Assignment Task
For this assignment, you will make perceptual observations and take instrumental measurements inside a building on campus.
You will compare the qualitative and quantitative data you collect. Your assignment is broken into 7 steps:
Step 1: Select two quantities to measure
You may choose between:
- Sound: A-weighted sound pressure level over 60 seconds (to measure background noise, 1.5 m above the floor)
- Light: Illuminance (horizontally, 75 cm above the floor)
- Thermal: Air temperature (1.1 m above the floor) and relative humidity
Step 2: Choose a building and location to measure
Select a building on campus. It should be large enough to have a variety of rooms, intended for different occupant activities.
Step 3: Gather your measuring instruments
- Sound: We recommend using the sound level meter in the yellow boxes to measure dBA. You want to measure the average intensity over a period of time, commonly referred to as Leq in the field of acoustics. Otherwise, you can use the NIOSH Sound Level Meterfor Apple iOS users (but not limited to). You can choose your own app that suits your phone’s operating system.
- Light: The illuminance meter in the yellow boxes. Readings are very sensitive to the position of the sensor, so make sure it is steady and no obvious obstructions are shadowing the device.
- Thermal: The thermometer and HM 34 humidity meter (if available) in the yellow boxes. Make sure to extend the sensor probe and remove the yellow cap before taking your measurements.
- Tape measure or laser distance measuring device.
Step 4: In less than a page, describe the building
Provide the building name describe its function(s), and provide some contextual descriptions for the measurements:
- size (e.g., number of storeys, etc.)
- construction type and/or architectural features
- site features (e.g., distance to neighbouring buildings, proximity to traffic, the volume of traffic (light/heavy))
- occupancy type of the room/space where you did your measurements (schedule, density, activity type, visitor/worker, etc.)
- ventilation mode of the room/space where you did your measurements (A/C, natural ventilation, heating system type etc.)
- interior surface finish type of the room/space where you did your measurements (soft, hard, drapes, carpet, timber floor, glazed area etc.)
- the window-to-wall ratio of the room/space where you did your measurements (area of glazed windows divided by area of all walls including windows
Step 5: Record measurements from 10 spaces/locations inside the building
Choose the 10 spaces to include a variety of different types of spaces, with a broad range of values for the quantities that you are measuring. Record the following information for each measurement point:
- Brief description of the type of space (e.g., classroom, office desk area, seating area, bathroom, retail shop, etc.)
- Brief description of the intended activities for the space (e.g., navigation, reading, writing, speaking to others, ordering food, etc.)
- Your subjective impressions of the quantity you are analysing (background noise, illuminance, or air temperature). Be systematic in your use of adjectives. Describe your:
- percepts (e.g., it’s loud, it’s cold, it’s bright, etc.)
- how those percepts relate to your comfort (e.g., it hurts my ears, it makes me shiver, it strains my eyes, etc.),
- how those percepts facilitate or impede your ability to perform the activities for which the space is intended (e.g., it’s difficult to have a conversation, the chill makes me want to leave, it’s difficult to read the signs, etc.), and
- any observations you have about factors that influence your percepts (e.g., there are a lot of people talking, the window is open, the window admits a lot of light into the space, etc.)
- Your quantitative instrumental measurement results. Be sure to use units appropriately.
Step 6: Analyse the relationships (if any) between your perceptual impressions and your instrumental measurements
Tables and graphs are permissible. You may wish to consider these points:
- In which locations did you measure the largest and smallest quantitative values? How different were they? How different were your perceptual impressions of those locations?
- Can you identify a relationship between your quantitative results and your descriptions of comfort? If/when there is not a clear relationship between them, can you speculate as to why?
- Did spaces with different intended activities appear to function better or worse with different values of the quantity you measured? From your impressions, can you draw any conclusions about the relationship between the quantity you measured and suitability for the intended activities?
- Are there any aspects of the building(described in Step 4) which directly impact, negatively or positively, the activities for which the space was intended?
- Are there any aspects of the building’s site(described in Step 4) which directly impact, negatively or positively, the activities for which the space was intended?