Building service report

BUILDING SERVICE REPORT ASSIGNMENT

Indoor Environmental Quality in

Healthcare/Office

School of Architecture, Building and Design

Bachelor of Quantity Surveying 08/14

Lecture: Mr Leong Boon Tik

Group Member:

Liew Yong Sheng 0315108

Darren Lee Kim Thiam 0310710

Muhammad Hasif 0316414

Enoch Wong Geng Sen 0321690

Kevin Lee Hee Xian 0315192

Deepesh Ferag 0320760

TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction 1

Indoor Air Quality 2

Building Acoustics 2

Temperature 3

Odour 4

Daylight 4

Installation of Cassette Type Air Condition

Units

5

Case Study 7

Methodology 8

Results 9

Discussion 17

Recommendation 22

Reference 24

Bibliography 24

Learning Outcome 25

Appendix 26

Introduction

Internal Environmental Quality or Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is perhaps one of the

most important aspect in a building structure. United States citizens spent approximately

90% of their time staying indoor even when they are working (United States Environmental

Protection Agency EPA, 2011). As a citizen of Malaysia, we dare conclude that we are no

different from such a lifestyle. As such, just as how the quality of a natural habitat would

affect animals and plants that live in it, the environmental quality of the area of which we

spend our lives in are equally important.

A building of poor environmental quality lead to two major classes of health problem to those

who spend a significant amount of time in it (if worst, a short amount); Sick Building

Syndrome (SBS), describes as “an assortment of symptoms experienced by a majority of

building occupants and for which no specific cause can be identified” and Building Related

Illness refers to “symptoms of a diagnosable illness that can be attributed directly to a

defined Interior Air Quality (IAQ) problem.”. The study to resolve said problem lead to a

study of Indoor Air Quality and believed that the quality of air of the indoor environment

contributes to the health quality of occupants.

However, it was later discovered that indoor air quality is not the only factor that causes Sick

Building Syndrome and Building Related Illness. As mentioned, the environmental quality of

indoor are comparable to that of a natural habitat. Thus, the complexity of an indoor

environmental quality are just as or, if not, more complex than the environment quality of a

natural habitat. The study have branched out to more factors such as odours, brightness,

vibration, temperature, humidity, acoustics and more.

For the sake of simplicity, the overall factors are classified into physical, chemical and

biological. Physical factors would involve factors that are identifiable by users such as

brightness, temperature, vibration and so on. Chemical factors on the other hand are factors

that are not as identifiable without device but would, most of the time, affect occupiers

nonetheless such as the intensity of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and

more. Finally, biological factors are similar to chemical factors, they are mostly unidentifiable

without the help of device and would, most of the time, cause health risks. These factors not

only contribute effect to the physical state of the users but also affect the psychological state

of the user and result in efficiency in work.

Indoor Air Quality

A healthy structure would require Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning designed system

that satisfy Part III of Uniform Building By-Laws (UBBL). HVAC system is an important

system that ensures movement, interchange, filter and also conditioning of air within the

interior space. To some countries, heating is required and could be achieved by heating the

air within the space or directly heating the occupants by radiation. Ventilation refers to the

exchange of air to maintain the mixture of gases, control odours and also remove

contaminants within occupied space. Most ventilation are controlled by either natural

ventilation such as wind or mechanical distribution system powered by fans. Finally, air

conditioning refers to the air being conditioned in forms of temperature, humidity, and

cleanliness to ensure that the condition of desired temperature and humidity in different

building as well as its zones are met.

A poor quality of air conditioning units will produce grating noise or failure to bring the

temperature of the room to desired condition or ventilate the indoor environment. For the

topic of acoustics, the problem can be easily solved should the problem be derived from the

fan vibrations. However, when the air velocity is too high or the duct space is too tight, the air

will cause the duct to vibrate. The solution could be either lowering the velocity of air or

increase the cross sectional area of duct space with the ideal result of maintaining the same

amount of air quality to the indoor environment quality. On the other hand, problem would

arise if the duct is placed in a very tight ceiling space which would affect the environmental

quality should the solution mentioned be applied. Thus, it is important to plan the services of

the interior building wisely and preferably with a worst case scenario considered.

