Post-occupancy evaluation: State-of-the-art analysis and state-of-the-practice review

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a process of evaluating the performance of a building after it has been occupied for at least several years. The authors conducted a comprehensive and critical review to provide a both qualitative and quantitative introduction of POE, including a brief introduction of the history, definition and benefits of POE, a statistical analysis of 146 POE projects since 2010, a comparison of 16 existing POE protocols, a summary of emerging research focuses, and potential future research areas. The 146 POE projects were analyzed in terms of building types, countries, purposes, methods used, and key findings. The review of 16 POE protocols show the state-of-the-practice POE techniques. Apart from POE projects, the authors present emerging research topics related to the visualization of POE results, analyses of occupant survey database, and measurement of occupancy. Finally, the discussion summarizes the current condition of POE research and proposes five transitions that POE efforts should pursue: from one-off to continuing, from high-level to detailed, from researchers-oriented to owners/occupants-oriented, from academia to industry, and from independent to integrated. This paper provides a thorough introduction of POE to the beginners in this area, as well as informing more seasoned investigators about the trends, gaps, and potential future directions in POE research.