Analytical study for Thermal Comfort and Building Performance

University classrooms are the primary spaces where students spend most of their time and have a prominent impact on the occupant’s thermal comfort, health, and productivity. A subjective assessment of indoor thermal comfort in university classrooms was carried out during winters and summers to examine thermal sensation, preference, acceptance, productivity, and sick building syndrome in the composite climate of Lahore, Pakistan. The initial results showed that 63% and 37% of the occupants voted in the uncomfortable range in the summers and winters, respectively. The case study building adopted Fanger’s thermal comfort model at the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, for a detailed summer investigation. About 70% of the occupants voted in the uncomfortable range, which is highly alarming compared to the ASHARE-55 standard 20%. These findings stressed an urgent need to improve the classrooms’ thermal environment as results show significant deviations from the thermal comfort standards. Based on subjective assessment parameters, a classroom thermal comfort assessment framework is formulated using Grounded Theory and Analytical Hierarchical Process.