Health of green building occupants: both indoor and neighborhood environments matter

Abstract

Commonly adopted green building standards, such as LEED and BEAM PLUS, tend to focus on the sustainable performance of buildings. There is a lack of comprehensive consideration on the associations between building environment and health of occupants, let alone the impact of neighborhood environment on the occupants. This study thus aims to investigate the impact and interplay of indoor and neighborhood environment on health of green building occupants. To achieve this aim, two green buildings, which locate in contrasting neighborhood environment in Hong Kong, are selected for case study. Based on the data collected by post-occupancy evaluation (occupant health), indoor environment assessment (thermal comfort, indoor air quality, ventilation, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort) and neighborhood environment assessment (neighborhood building density, neighborhood building height, neighborhood green area, and neighborhood cleanliness) through questionnaire survey, the results reveal that the relationship between indoor environment and occupant health is significantly moderated by neighborhood building height. The results lay foundation on how the green building standards can be further developed to enhance occupant health by taking neighborhood environment into account.