'We Can Send a Man To The Moon But We Can't Control the Temperature In Our office'; A Considerate Approach To Workplace Thermal Comfort by Older Women

Title of the Paper

We Can Send Humans to the Moon, but We Can't Control Office Temperature: A Compassionate Design Approach to Workplace Thermal Comfort for Older Women

Paper Information

• Subject Areas: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Thermal Comfort, Gender and Workplace Design
• Keywords: Thermal Comfort, Gender, Menopause, User Experience, Adaptive Design, HCI, Built Environment, Energy Management, Policy, Aging Workforce

Research Background and Issues

• Problem Identification:
  1. Originating from Fanger's seminal thermal comfort research in the 1970s, current workplace temperature standards are based on male-dominated assumptions, such as the effects of full-body clothing and male metabolic data, without adequately addressing the needs of women, particularly older women.
  2. Most studies focus on younger women, with a lack of exploration into the experiences of post-menopausal or older working women.
  3. With an aging population, more women will enter this overlooked demographic, creating emotional and policy-level challenges of inconvenience and inequality.
• Significance:
  1. The thermal regulation experiences of menopausal women highlight significant physiological and psychological needs, directly impacting productivity, mental health, and workplace environments.
  2. At a time when revisiting building energy consumption and ecological adaptability is critical, designing to reduce carbon footprints while considering user needs is especially important.
• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  1. Commonly used thermal comfort theories and standards fail to adequately serve diverse and equitable user groups.
  2. There is a gender data gap: gender and age factors are insufficiently integrated into research on thermal comfort design and energy consumption devices.
  3. While literature addresses concepts such as "user empathy" or "embodied perception" in design, these often focus on technical and managerial aspects, neglecting interpersonal dynamics and empathy needs among users.

Solutions

• Methods and Solutions:

  1. Participatory Design: Conducted workshops with 13 women aged 45 and above, combining their interests and needs through creative drawing and conceptualizing thermal comfort devices to encourage solution generation and reflective participation.
  2. Embedding User Empathy: Focused on how high-temperature regulation devices and empathy for others can coexist in design.
  3. Stimulating Creative Thinking: Introduced intuitive visualization and open-ended surveys, using drawing and design to explore users' imaginations of future interfaces.

• Innovations:

  1. Proposed a systematic design approach integrating technical and emotional dimensions to address workplace thermal comfort needs for menopausal women.
  2. Shifted from traditional macro-level integrated thermal comfort frameworks to "micro-personalized control" and "dynamic feedback" design.
  3. Highlighted the potential of "empathy among users" as a driver for collective comfort.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Sample Recruitment: Used a "snowball method" to focus on women aged 45 and above, covering various job levels and educational backgrounds.
  2. Data Collection: Employed desktop interviews, written notes on layout paper, physical prototype sketches, and 2-hour in-depth group discussions, supplemented by audio recordings and written notes.
  3. Design Framework: Emphasized modular technologies, such as wearable cooling devices, air circulation optimization robots, and tactile interface designs.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  1. Identified core thermal comfort needs of older women in the workplace, including a preference for "fresh air" and demands for "individualized and dynamic adjustment" of temperature control devices.
  2. Discovered the boundary effects of a lack of "workspace control," such as difficulties in choosing desk locations or adjusting clothing, on older women's thermal comfort experiences.
  3. Highlighted "consideration for others (empathy)" as a key characteristic of this group's design needs, promoting interface design that is transparent and collaborative.

• Comparative Advantages:

  1. Unlike solutions solely focused on energy optimization, this study emphasizes differentiated user needs and emotional connections.
  2. Explored the constraints imposed by external variables, such as access control, communication patterns, and climatic disruptions, on thermal comfort experiences.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  1. Through dynamic interaction mechanisms between "user-device" and "user-user," the new proposals demonstrated significant potential in refining personal cooling devices (e.g., "self-controlled walls," "AI robots").
  2. Participants unanimously noted that visualized heating data and applications providing advance knowledge of thermal conditions facilitated transparent decision-making.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  1. The sample was concentrated at Lancaster University, lacking generalizability and industry coverage.
  2. The study did not extend to cross-cultural research, suggesting future work to fill the gap in global perspectives on menopausal thermal comfort.
  3. Called for long-term tracking studies to translate user feedback into commercial or policy-level recommendations.

Conclusion

This study aims to enhance the workplace thermal comfort experience for menopausal women by providing new female-centric solutions for workplace interfaces and device design, emphasizing the synergy between technology, humanization, and diversity. The research aspires to provoke industry-wide reconsideration of menopause-related issues, gender data inequality, and ecological responsibility in building design.