The influence of different functional areas on customers’ thermal comfort – A Field study in shopping complexes of North China

Shopping complexes are widely built for their convenience and multiple functions. However, their complex functional areas, result in significantly different thermal environments and various customers’ thermal perception. To explain the influence of functional related parameters on the thermal perception of customers in shopping complexes, we selected two typical functional related parameters, including customers’ thermal expectation level of indoor environment in their current area and the area where the customer was ten minutes before taking the survey. 851 valid questionnaires were obtained in two typical shopping complexes during July. Customers’ thermal neutral temperature, thermal preference temperature and thermal comfort temperature range were calculated in different functional areas. Customers’ thermal expectation level was quantified by using expectancy factor. The results showed that customers’ thermal expectation level in entertainment areas was the highest, followed by food courts, retail areas, and transition spaces. Customers’ thermal expectation level would influence their thermal neutral temperature and thermal sensitivity. Customers with different thermal experience differed significantly in their thermal sensation voting (p< 0.01). The highest thermal sensitivity, about 0.41/°C, was found in customers moving from high-temperature areas to low-temperature areas. These findings help to clarify how functional related parameters affect the thermal comfort of customers and provide the guidance for designing the indoor temperature in shopping complexes.