Thermal comfort in transitional spaces—basic concepts: literature review and trial measurement

Current thermal comfort research extensively documents various aspects of the human thermal response to stable environmental conditions. Reviews of recent research on outdoor comfort, however, reveals a lack of information on response to conditions in transitional spaces—those areas that are influenced by outdoor climate, yet are architecturally bounded by a building. In this work, we focused on transitional space as a space in between outdoor and indoor. Transitional spaces were organized into three categories depending on their proximity to interior spaces. Pilot measurements of physical variables were taken in six places. Transitional spaces’ physical environments varied by the space type and architectural characteristics. The typical behaviors observed were walking, standing, and sitting —different and varied compared to the sedentary behavior in offices or homes. The most efficient architectural shape of transitional spaces is related to the corresponding regional climatic condition. It was verified that PMV cannot be used for transitional space thermal comfort predictions because of its unstable and dynamic physical and MET value.