An empirical study of visual comfort in office buildings

Visual comfort is an important indicator of both occupant satisfaction and work performance. The main goal of this study is to present the visual comfort-related factors that influence occupant satisfaction. To achieve this goal, a detailed literature analysis was conducted to determine the main factors that can be used to evaluate the effect of visual comfort on the satisfaction of office workers. Afterward, interviews were conducted with 12 facility managers, and related work orders created by the facility management teams were investigated to determine visual comfort-related complaint types. Based on the collected data, a hierarchical structure of visual comfort factors was created. Finally, 308 office workers were surveyed to determine (1) the number of respondents with complaints related to each visual comfort factor, (2) the level of importance of the visual comfort related factors, and (3) office worker’s satisfaction levels for each factor. The findings reveal that the largest gap between the perceived importance and satisfaction appears in daylighting and visual privacy. The designers, facility managers, and renovators need to think of design strategies to provide more privacy and access to daylight to occupants in their working environments.