Comfort and stress
The idea of human comfort has traditionally been
applied in architectural history research to studying
the functional aspects of the dwellings and
buildings of older and remote cultures. Comfort
as a basis for setting environmental standards in
public buildings has developed out of recognizing
that people need to be more than simply healthy
and safe in the buildings they occupy. Once health
and safety are assured, users need environmental
support for the activities they are there to
perform, that is, environmental comfort (Vischer,
1989). The concept of environmental comfort
links the psychological aspects of workers’ environmental
likes and dislikes with concrete
outcome measures such as improved task performance,
as well as with organizational productivity
through workspace support for work-related
tasks.