Architecture Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1

Open Access
Impact of Wood on Human Thermal Perception of Transient and Steady-State Indoor Environments
(University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Blankenberger, Denise; Van Den Wymelenberg, Kevin
Humans thermally adapt and respond to the thermal environment in a number of ways, including psychologically. Preliminary evidence suggests that wood can lead to a perceived sensation of warmth while thermal history has been shown to affect the perception of thermal comfort. This thesis investigates two questions: (1) does wood material improve thermal comfort? (2) does thermal history impact present thermal comfort? To explore these questions, two thermal comfort studies were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. In the first, participants evaluated their thermal comfort with wood and white wall treatments while the thermal environment changed dynamically between warm and cool. The second tested the same wall treatments in a steady-state thermal environment. The first study indicates that recent thermal history impacts thermal perception, and no effect of wall treatment on thermal perception was found. The second study suggests that wood had a cooling effect.