Building Acoustics

Architectural acoustics are greatly influenced by the design of the interior itself. One of the

great example would be the type of floor used in an indoor would affect how sound travels

exempli gratia; the use of carpet will absorb sound and reduce echoes or the area of the

indoor space will affects the reflection of sound. Building acoustics of indoors can be

improved by with the installation of partition walls which is easy and cheap to construct. The

type of material used for partition wall needs to be considered because some material tends

to be a better insulator than another while some are better in reflecting sound. At the same

time, the design of the partition wall will also affect the indoor environment such as the

inclusion of door and windows or the shape of the partition wall. Despite so, the overall

design of the building in both form and engineered structure will also form a difference in

acoustics. The acoustics of a steel framed building, concrete frame building and timber

frame building absorbs sound differently because of the material used on the exterior.

Structure-wise, the thickness of each floor would also contribute to how sound could transfer

to the upper or lower floor. Either way, a poor indoor acoustics would affect the mood of

occupant and decreases efficiency of work.

Temperature

The definition of an ideal temperature is difficult or impossible to define because there is a

need to consider the environmental range and personal factors. Globally speaking, some

countries need heating systems because of cold winter and even within those countries,

some have different temperature range; some would want slightly hotter than the outside

while others would want temperature way hotter than the outside. In general, the indoor

comfort range is usually located in the centre of the psychometric chart of that region.

The effect of temperature is relatively similar to building acoustics. The type of material used

for the structure both on exterior and interior will affect the temperature of the indoor

environment including the exchange of heat due to the heat capacity of the material.

Thermal equilibrium contributes to the exchange of heat from the outside to the inside as

well. To ensure the room is conditioned to the reasonable comfort, HVAC system is

designed and used.

Odour

Compared to other factor, odour are the hardest to detect. The possibility of the source are

high. Sometimes, the smell could derive from the new furniture or even the occupant’s smell

themselves unless it is protected and “Green Labelled” (EPA, 2011). Therefore, it is hard to

find the source of the horrible smell or to prevent it.

The solution to the problem can branch to either have a better HVAC system or ensure the

air within is constantly exchanged at a desired rate or using chemical to suppress the

horrible stench. Most of the case, office and healthcare would use both. The only difference

would be the chemical used for the suppression of foul smell. Office would tend to use

chemicals that are function only to suppress bad odours such as room sprays or fragrance

whereas healthcare centres would use chemicals that was designed to eliminate health-risk

microorganism while at the same time suppress foul odours.

Daylight

Most of modern buildings operates with artificial lighting when it comes to the brightness of

an interior environment space. Ideally speaking, the brightness of the interior environment

should be equivalent to the natural brightness. According to some studies, the spectral

distribution of light frequencies, from red to violet, are all combined to form a single white

colour light. Even though most artificial light produce the same colour (or more for other

purpose), it is bound by the laws of physics and the frequencies of visible light that are

emitted are also limited.

As a species who originates from the earth that was exposed to sunlight which brightness

would change according to the climate, weather and formation of clouds rather than a

constant brightness of artificial light, our eyes would be strained for being exposed to the

constant flow of light into the eyes.

There are methods that could prevent such a problem. One of which would decreasing the

intensity of light in the room by using a weaker bulb or fluorescent light. However, the issue

would arise that when light too subtle would cause a psychological effect on the mood and

decrease the efficiency of perception which in turn affect the productivity of work. Another

more suggestable solution would be the design of the building cooperates with the natural

daylight by allowing it to penetrate into the interior environment. The mixture of both natural

and artificial lighting would not only economically saves the costs of light but also

aesthetically improves the interior environment.

