Enhancing occupants' comfort through BIM-based probabilistic approach

Despite the fact that buildings are designed to meet occupants' needs, many do not perform as planned, impacting upon both building performance and occupants' comfort. Analyzing occupants' comfort based on questionnaire surveys requires specific information and appropriate use of visualization techniques to identify possible dissatisfactory problems. However, existing studies do not provide a user-friendly visualization and are not interoperable with Building Information Modeling (BIM) to facilitate the data collection. This paper proposes a novel approach for integrating occupants' feedback and an occupants' comfort probabilistic model into BIM. It also presents innovative techniques to facilitate BIM as a more effective platform for visualization to guide decision-makers in addressing building operational problems centered on occupants' comfort. Findings from this research can assist facility managers and owners in identifying causal factors of occupants' discomfort and properly establishing the necessary measurements to moderate the negative consequences on occupants and thereby improve their comfort.