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COPE researchers conducted an in-depth study of open-plan office design variables and their effect on occupant satisfaction. They used a field study, literature reviews, mock-up office experiments, and simulations to investigate the many elements of the open-plan office. The reports present the details and conclusions of these studies. The evaluations and design strategies, which are presented on the COPE Web site, were drawn from these reports. The references used in these papers provide further reading for interested parties.
The abstracts are available and French and English, and the reports, in PDF format, are supplied in the language in which they were written.
- For a one-page summary of the project and its findings, click here
- For a six-page summary of the project and its findings, click here
- For a summary of workstation design recommendations, click here
- For a summary of lighting design recommendations, click here
- For a summary of acoustic design recommendations, click here
- For a summary of indoor air quality and thermal comfort recommendations, click here
Reports on Overall Environmental Satisfaction
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 1. Scale Validation and Methods
By Jennifer A. Veitch, Kelly M.J. Farley, and Guy R. Newsham
2002
A field study was conducted to determine the effects of open-plan office design on the indoor environment and on occupant satisfaction with that environment. This report describes the detailed methodology and establishes three subscales of environmental satisfaction for use in future analyses of these data. The subscales together predicted overall environmental satisfaction; overall environmental satisfaction positively predicted job satisfaction.
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 3. Further Scale Validation
By Kate E. Charles, Jennifer A. Veitch, Kelly M. J. Farley, and Guy R. Newsham
2003
This report concerns the questionnaire component of the COPE field study and describes a confirmation of the factor structure established in an earlier COPE report: Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 1. Scale Validation and Methods (Veitch, Farley, & Newsham, 2002). In the original analysis, we determined a three- factor structure reflecting satisfaction with privacy, satisfaction with lighting, and satisfaction with ventilation (data from 419 occupants in 3 buildings). In the new analysis, further confirmatory factor analysis supported this three-factor structure, and the new data achieved a comparable fit to this model. In the original analysis, we also found significant relationships between the three factors and overall environmental satisfaction, which, in turn, predicted job satisfaction. In the current analysis, this structural equation model was retested using the full COPE field study dataset (from 779 occupants in 9 buildings), and achieved a comparably acceptable fit to the model. The relationships confirmed in this analysis are particularly important, given the role of job satisfaction in predicting wider organizational outcomes, such as organizational commitment, intent to turnover, customer satisfaction, and absenteeism. Our results suggest that satisfaction with the physical environment may indirectly contribute to wider organizational outcomes.
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 4. Relationships between Physical Variables
By Guy R. Newsham, Jennifer A. Veitch, Kate E. Charles, John S. Bradley, John Shaw, James T. Reardon, Clinton J.G. Marquardt, Jan Geerts
2003
During the COPE field study, data were collected in 779 workstations in nine buildings. During a workstation visit, research staff conducted detailed measurements of air quality, temperature, air velocity, humidity, noise, lighting, and descriptive characteristics of the workstation during a 10-minute period. At the same time, the occupant completed a 27-item questionnaire. This report addresses the relationships between the physical variables. The physical data from the field study were analysed to check that relationships supported those derived from laboratory and simulation studies ("non-field studies"). Overall, the results of the analyses are consistent with the findings of the non-field studies, and they satisfied expectations; they also revealed some interesting, additional relationships. We will continue to use these findings in the development of design software and other guidance for designers.
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 5. Workstation and Physical Condition Effects
By Jennifer A. Veitch; Kate E. Charles; Guy R. Newsham; Clinton J.G. Marquardt; Jan Geerts 2003
This report concerns the effects of workstation physical conditions on satisfaction with privacy and acoustics; satisfaction with lighting; satisfaction with ventilation; overall environmental satisfaction; and, job satisfaction. Results were derived from data collected in our field study. Among the key findings is that having access to a window or to daylight strongly improves satisfaction with lighting, but has a detrimental effect on satisfaction with ventilation and overall environmental satisfaction. Also, larger workstations are more satisfactory, as are lower partition heights. The latter finding is paradoxical, contradicting previous research on privacy, and might reflect the desire for better daylight penetration, and the perception that lower partitions improve ventilation. Additionally, we found that even at pollutant concentrations within accepted limits, lower concentrations of pollutants improved satisfaction with ventilation.
Related Papers:
Satisfaction with ventilation in open-plan offices: COPE field findings
Satisfaction with lighting in open-plan offices: COPE field findings
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 6. Satisfaction Algorithms for Software
By Newsham, G.R.; Veitch, J.A.; Charles, K.E.; Marquardt, C.J.G.; Geerts, J.; Sander, D.M. 2003
One of the outcomes of the COPE project is software to aid decision-makers in the design and operation of open plan offices. The software concept is that decision-makers enter key aspects of the office design; e.g., cubicle size, partition height, ceiling tile properties, surface reflectances. They also provide costing information related to these choices. The software accesses the results of the other COPE study tasks to indicate expected indoor environment conditions associated with these choices, such as illuminance, speech privacy and glare. These can be compared with particular criteria that might apply. The software will also indicate potential occupant satisfaction issues ('positives' or 'negatives') associated with the design, and provide text advice on these issues. This report details the derivation of the algorithms (or 'rules' or 'heuristics') that determine under what conditions occupant satisfaction issues are identified.