Installation of Cassette Type Air Condition Units

As mentioned before, HVAC system must be installed to improve the interior air quality as

well as other physical factors. Ceiling cassette type air condition units are one of the most

frequently used in interior spaces such as offices. These type of cassette unit are usually

mounted in the ceiling and proved to be more effective as cold air are denser than hot air

and thus air travels towards the floor. The installation process of the air condition starts off

with the marking on the ceiling with either laser point or measuring tape. Once the ceiling

was marked, anchors will be placed into a drilled hole and bolt with the correct specs will be

screwed tightly. Before mounting the air conditioner, the unit will be checked by the hissing

sound of the released nitrogen by unfastening the flare nuts. If the hissing sound is absent,

or nitrogen injection is not done properly and air tight test will be perform to check for leaking

area. The unit is mounted and the levelness of the indoor unit is checked with a level meter.

The indoor unit is connected with copper pipe using a flaring tool, the inner surface of the

pipe is applied with refrigerant oil to avoid frictional leakage of gas can be avoided. Drain

pipes are install to facilitate the smooth discharge of condensed water produced in the

cooling operation. The drain pipe is connected to the flexible hose with a manufactured with

insulation material and bonded with a PVC bond as shown in figure 2.1

Figure 2.1 Installation of flexible pipe and drain pipe

The power supply to the indoor unit was supplied from the additional supply distribution

channel instead of the outdoor unit. The power and communication cable are protected with

protection pipes. There are two types of terminal used, a ring terminal for the connection of

power cable and Y terminal for the connection of communication table.

Once the power and communication cables are connected the indoor unit is covered to

prevent dust from construction. After the installation of suspended ceiling are finished, the

panel will be installed.

Case Study

We have conducted a survey to further understand what workers feel about their workspace.

The survey used qualitative method to understand in what way the does the workspace

affect the workers whereas quantitative method to understand using levels (in words instead

of numbers) to understand how the worker feel about the workspace.

The form was divided into three sections. The first sections function as a manipulative

demography to understand the background of the worker. The reason this was done

because we believe that different race, gender, and age will have different effect laid upon

them and thus different preference. The second section was designed to understand

schedule of the worker and also what their daily activity would involve to understand how

their activity relates to the workspace.

The third section holds two purpose. The first purpose is to, as mentioned before, to

understand the environment of the workspace and how it affects them. Starting from

Temperature, Acoustics, Smell and Lighting. The limitation of the survey is the physical and

psychological relationship between the environment and the occupants and are, thus,

subjective. Due to this reason, the factors involved in the survey are all physical factor

because it is impossible for our volunteer to detect biological and chemical factors with their

five senses unless a serious Sick Building Syndrome is developed in that area.

The other purpose of the third section also include preference which would aid in the

recommendation workspace. To support the idea, we also took pictures of the area to

understand the workspace better and could be used as proof or for visualization.

We decided to choose 4 main settings for comparison of its own kind. Taylor’s

Administration Centre versus Taylor’s Block C5 Office and Sunway hospital versus Taylor’s

Healthcare Service Centre. However, due to the lack of volunteer for the Healthcare Service

Centre, we decided to add in another Clinic that fits its category by size and services and

thus we included Taylors Clinic as well.

To ensure that the survey is entirely confidential and protects the volunteers privacy,

volunteers were assured of their protection in the survey form itself. The survey was checked

by group members several times before printing.

Methodology

Aim:

To understand the relationship between the interior design in both form and services and the occupants who works within it.

