Occupancy implications of spatial, indoor-environmental, and organizational features of office spaces

The quality of office spaces has been said to have a significant effect on the health, comfort, satisfaction, and productivity of office workers. Numerous studies and projects aim at documenting the postulated impact of office space quality on occupancy factors. Nonetheless, there is a need for further systematic research efforts and reliable empirical data in this area. This paper presents a study of a number of architectural offices in Vienna, Austria. Data pertaining to certain spatial and indoor-climatic features of these offices was collected via observation and snap-shot measurements. Simultaneously, an occupancy evaluation was performed via interviews with professionals who work in these offices. The observations and evaluations addressed the relationship between the workplace and the outdoor environment, the layout and refurbishment of the workplace, the technical infrastructure of the workplace, the communication patterns in the workplace, and the thermal, visual, and acoustical indoor climate. The “subjective” evaluations were compared with the “objective” measures of workplace architecture and indoor climate.