Our survey was a three day exercise from February 25-28, 2008. The questionnaires were door hangers given to users of each office on each floor, and also left in the public spaces. We received no completed surveys from the first floor, so the answers are based solely on the tabulated results from users on the second and third floors.
The first floor of Shoup Hall houses an arena room for theatrical arts practices, a student computer lab, and a small number of offices toward the rear of the facility. The second floor houses a main office for the theatrical arts department as well as smaller offices down the corridor. The third floor houses classrooms and lounges for the University of Idaho ROTC units, and a number of smaller offices for different departments including University of Idaho Sustainability Center.
The third floor has more part-time users with less hours worked per week, and each floor seems almost even in the amount of male and female users. This difference in time and hours worked creates a need for a variation in the kinds of and used hours of lighting fixtures. Though each office is usually equipped with 2, 4ft.- 2 bulb fluorescent light fixtures, in offices where more hours are worked they are typically replaced or accentuated by incandescent lamps. As was our reaction upon initiating our study of Shoup Hall, the building users feel that it is too hot the majority of the year, with only air-conditioned spaces, which are rarely provided, being the "go-to" places in Shoup Hall.
The season which provides the most comfort for the most users is winter, while as suspected the least amount of comfort is provided during the summer months, with August being the worst. The users expressed a great desire on the second floor for more control over their work environments and a much lower level of satisfaction overall with Shoup Hall.
In striving to improve the sustainability of Shoup Hall, along with other facilities on the University of Idaho campus, the occupants/users showed an interest in using adjustable thermostats, automatic daylight controls, occupancy sensors, mobile work stations, compact fluorescent bulbs, roller shades, exterior shading devices, low-flow toilets, low-flow sinks, and recycling.
"Winter-heating seems a bit high. Summer- AC is required."
"Needs better shading and insulation to reduce summer temps."
"The heat in this building is way too high. Turn the thermostat down 10-15 degrees for comfort!"
"Hard to thin clearly when it is so hot."
"Miserable most of the time."
"West side of building gets afternoon sun & is miserable from May-October."