Independent Variable:

* Gender and The condition of workspace for each site

Dependent Variable:

* Preference and Feelings towards the workspace

Extraneous Variable:

* Amount of volunteers for each site

Materials:

50 set of 5 paged survey forms and writing material

Volunteers:

45

Taylor’s Clinic and Health Service Center-9

Sunway Hospital-10

Taylor’s Administration Office-11

Taylor’s Block C5 Office -15

Results

Section 1- Understanding Worker

Male= 44%

Female= 56%

Male= 25%

Female= 75%

Male= 64%

Female= 36%

Male= 47%

Female= 53%

Fig: 1.2 Job duration

Fig: 1.1 Percentage of Male vs Female

Section 2- Understanding Workspace

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, longtime

Yes, butfor

awhile

Not at all

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, longtime

Yes, butfor

awhile

Not at all

Hospital Male

Hospital Female

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Yes,longtime

Yes, butfor

awhile

Not atall

AdministrationOffice Male

AdministrationOffice Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, longtime

Yes, butfor

awhile

Not at all

Block C Level 5Office Male

Block C Level 5Office Female

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Yes, withmany

people

Yes, withless

people

Not at all

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Yes,withmany

people

Yes,withless

people

Not atall



0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, withmany

people

Yes, withless

people

Not at all



0

2

4

6

8

Yes, withmany

people

Yes, withless

people

Not at all

Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

Fig: 2.1 Heat Exchange

Fig: 2.2 Heat from outsider

0

1

2

3

4

5

Clinic Male

Clinic Female01234567

Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

012345678

Administration Office Male

Administration OfficeFemale

01234567

Block C Level5 Office Male

Block C Level5 OfficeFemale

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

Clinic Male

Clinic Female012345678

Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

0123456



0123456



Fig: 2.3 Source of indoor noise

Fig: 2.4 Source of outdoor noise

0123456



00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5



0123456

Hospital Male

Hospital Female0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.5

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

Fig: 2.5 Source of odour

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5



0

1

2

3

4

5

Block C Level5 Office Male

Block C Level5 OfficeFemale

0

1

2

3

4

5

Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

0

1

2

3

4

5

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

Fig: 2.6 Exchange of odour

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Yes, for along time

Yes, but forshort time

No

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, for along time

Yes, butfor short

time

No

Hospital Male

Hospital Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes, fora longtime

Yes, butfor

shorttime

No



0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Yes, for along time

Yes, but forshort time

No



Fig: 2.8 Odour lifespan

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes No

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Yes No

Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes No



0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Yes No



Fig: 2.9 Sunlight

Obtained

Section 3- Understanding the effect on worker

Table 3.1 Temperature Satisfaction

Table 3.2 Noise Tolerance

Table 3.3 Smell Tolerance

Table 3.4 Brightness Satisfaction

Clinic Hospital Administration Office Block C Level 5

Office

Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Not ideal 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 5

Tolerable 3 2 0 5 4 1 4 0

Ideal 0 2 3 2 1 2 2 3

Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8

Clinic Hospital Administration

Office Block C Level 5

Office


Unnoticeable 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tolerable 3 1 3 3 5 2 6 5

Annoying 0 4 0 4 2 2 1 3

Unbearable 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8

Clinic Hospital Administration

Office Block C Level 5

Office


Unnoticeable 1 0 1 2 4 0 1 3

Tolerable 3 4 2 5 2 1 6 3

Nasty 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 1

Unbearable 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8

Clinic Hospital Administration Office Block C Level 5

Office


Not ideal 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

Tolerable 1 3 2 1 5 1 3 2

Ideal 3 1 1 6 2 2 4 6

Total 4 5 3 7 7 4 7 8

Section 4- Worker’s Preference

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Slightlycold

Natural Slightlywarmer

Block C Level 5Office male

Block C Level 5Office female

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Slightlycold


AdministationOffice male

AdministationOffice female

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Slightlycold


Hospital male

Hospital female

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Slightlycold


clinic male

clinic female

Fig 4.1Temperature Preference

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Naturallighting

ArtificialLighting

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

0

1

2

3

4

5

Naturallighting

ArtificialLighting

HospitalMale

HospitalFemale

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Naturallighting

ArtificialLighting

Administration OfficeMale

Administration OfficeFemale 0

12345678

Naturallighting

ArtificialLighting



Figure 4.2 Light Type Preference

0

1

2

3

4

5

Darker thanafternoon

Brighter thanafternoon

Clinic Male

Clinic Female

0

2

4

6

8



Hospital Male

HospitalFemale

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7





0

1

2

3

4

5





Fig 4.3 Light Intensity Preference

Discussion

The Workers

To begin with, female in clinic tend to work morning till evening whereas male would work on

shift from morning to evening, morning to night, afternoon to evening and afternoon to night.