Reports on Workstation Design
Environmental Satisfaction in Open-Plan Environments: 2. Effects of Workstation Size, Partition Height and Windows.
By Kate E. Charles and Jennifer Veitch
2002
As part of the COPE field study, we investigated the effect of three workstation characteristics (workstation area, minimum partition height, and windows) on four environmental satisfaction measures (satisfaction with privacy, ventilation and lighting, and overall environmental satisfaction). We found that: larger workstation areas were associated with greater satisfaction with privacy; window presence was associated with greater satisfaction with lighting but lower satisfaction with ventilation; and higher minimum partition height was associated with higher overall environmental satisfaction.
Open-Plan Office Density and Environmental Satisfaction
By Cara L. Duval, Kate E. Charles, and Jennifer A. Veitch
2002
This literature review examines the effects of open-plan office density on occupant environmental satisfaction. Overall, a negative relationship was found such that as density increases, environmental satisfaction decreases.
Environmental Satisfaction with Open-plan Office Furniture Design and Layout
By Clinton J.G. Marquardt, Jennifer A. Veitch, and Kate E. Charles
2002
A literature review was completed in an attempt to clarify the relationship between the effects of open-plan office furniture design features and layout on ratings of environmental satisfaction. The literature did not conclusively demonstrate general relationships in which specific furnishings or layouts were superior to others. However, it is clear that features of furniture design and layout affect occupants by addressing their physical and task needs, privacy needs, and need for recognition.
Reports on Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort
Office Air Distribution Systems and Environmental Satisfaction
By Kate E. Charles
2002
In this literature review, we examined three types of air distribution systems (mixing, displacement, and localized systems) to determine their effects on occupant satisfaction in office settings. We found that all three systems were capable of producing adequate indoor air quality and thermal environments. Eleven of the reviewed studies measured environmental satisfaction. These suggested that localized systems were positively evaluated by occupants and could improve environmental satisfaction.
Related Publications:
A Review of occupant responses to localized air distribution systems
A Literature Review on the Relationship between Outdoor Ventilation Rates in Offices and Occupant Satisfaction
By Kate E. Charles and Jennifer A. Veitch
2002
This literature review examines the evidence of a relationship between outdoor ventilation rates and occupant satisfaction. In accordance with previous literature reviews on this topic, we found that less favourable occupant satisfaction was most consistently associated with outdoor ventilation rates below 10 L per second per person.
Investigation of Air and Thermal Environments in a Mock-up Open Plan Office: Measurements and CFD Simulations
By J. Zeng, C.Y. Shaw, and R. Macdonald
2001
This report describes experimental measurements and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations in a mock-up open-plan office to investigate the microclimate in and around each workstation. The accuracy of the CFD simulations was checked with the measured velocity and temperature profiles in the space. The predicted velocity and temperature agreed well with the measured ones in both isothermal and thermal scenarios. The CFD technique will be employed as the major research tool to analyze the issues concerning the thermal and air environments in open-plan offices.
Client report, not publicly available
Related Publications:
Indoor climate in an open plan office: a comparison between measurements and CFD simulations
Fanger's Thermal Comfort and Draught Models
By Kate E. Charles
2003
In this review we assessed the validity of two commonly used thermal comfort models. The first, Fanger's PMV Model, combines four physical variables and two personal variables into an index that can be used to predict the average thermal sensation of a large group of people. The second, Fanger's Draught Model, predicts the percentage of occupants dissatisfied with local draught from three physical variables. It is important to be aware of the limitations of Fanger's PMV Model; yet it is still fair to conclude that the model will produce reasonably accurate predictions of occupant thermal sensation. For Fanger's Draught Model, we found no reason to suggest that predictions based on the model would be seriously biased, provided that its original assumptions were met.
Experimental Investigation of Ventilation Performance in a Mock-up Open-plan Office
By C.Y. Shaw, R.A. MacDonald, A.D. Galasiu, J.T. Reardon, and D.Y. Won
2003
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various physical and environmental factors on the ventilation performance in an open-plan office. This objective was achieved through two experimental studies, which are described in this report.
