperature limits than for normally occupied office zones. The method has been applied to a series of building types situated in the climate of the East Pennines area of the UK using a thermal analysis tool. The results show that useful energy savings (particularly for heating) are possible by allowing for a modest (and realistic) relaxation of prescribed comfort standards in transition spaces.
Further work is now required to confirm the limits and assess energy saving in practice.
1. Introduction
Transition spaces in buildings (including such areas as foyers, lobbies, certain atria and ancillary spaces not directly occupied in relation to the activity of the building) pose an interesting and fruitful area for comfort research. Entrance and transition areas of buildings are often perceived as some of the most important in architectural design terms since they also impact on a wide range of senses and perceptions of human occupants; have an important role in control of circulation; and are often associated with some of the longer lasting impressions that occupants or visitors have of the building.
It is suggested in this paper that such spaces, whilst being important, do not require the fine control of temperature or comfort limits associated with the principal areas of a building; and that they can also be actively designed to modify the experience and expectation of persons moving through them.
Opportunities exist for such areas to be provided with environmental conditions lying someway between internal and external conditions. This may offer benefits such as reduction of thermal shock for occupants moving into and out of spaces as well as modifying comfort expectations. An additional consideration is that such spaces are often located at the perimeters of buildings; frequently have large areas of glazing; and also experience significant air exchange with the outside environment. As such they may generally require considerably higher levels of building services provision for comfort conditioning and consequently have higher energy consumption. Some research has shown that transitional spaces can help to save energy if they can be developed according to their climatic needs .
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