Whereas in hospital, workers mostly work from morning to afternoon and female working

from morning till night. In Administration Office, most male work from morning to evening

with some from morning to night whereas all female worked from morning to evening. In

Block C Level 5, lecturers, both male and female, would tend to work from morning to

evening where class normally ends. Some female came from morning till afternoon and

some would work from morning till night. One a few men worked from morning till night or

afternoon till night.

In clinic, we dare say that most of the workers spent time sitting in front of the desk.

However, comparing between male and female, female tend to move around the interior a

lot. While in the hospital, most worker work in front of the desk while a number would spend

time walking in and out of the workspace during work. In Taylor’s Administration office and

Block C Level 5 office, however, spent most of their time walking in and out of the office.

From this, we understand; that workers in clinic spent from morning till evening in front of the

desk, workers in hospital spent from morning till evening work both in front of the desk and

also walking in and out of the workspace. Whereas most of the time from morning to

evening, the worker would be absent from their workspace. In comparison, worker in clinic

and hospital would have their sense more merged to their environment.

This means that there are possibility that any smell that outsiders detect may not be

detected by the workers while the other half of hospital workers, Taylors Administration

Centre and Block C Level 5 Office would be more susceptible to the environment of their

workspace because of the change of environment.

Clinic

Regarding the temperature of the clinic, most complained that the temperature changes

when the door opens. One half felt that the increase in the number of people would affect the

clinic workspace while the other half doesn’t feel the change at all. The source of indoor

noise by majority comes from machineries, some complained that it’s from electronic devices

but most of them find that chit-chat and laughter are more noticeable. Whereas outside of

the workspace are majorly affected by the chit chat and laughter of outsiders. To some,

construction works are equally noticeable.

It is expected that for a clinic, medical chemical odour are most noticeable among others.

Some female however, noticed aromatic smells such as perfume better than the rest. The

exchange of odour in clinics are quite rare to most male but some female find that

sometimes the smell does change when the outsider enters the space. Almost all of the staff

claim that the smell doesn’t stay in the space for long. One felt for a short time.

In the aspect of light, most of the worker have natural light in the office, only one complained

that there were none.

Most of the worker did not find the temperature ideal, they find it rather tolerable, and two

people find that the temperature is not ideal. In terms of noise, the female find the noises

rather annoying, while most male find it tolerable to a point where one find it unnoticeable.

The clinic holds smell that the worker is tolerable, one of them find it nasty while another one

found it unnoticeable. Equal amount of worker find that the brightness of the clinic is both

tolerable and ideal. Only one female find that the area does not have ideal lighting.

Majority of the male worker hoped that the workspace is slightly colder than natural

environment while most female worker prefer the workspace to be equivalent to the natural

environment. Most of the worker also prefer natural lighting over artificial lighting. Only one

male prefers artificial lighting. The intensity of lighting is preferred to be brighter than

afternoon.

We can dare conclude that the clinic is ventilation is rather weak. The ventilation system

failed to reach desired temperature when there is an exchange of temperature. However, the

exchange rate of air is functioning when the workers did not feel the change in odour. One of

the problem the clinic faced is the noisiness of the setting. Judging by how small the Taylor’s

clinic and health service center, it is quite expected to see such a result. The workspace also

have sufficient natural light overall and are quite open to sunlight.

Hospital

A lot of female felt the difference in temperature when the door opens but only for a while. A

small amount doesn’t felt the change in temperature. Unlike clinic, the hospital doesn’t feel

the increase in temperature as the amount of people increase in the workspace.

