Caltrans Headquarters, Marysville CA
Impact of Natural Light on
Teamwork, Workplace Interactions
and Staff Satisfaction
This research has been presented at:
DBIA National meetings: 2010, Las Vegas, NV
ac martin research studio
behavioral post-occupancy studies
CALTRANS Headquarters, Marysville CA
CALTRANS planned its new headquarters to incorporate
abundant natural light at staff workstations and an openoffice environment to increase collegiality and cooperation for work-teams. The behavioral post-occupancy
study results show that staff whose workstations are in
direct natural light were 15% more likely to satisfied
with the facility overall and 19% more likely to report
that their ability to work with a team had improved in
the new building. CALTRANS initiated a change-management program to train staff to work efficiently in the
open-office setting, which constituted a significant cultural change from the staff’s previous work settings.
IMPACT OF NATURAL LIGHT
A primary project goal was to provide natural light to as many
workstations as possible. The design achieved a generous
distribution of light, and used a central atrium, dubbed “The
Canyon,” which admitted South light and bounced it off a
warm-tinted ceiling into workstations three floors below.
The study showed that staff whose workstations were located
to receive direct natural light were markedly different from the
average survey respondent on a variety of measures. These
staff, who comprised 34% of the sample, showed more positive
responses to the work environment.
48%
34%
15%
Direct
Indirect
Atrium
10%
None
DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL LIGHT TO WORKSTATIONS
Staff whose workstations receive
direct natural light reported:
+15%
SATISFACTION WITH FACILITY OVERALL
+11%
SATISFACTION WITH WORKSPACE
+19%
IMPROVED ABILITY TO WORK WITH A TEAM
+19%
IMPROVED INTERACTIONS WITH
COLLEAGUES
Workstations overlooking
the “Canyon”
+18%
SATISFACTION WITH ACOUSTICS
ACOUSTICS IN GREEN BUILDINGS
The CALTRANS Headquarters building was designed to a LEED-Silver target. Both the results of this
post-occupancy study and recent literature on sustainable buildings make it clear that the management of
acoustics is a challenge in green buildings. Staff in sustainable buildings make frequent complaints about
noise and acoustic privacy (being able to hold a conversation or speak on the phone without being overheard).
Green buildings incorporate several design elements that contribute to this acoustics challenge. Hard-surface
materials are more sustainable because they last longer, but they reflect rather than absorb sound. Openoffice interior plans admit natural light to inboard workstations but also increase the ambient noise level,
particularly when low partitions are used. More efficient HVAC systems reduce energy requirements, but don’t
serve as ‘white-noise generators’ that help to mask the sound of human conversation.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT: MODIFYING BEHAVIOR
The CALTRANS open-office landscape and low cubicle partitions were designed to increase staff communication,
collegiality and work-team cooperation, Because this was a significant change from their original work environments, staff had some difficulty adapting to the new office culture.
CALTRANS introduced a change management program aimed at increasing individual awareness of and responsibility for the most important sources of noise: human speech and conversation, and office and cell phones. Staff
were instructed to place cell phones on ‘vibrate’ upon entering the building, and to use their ‘indoor voices’ when
conducting telephone or face-to-face conversations.
Source of Noise Complaints
C O M P L A I N T S
A C O U S T I C
45
Phones 39
Ringing 46
Mechanical 18
Noise 22
(HVAC) 47
Outside Traffic 16
18
Noise 19
LEED-Rated Buildings
CBE Database Buildings
CALTRANS Headquarters
O F
CALTRANS headquarters showed a similar pattern of
noise complaints to the CBE analysis, although the
magnitude of complaints was somewhat smaller in
most categories. CALTRANS change management
strategies focused on reducing the most frequentlynamed sources of noise: nearby conversations and
telephones.
People Talking 85
80
Nearby 78
%
Center for the Built Environment researchers at UC
Berkeley found that, of all building elements, noise is
the most persistent source of worker dissatisfaction.
By comparing noise complaints in green buildings with
those in other buildings in their database, CBE identified human speech as the most frequent cause of noise
complaints, shown at right.
Data Source: AT-archi-tech.com_June 2010
DESIGN INTERVENTION
• Anticipating issues with noise transmission, the CALTRANS Headquarters design incorporated Quiet Rooms for
informal meetings and telephone calls. About 25% reported using the Quiet Rooms every day or several days a
week and 65% of regular users say these rooms meet their needs.
• Although the CALTRANS Headquarters construction budget could not include it, a white-noise generating system can significantly reduce the intrusion of nearby phone and face-to-face conversations. These systems work
by creating sound that targets the higher frequencies of human speech.
ac martin, inc.
planning
architecture
interior architecture
research
Our material is proprietary and copyrighted. For fur ther information, please contact: Dr. Susan Painter, Director of the AC Mar tin Research Studio:
susan.painter@acmar tin.com.
all material is copyrighted and
proprietary to the ac martin research
studio. for further information or for
permission to quote, please contact:
Dr. Susan Painter
[email protected]
213-614-6124
ac martin, inc.
planning
architecture
interior architecture
research