ABSTRACT
Building performance evaluation (BPE) originated from post-occupancy evaluation, providing owners and designers with data on a range of factors, such as energy use, comfort and user satisfaction. BPE embodies a much broader application of feedback study, with the results specifically used to inform and improve design decisions. One of the great virtues of the PROBE tools, and others that have been developed since, is that they can be used as pre-design tools as well as post-occupancy analysis tools. Designers are trained to believe that thermal comfort is usually the most important determinant of occupant satisfaction. Designers are naturally wary of responding too directly to the findings generated by occupant surveys. The reality checking of design decisions should be systematic and regular. Emerging understanding of the gap between what designers intend and what actually happens begs a number of questions for the future of retrofit, and for building design generally.