Despite the fact that the workers are in a hospital, the most noticeable noise the workers

heard is chit chatting in their workspace, another half find that the electronic device are the

one being noisy. Similarly, the outside are also filled with chit chat and laughter. Few of them

find loud events being noisy while another find the indoor too noisy to hear any outdoor

noises.

The source of odour, as expected, derives from both medical chemicals. A number find that

aromatic chemical are rather noticeable. The exchange of odour, by majority are rare to

never. The smell stayed for a short amount of time, according a majority of female. Equal

amount of male and female claimed the smell doesn’t stay. The nurses agreed that they got

sufficient sunlight. However, one male and female disagreed.

The temperature of the area are majorly tolerable to ideal. Noise however, are annoying to a

few but equal amount of people felt that the noise is rather tolerable. Most of the worker felt

that the smell is tolerable but some find it unnoticeable to begin with. None of the worker find

the smell nasty and unbearable. The workers also find the brightness of their workspace

ideal if not tolerable.

The nurses, prefer the temperature of the area to be as natural as the environment. A few

want it to be slightly cold. The workers favour the workspace to have more natural lighting.

There are a few female prefer that the workspace to be artificial lighting. All of them prefer

the brightness to be brighter than afternoon.

In a nutshell, the supposed deduction regarding the ventilation system of the hospital is that

the space is pressurized ventilated air and thus when the door opens the exchange rate of

air is higher from the inside to the outside. From here, we can say that the hospital is well

ventilated. The overall temperature and smell are well controlled including the brightness of

the work. The only seemingly uncontrollable factor that they are suffering from is noise from

chit chats and laughter.

Administration Office

Preponderance amount of male felt that the temperature changed when the door opens

while a number of men doesn’t seem to agree with the observation. Female however, felt the

change in temperature but only for a short moment. Both male and female staff member felt

that the temperature increases as the amount of people increases too many while only a few

felt nothing at all.

Most of the male staff member felt that the sound most noticeable is machinery with

electronic coming second place. Both equal amount of female and male find that chit chat

are noticeable in that sense. Outside, however, chit chat and laughter are most noticeable

whereas loud events come in second. Construction noises, both equal and slight amount of

male and female find it noticeable as well.

Unlike clinic and hospitals, there are no medical chemical smell to be detected but the male

staff find that aromatic chemical most noticeable. Cleaning and machinery chemical are also

noticed by men. Female however, point out that others are more noticeable. The exchange

of odour happens rare to never for men but for women each felt from rarely to sometimes too

often and finally to always. Women staff felt that the smell stayed for quite a long time, while

men feel that the smell dissipates to none without a notice. Some felt that the smell stayed

for a short time.

Most of the worker felt that they have got the sufficient sunlight they needed but only 2 male

and 1 female out of 11 felt that they did not have sufficient sunlight they wanted.

Majority of the worker are tolerable with the temperature they have now. Equal amount of

staff member find that it’s ideal and not ideal. Noise on the other hand is also tolerable to the

majority of them, a few find them annoying. The smell are equal sum to either unnoticeable

or nasty. Similarly, the find that the brightness is tolerable, a few found it ideal while only one

find it not ideal to her liking.

The temperature most preferred is natural environmental temperature. Although some men

prefer the workspace to be slightly colder than the natural environment. Nearly all of the staff

member prefer to have a natural lighting over artificial lighting and the same goes to the

workspace being brighter than afternoon.

The administration office can be said to have a well ventilated area seeing how the

temperature of the workspace weren’t affected too tremendously when there are change in

situation as well as the exchange in odour. The sufficient light the worker got is the result of

using a glass wall of the exterior illuminating the interior at a great extent.

Block C Level 5 Office

Heat exchange happens to a majority of lecturers, most of them find that it stays for a while.

A few, felt that it stayed for a long time. A vast amount of female complained about large

amount of people increases the temperature of the room while a vast amount of male

doesn’t seem to feel the change in temperature as the amount of people increases.

