CI-v5 EQc2: Occupant Experience 1-7 points

Credit language

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Intent

To move beyond neutral or sufficient spaces toward human-centered design that supports customization, enjoyment, and emotional connections between people and the building, thus increasing the likelihood of consistent satisfaction and ongoing stewardship. 

Requirements

Option 1. Biophilic Environment (1–4 points)
PATH 1. INTEGRATED BIOPHILIC DESIGN (1 POINT) 
Integrate biophilic design that demonstrates each of the following five principles adapted from The Practice of Biophilic Design by Kellert and Calabrese¹²⁰: 

• Biophilic design requires repeated and sustained engagement with nature.
• Biophilic design focuses on human adaptations to the natural world that, over evolutionary time, have advanced people’s health, fitness, and well-being.
• Biophilic design encourages an emotional attachment to the building and building location.
• Biophilic design promotes positive interactions between people and nature that encourage an expanded sense of relationship and responsibility for the human and natural communities.
• Biophilic design encourages mutual reinforcing, interconnected, and integrated architectural solutions. 

AND/OR

PATH 2. QUALITY VIEWS (2–3 POINTS)
Provide occupants in the building with a view to the outdoor natural or urban environment for 75% (for 2 points, 90% for 3 points) of all regularly occupied floor area. Auditoriums, conference rooms dedicated to video conferencing, and gymnasiums may be excluded. Views into interior atria may be used to meet up to 30% of the required area.

• Views must be through glass with a visible light transmittance above 40%. If the glazing has frits, patterns, or tints, the view must be preserved. Neutral gray, bronze, and blue-green tints are acceptable.
• Views must include at least one of the following.
  • Nature, urban landmarks, or art; OR
  • Objects at least 25 feet (7.5 meters) from the exterior of the glazing.
• Occupants must have direct access to the view and be within three times the head height of the glazing.

AND/OR

Option 2. Adaptable Environment (1–2 points)
Allow occupants choice and flexibility and/or the capability to adapt the space to meet their individual needs. Provide variability and/or optionality for thermal, sound, and lighting environments that invite occupants to either alter their experience and/or move between sensory zones. Include at least one accessible quiet space that allows occupants to retreat from high levels of sensory stimulation.

Projects must also demonstrate at least one of the listed additional strategies for 1 point or three for 2 points:

Additional strategies

• Provide socializing, meeting, dining, eating, and/or working areas where occupants can sit outside the main action and have permanent architectural features at their backs that create a comfortable, semi-protected space that overlooks the larger area (prospect).
• Provide alternative paths that enable travel around the perimeter of the area so that people are not required to travel across a large open space.
• Provide choice in furniture configuration and a variety of seating to accommodate a wide range of body types, including seating with back rests and without arm rests.
• Provide height variety for permanently installed fixtures, like counters and sinks, and/or height-adjustable tables and desks, where appropriate.
• Provide the ability for all occupants to easily access outdoor or transitional space located within 200 feet (60 meters) of a building entrance or access point.

AND/OR

Option 3. Thermal Environment (1 point)
Design indoor occupied spaces to meet the requirements of ASHRAE Standard 55-2023, “Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy” with errata. Investigate thermal conditions in and around the project and explain how the design considers the following:

• Thermal conditions that align and adjust with changing seasons
• Overcooling during nontemperate seasons.
  • Design solutions for newly arrived occupants or occupants transitioning between different thermal environments to adjust to the space while maintaining an appropriately warm environment for those already in the building.  
  • Design solutions for long-term occupants in transition spaces to customize their working area. 
• Support for occupants carrying out different tasks requiring varying levels of movement 
  • Cooling solutions for those completing high-movement tasks.

