JAPANESE OFFICE EMPLOYEES PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO THEIR UNDERGROUND AND ABOVEGROUND OFFICES

The discussion about underground spaces for office use has intensified during the past few decades, but the human reactions towards them are not yet well understood. Furthermore, most of the previous studies ha ve been carried out in western countries. In the present study, Japane se office workers' psychological reactions to underground and above-gr ound offices were investigated with regard to the perceived importance of windows in the office, and the perceived lighting and visual condi tions in the underground and above-ground offices. The study was carri ed out in the form of a questionnaire survey. The subjects were 22 emp loyees in underground and 86 employees in above-ground offices. The re sults confirmed that windows were strongly desired in offices, especia lly by employees working underground and not having windows. The under ground employees also evaluated their lighting condition more negative ly than did the above-ground workers. Considering that type of furnitu re and colour scheme, as well as other environmental factors, such as type and level of artificial lighting, temperature and noise level, we re very similar in the underground and above-ground offices, it is con cluded that the perceived need for windows and the perception of the l ighting conditions in our study was strongly influenced by psychologic al factors, such as the awareness of being underground. Furthermore, t he Japanese subjects' reactions were similar to those of the western s ubjects found in previous studies, which suggests that reactions towar ds windowlessness and underground spaces are widespread, not influence d substantially by cultural or climatic conditions. It is, therefore, argued that underground spaces for office use should be avoided as muc h as possible. If underground space utilization is necessary, the occu pants' psychological reactions should be considered to a much greater extent in the design process than is the case at present.