The most noticeable sound is chit chat and laughter. Another amount of people feel that

noticeable noise comes from electronic devices and lesser for machineries. Chit chat and

laughter are equally noticeable even outside of the building especially for women. However,

male equally noticed loud events and chit chat.

The smell most noticeable is cleaning chemicals. Female felt that some other smells are

more noticeable than cleaning chemical. The odour exchange is rare to sometimes for men

while for most female find that it rarely happen while identical amount of female find that it

happened from sometimes too often. Majority of the lecturer find that the smell stayed for a

short time, however there are also little who find that the smell doesn’t stay.

A number of people felt that they have obtained sufficient daylight while a slightly lesser

quantity of people felt that they did not have enough daylight.

More lecturers find that the temperature is not ideal for them especially female. There’s also

a large amount of people find that the workspace’s temperature is ideal for them. Most of the

lecturer, like before, find the workspace’s noise tolerable while a few find the noise annoying.

The smell are majorly tolerable while a few unnoticeable. Little of them find the smell rather

nasty and one find it unbearable. The brightness of the room is majorly ideal to the lecturers,

a minute amount find it tolerable.

Nearly equal amount of lecturer prefer natural environmental temperature and slightly cold

but natural environmental temperature was supported more. A majority of lecturers prefer

natural lighting while a few prefer artificial lighting. Shockingly, the lecturers, in slightly larger

amount, prefers their workspace darker than afternoon while the other prefer the workspace

brighter than afternoon.

The office is well ventilated but not as ventilated as administration office. The ventilation

system could not balance the thermal equilibrium dissipated from the outsider and are thus

hot when a large amount of outsider are in the workspace. Due to this, there are amount of

lecturers finding that the office does not have an ideal temperature. However, the ventilation

system manage to remove the odour in the room. The acoustics of the office isn’t well

managed but not severe and the lighting of the room bright enough to work and are glad that

it’s not brighter than afternoon daylight.

Recommendation

Natural ventilation - Install operable windows or vents that allow natural ventilation to enter

the premises. The admissions office has very little natural ventilation points, and those points

are only the doors of the main building. Their secondary entrance is very small, limiting

natural ventilation from entering the office. The employees cannot rely entirely on

mechanical ventilation such as air conditioning. This is mainly because, if there is a sudden

break down of air conditioning or electricity, the entire work place will be affected, causing

the temperature in the premises to increases drastically, especially without the access to

natural ventilation.

Increase air ventilation rate – The administration office has been reported to be too cold

during working hours. We recommend that air ventilation rates should be increased as to

regulate temperatures, providing the ideal temperature suited work place for the employees.

Since the workplace is too cold, the increase in air ventilation rate will allow warmer air to

enter, regulating the cold temperature, resulting in the thermal comfort of the employees.

With the achievement of thermal comfort, employees will have a much higher productivity

rate allowing them to perform better instead of being sluggish and slow in colder

temperatures.

Reduce or prevent the use of air fresheners – To avoid having to smell odours that enter the

workplace, most employees use air fresheners to cover the problem. However, this is a very

misconception by most people as using air fresheners actually worsen the problem of bad

odour in the workplace. Air fresheners do cover up the smell, but they do not eliminate the

particles that contribute to the bad odours. With the extensive use of fresheners, the

particles of bad odours will continue to build up and eventually seeping into the carpet floor.

Employees are unaware of the source of the bad odour that is building up which becomes

much harder to get rid of later on in the future. When the source of odour has built up to an

extent where even air fresheners cannot mask or extensive daily cleaning will not suffice, the

entire carpet floor must be removed and replaced. Delaying the act of removing the source

of odour with air fresheners only increases the expenses of extensive washing and

purchasing more air fresheners.

Ensuring that cleaning products do not contribute to the smell – The office in C5 has been

reported to smell a lot like cleaning products. Taylor’s should advise the cleaners to refrain

from using products that have these “fragrances”. Cleaning services should be carried out

during the weekends to ensure that the smell does not affect the employees.