AND/OR

Option 4. Sound Environment (1–2 points)
PATH 1. MAPPING ACOUSTICAL EXPECTATIONS FOR INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SPACES (1 POINT)
Determine the desired sound environment early in the design process by mapping the acoustic expectations for each primary indoor and outdoor space that is specific to the use of the space and occupant needs. Categories to consider include noise exposure, acoustic comfort and noise sensitivity, acoustic privacy, communication, and soundscape, with the following possible classifications:

• Noise exposure zones: high risk, medium risk, low risk, or no risk.
• Acoustic comfort: loud zone, quiet zone, mixed zone, circulation, sensitive, and no specific expectations.
• Acoustic privacy: high speech security, confidential speech privacy, normal speech privacy, marginal speech privacy, or no privacy. 
• Communication zones: excellent, good, marginal, and none or no specific expectations. 
• Soundscape management: preserve, improve, restore, mitigate, specialized (e.g., wellness, therapeutic, or agency in equity), or no specific expectations.

Define acoustic criteria and potential design strategies and solutions to meet the acoustic expectations for each space. Categories to consider include internally generated background noise, externally intrusive background noise, electronically generated masking sound, outdoor acoustic environment, airborne sound reverberation, sound insulation, vibration insulation, and impact noise.

OR

PATH 2. ACOUSTIC CRITERIA FOR INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SPACES (2 POINTS)
Through calculations, modeling, and/or measurements, demonstrate that the mapping exercise completed in Path 1 informed design strategies and solutions to meet acoustic criteria for at least 75% of the occupied spaces and all classrooms and other core learning spaces. 

AND/OR

Option 5. Lighting Environment (1–6 points)
PATH 1. SOLAR GLARE (1 POINT)
Provide manual or automatic (with manual override) glare-control devices in all regularly occupied spaces that will receive direct or reflected sun penetration. Spaces designed intentionally for direct sunlight may be excluded.

AND/OR

PATH 2. QUALITY ELECTRIC LIGHTING (1 POINT)
Comply with the following requirements for regularly occupied spaces:

Electric light glare control
Each luminaire shall meet one of the following requirements:

• Have calculated luminance of less than 6,000 candela per square meter (cd/sq. m.) between 45 and 90 degrees from nadir.
• Achieve a unified glare rating (UGR) of 19 or lower using the UGR tabular method for each space.
• Achieve a UGR rating of 19 or lower using software modeling calculations of the designed lighting. (Modeling must be performed as outlined in the NEMA White Paper on Unified Glare Rating¹²¹.)

Color rendering
Use luminaires that have a color rendering index (CRI) of at least 90 or that meet the color rendering requirements in Table 1, in accordance with Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) TM-30-20.

Table 1. Color Rendering Requirements Using IES TM-30-20

AND/OR

PATH 3. PROXIMITY TO WINDOWS FOR DAYLIGHT ACCESS (1 POINT) 
Design the interior layout to provide at least 30% of the regularly occupied area to be within a 20-foot (6-meter) horizontal distance of envelope glazing. The glazing must have a visible light transmittance above 40%. Regularly occupied areas with visual obstructions (incapable of providing a view to envelope glazing) should be excluded from the compliant area.  

OR

PATH 4. DAYLIGHT SIMULATION (1–4 POINTS)
Perform a daylight simulation analysis for the project to understand and optimize access to daylight and visual comfort. Use the calculation protocols in IES LM-83-23 with the following clarifications:

• Calculate spatial daylight autonomy_300/50% (sDA_300/50%) and annual sunlight exposure_1000,250 (ASE_1000,250) as defined in IES LM-83-23 for each regularly occupied space in the project. sDA150/50% may be used for areas without visual tasks with design targets of 225 lux.
• For any regularly occupied spaces with ASE_{net(1000,250h)} greater than 20%, identify how the space is designed to address glare.
• Calculate the average sDA_300/50% or sDA_150/50% for the total regularly occupied floor area.  Do not exclude spaces based on annual sunlight exposure (ASE). Points are awarded based on this calculation, according to Table 2.

Table 2. Points for Daylight Simulation