EVALUATING THE OCCUPANTS SATISFACTION REGARDING THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF COMMON PRACTICES IN APARTMENT BUILDINGS’ ENVELOPES IN HEBRON, PALESTINE

Abstract

Building envelope highly influences the levels of energy required to achieve thermal comfort and occupants’ satisfaction. A proper envelope design through the selection of the proper material leads to better indoor air quality, life cycle performance, and energy efficiency. The thermal performance of a building is a result of the interaction between its construction features along with the climatic conditions of the site. The envelopes layering, materials selection, air cavity, and construction methods determine its capability of transmitting, storing, or emitting heat which is often neglected in the design process in Palestine. In Hebron, Palestine; due to the continuing increase of population rates and the limited ability of urban expansion due to geographical limitations referring to political reasons; apartment buildings are becoming more prominent in the latest building tendency. Currently, residential buildings are suffering from the lack of thermal comfort measures and other poor indoor environment quality indicators. This paper introduces an evaluation study for occupants’ satisfaction regarding the apartment buildings in Hebron, Palestine through the assessment of the occupants’ satisfaction regarding the indoor environment measures in the Mediterranean climate. Multistorey buildings consisting of multiple apartments were included in an intensive field survey to analyse the thermal properties and capabilities of these buildings’ envelopes in the common practices in Hebron city.