Zoning of work areas that have higher levels of noise in the workplace – Some parts of the

workplace in the Admissions department are noisy due to loud discussions or phone calls.

Zoning out these areas may be able to level down the amount of noise created

simultaneously that may affect other areas that disrupts other employees from working. This

would require the relocation of some employees.

Replacing ceilings and walls – Ceilings should have a minimum NRC (Noise Reduction

Coefficient) of 0.9 in open plans of the office work area and a minimum NRC of 0.8 in

enclosed areas such as meeting rooms. At least 25% of walls should be replaced with sound

absorbing panels with NRC of 0.8. Walls should be replaced with walls that acquire STC

(Sound Transmission Class) 53 to isolate video conference rooms. STC 40 should be the

minimum requirement to isolate rooms or cubicles in the workplace to provide more privacy

to the employee in it. These may cost a lot, but it is a much better investment in ensuring the

employees are at their fullest comfort and productivity.

Reference

Improving indoor air quality at your place of work. (2013, July 1). Retrieved June 21, 2015.

Kibert, C. (2008). Sustainable construction: Green building design and delivery (2nd ed.).

Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Muszynski, L. (Ed.). (2010, July 1). IEQ Factors Daylighting, Thermal Comfort and Acoustics

for Healthy Space - Facilities Management IAQ Feature. Retrieved June 21, 2015,

from http://www.facilitiesnet.com/iaq/article/IEQ-Factors-Daylighting-Thermal-

Comfort-and-Acoustics-for-Healthy-Space-Facilities-Management-IAQ-Feature--

11922

Sound Matters. (2011, December 1). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from

https://www.wbdg.org/ccb/GSAMAN/gsa_soundmatters.pdf

Bibliography

Enhance Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). (2014, April 9). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from

http://www.wbdg.org/design/ieq.php

High-Performance HVAC. (2014, April 11). Retrieved June 21, 2015, from

http://www.wbdg.org/resources/hvac.php

Learning outcome

We spent so much time in our interior environment to a point where we have simply failed to

observe out surroundings and how these minor detail affects us. This group project is what

lead us to that observation, to that understanding. To remind us that even though the

building was constructed by human, there will always variables, constantly changing, for the

better or for the worst.

Factors such as acoustics, odours, brightness, and so on could be annoying to us at times

even to a point of unbearable hindrance but there is also a need that there is a need to have

a balance of such factors. They are elements that makes what an interior an interior, for the

lack of such, will destroy the harmony of such elements. The lack of sound would drive us

mad, the lack of light would cause us to form our own imaginary light such as the prisoner’s

cinema and the lack of temperature would leave us shivering in cold.

We may have ruled the earth but by the end of the day, we are still governed by nature.

Seeing how our environment in our homes need to be designed in such a way where the

interior must imitate nature. Where our homes need to be designed in such a way where it is

not a cave in the form of cube but a beautiful field of greens and nature in a more aesthetic

form.

From the group project, we not only understood the relationship between occupants and the

interior space, elements of interior space that affects occupants and its causes but also the

fact that this entire project was made through the spirit of teamwork. This group project

allowed us to understand the importance of teamwork by helping each other and fill up parts

where we could not fill ourselves due to the lack of ability. As a team, we back each other up

and helped each other understand studies that are too complex.

Appendix

Report written by

Liew Yong Sheng and Darren Lee Kim Thiam

Survey form designed by

Liew Yong Sheng, Wong Geng Sen, Mohammad Hasif, Parvesh Ferag

Surveyed by

Wong Geng Sen and Parvesh Ferag

Presentation slides designed and organized by

Mohammad Hasif

Tabulation of data and graphed by

Darren Lee Kim Thiam, Mohammad Hasif and Kevin Lee Hee Xian

Researched by

Liew Yong Sheng, Darren Lee Kim Thiam and Mohammad Hasif

Taylor’s Clinic

Health Service Centre

Block C Level 5 Office

Sunway Hospital

Building service report

Documents

Transcript of Building service report