The first study involved one single workstation, and the second tested six workstation layouts. The design factors considered in the first study included the type of supply air diffusers and their location relative to the workstation; the gap height at the base of the workstation partitions; the distance between the test workstation and the test-room wall; and the supply airflow rate. The factors considered in the second study were the number and size of workstations, the workstation partition height, and the diffuser jet angle. The tracer gas technique was used to assess the ventilation performance for different workstation layouts in terms of ventilation air distribution, room-mean-ages of air, and thermal comfort conditions.
The results of the two studies collectively suggest that, for an open-plan office layout with multiple workstations and multiple ceiling-mounted supply air diffusers, it is not necessary to have one air diffuser per workstation to achieve adequate air distribution efficiency. However, it is necessary to adjust the ventilation rate based on the number of workstations to provide at least 10 Litre/second/person. Occupants in some workstations, particularly in workstations with a ceiling-mounted supply air diffuser, may experience some cold draughts. However, simple approaches such as changing the angle of the supply air diffuser, the furniture set-up, or the location of the occupant might improve the thermal comfort conditions.
Report (PDF)
Related Publications:
Influence of Air Diffuser Layout on the Ventilation of Workstations
Reports on Lighting
The Effect of Office Design on Workstation Lighting: Simulation Results
By Guy R. Newsham and Dan Sander
2002
This report presents the results from computer simulations investigating the effect of office design on the luminous environment in open-plan space for a variety of electric lighting designs. We examined the effects of partition height, workstation size, workstation reflectivity, and ceiling reflectivity on desktop illuminance, illuminance around the computer, illuminance uniformity, partition luminance, and VDT screen glare risk. All the variables affected the luminous environment in the open-plan office in varying degrees.
Effects of Office Design on the Annual Daylight Availability-A Simulation Study
By C. F. Reinhart
2001
This report presents the influence of interior office design parameters on the daylight availability in open-plan offices using RADIANCE-based annual daylight simulations. The simulation results reveal that substantial energy savings may be possible with appropriate daylighting strategies, and that workstation design can substantially affect daylight penetration to the building interior.
Client report, not publicly available
Reports on Acoustics
Measurements of Sound Propagation between Mock-Up Workstations
By John S. Bradley and C. Wang
2001
This report presents the results of a series of measurements of sound propagation between pairs of mock-up workstations. The workstation configurations were systematically varied to determine the effect of workstation panel height, workstation panel absorption, gaps under the workstation panels, workstation plan size, ceiling height, ceiling absorption, lighting type and location, workstation components, and workstation configuration. Most of the elements were found to have a significant effect on the acoustical environment.
Masking Speech in Open-Plan Offices with Simulation Ventilation Noise: Noise Level and Spectral Composition Effects on Acoustic Satisfaction
By Jennifer A. Veitch, John S. Bradley, Louise M. Legault, Scott Norcross, and Jana M. Svec
2002
This report presents two experiments that were designed to develop relationships between acoustic conditions in open-plan offices and occupant satisfaction with those conditions. We found that Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) is a good predictor of acoustic satisfaction; lower SII values improve acoustic satisfaction, and SII < .20 is a reasonable target for open-plan offices. Masking sound is most effective when rich in high frequencies Masking noise higher than 45 dB(A), although effective in reducing SII, can itself be unsatisfactory.
Acoustic Behaviour of a Single Screen Barrier in an Open-plan Office
By C. Wang and John S. Bradley
2001
This report describes the development and validation of an analytical model of the sound attenuation of an office screen (also known as partitions or panels) in the presence of a floor and ceiling. The model developed here will be used as the basis of a more extensive model of speech propagation between complete rectangular open office workstations.
Client report, not publicly available
Related Publications: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc44486/nrcc44486.pdf // http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc44286/nrcc44286.pdf
Modeling Sound Propagation between Workstations in Open-plan Offices
By C. Wang and John S. Bradley
2001
In this report, a model of the speech propagation between adjacent rectangular workstations is developed and validated. This model is produced from an earlier model for single screens. The effects of the side and back panels, the sound absorption of the panels, and the workstation orientations are examined. The new results show that if the side and back panels are highly absorptive, the speech propagation between two workstations only depends on the height of the separating screen and the ceiling absorption.
Client report, not publicly available
Related Publications:
Sound propagation between two adjacent rectangular workstations in an open-plan office. I: Mathematical modeling
Sound propagation between two adjacent rectangular workstations in an open-plan office. Part II: Effects of office variables
Acoustic Satisfaction in Open-plan Offices: Review and Recommendations
By Manna Navai and Jennifer A. Veitch
2003
The aim of this literature review was to quantify the relationship between specific characteristics of sound associated with acoustic satisfaction in the open-plan office. Based on this review, we may only tentatively conclude that the rule-of-thumb that SII should be 0.20 or lower is reasonable; few studies have systematically examined relationships between composite measures of speech privacy/intelligibility and acoustic satisfaction. We were able to conclude that acceptable acoustic conditions in open-plan offices should have average noise levels around 45-50 dB(A).
