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This study examines the capability of an immersive virtual environment (IVE–based) experimental protocol to support occupant thermal state (sensation, acceptability, and comfort) data collection when participants wear face masks. Specifically, the goal is to see if there is a change in local thermal states due to face covering and would such a change affect overall thermal states. A between-subject experiment was conducted with fifty-four participants (27 masked; 27 unmasked) who were exposed to three-step temperatures (18.3ºC, 23.8ºC, and 29.4ºC) in a climate chamber under both cooling and heating sequences. In masked IVE experiments, participants donned a face mask and viewed the chamber's virtual model on a head-mounted display. In contrast, in unmasked IVE experiments, participants didn't use a face mask. Skin temperatures and overall/local thermal state responses were collected during the experiments. They were then statistically compared between masked IVE and unmasked IVE experiments. The results suggest that forehead temperature was significantly different under all step temperatures in the cooling sequence, with mean forehead temperature being larger in masked IVE than in unmasked IVE experiments. Furthermore, in masked IVE experiments, thermal sensation in the forehead, neck, and upper-back increased while the thermal acceptability in those same skin sites decreased, but this difference was not statistically significant. Also, in masked IVE experiments, the overall thermal sensation increased, whereas both the overall thermal acceptability and comfort decreased when compared with unmasked IVE experiments. Nonetheless, this difference was not statistically significant. To summarize, wearing a face mask didn't affect the participant's overall and local thermal states in IVEs, although few statistical differences were observed in skin temperatures

Virtual reality (VR) offers promise as a tool for building performance simulations, especially when considering human-building interactions in buildings or spaces still under design. However, the absence of standardized data protocols impedes the consistent sharing of VR-related experiments and findings. This makes advancing VR experimentation as a reliable method for studying human-building dynamics challenging. The authors introduced the Virtual Human-Building Interaction Experimentation Ontology (VHBIEO) to address the challenge. VHBIEO seeks to standardize experimentation details as a domain-specific ontology, enhancing their interoperability. It includes essential experimentation concepts and employs semantic web technologies to ensure machine readability. Moreover, it integrates an application view (APV) to tailor details to specific experiments. Using VHBIEO-based metadata, this paper presents a case study aiming to standardize experiments that validate thermal sensations in immersive virtual environments (IVE), encompassing experimental protocol, variables, design, and data gathering. By exploring the main characteristics of VHBIEO-based metadata, the authors discuss its potential to improve the reliability of human-building interaction research

This collection contains 182 peer-reviewed papers on BIM and prefabricated technology for construction engineering presented at the 2016 International Conference on Construction and Real Estate Management, held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, September 29–October 1, 2016.