Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

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Building and Environment

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Evaluation of thermal comfort in an historical Italian opera theatre by

the calculation of the neutral comfort temperature
P. Ricciardi a, *, A. Ziletti b, C. Buratti c
a
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata, 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy
b
Alessandro Ziletti Engineering Studio, Via Fontane, 26/D, 25133, Brescia, Italy
c
Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti, 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Theatres are a very complex environment where thermal comfort is difficult to control. They frequently
Received 2 February 2016 operate at high occupancy level and tend to have high sensible and latent heat loads. An application of
Received in revised form the neutral comfort temperature methodology is proposed to analyze this particular kind of building.
10 March 2016
Thermal-hygrometric parameters defined in ISO 7730, Ashrae Standard 55/2004 and ISO 10551, were
Accepted 12 March 2016
Available online 15 March 2016
measured at carefully selected locations in the occupied zone within the auditorium in the Fraschini
theatre, in order to ensure a good representation of human exposure to thermal comfort. In addition, a
subjective evaluation was achieved by the distribution of a dedicated multiple response questionnaire.
Keywords:
Thermal comfort
More than 400 questionnaires were analyzed, comprehensive of information for the application of the
Theatre traditional static and adaptive model. When heating system is on (1st and 2nd survey), thermal strati-
Neutral comfort temperature fication is really relevant in the theatre (air temperature runs from 23
C in the stalls area to 30
C in the
Questionnaire upper order), while when the theatre is in naturally ventilated, the thermal stratification is not relevant.
An application of a new thermal comfort evaluation method is here proposed by means of the calculation
of the neutral comfort temperature with both the analytical and adaptive methods. . The methodology
was also applied to data acquired in 9 different open space offices, where a total amount of 846 people
were interviewed. Results showed that the method is applicable to both theatres and open plan offices
and could provide a simple tool to quickly evaluate thermal comfort conditions.
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction Papakonstantinou et al. [1] only based on computational fluid dy-

Theatres usually have high heat loads, which are of a transient
nature as audiences come and go, and from lighting which changes
from scenes to scenes, and also their occupancy can vary from
completely full or nearly empty, depending on performances.
Furthermore, unlike other building types, the use of opening win-
dows for air intake and extract ventilation is not possible, requiring
a different approach. Air must be distributed over a wide area, both
within the auditorium and the stage, with numerous supplies and
return registers. All these factors place constraints on the ventila-
tion design, and if it is poor, it can led to the deterioration of indoor
air quality and thermal comfort. There is some useful Literature on
thermal comfort performance in theatres. A study of
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: paola.ricciardi@unipv.it (P. Ricciardi), alessandroziletti@gmail.
com (A. Ziletti), cinzia.buratti@unipg.it (C. Buratti).
namics (CFD) modelling scenarios, evaluated how two ventilation
systems with the same air inlet arrangement, but different systems
of air extraction, affected the air speed, temperature and CO2 con-
centration profile inside the teaching auditorium. The conclusion,
not surprisingly, was that the lowest rate of air change leads to the
increase of temperature. Furthermore, it was found that CO2 con-
centration decreases rapidly if the ventilation rate is increased, in
this case by the unexpectedly large factor of five. Another study,
only based on computational fluid dynamics, was conducted by
Stamau et al. [2], in order to evaluate thermal comfort conditions in
the indoor stadium of the Galatsi Arena, which hosted the sports of
rhythmic gymnastics and table tennis during the Olympic Games
Athens 2004. Calculated PMV and PPD values showed that thermal
conditions were very satisfactory for air temperature of 16
C with a
percentage minor of 7% of the spectators was expected to be
slightly uncomfortable.
A more comprehensive assessment methodology was devel-
oped by Cheong and Lau [3], and applied to indoor air quality and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.03.011
0360-1323/© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127
thermal comfort in lecture theatres in Singapore. A questionnaire
survey was carried out in the lecture theatre a few weeks prior to
monitoring campaign. Despite the fact that all the thermal comfort
parameters were within the range limit, the occupant survey
showed that more than 20% of the occupants were not satisfied
with thermal comfort. Furthermore, the authors concluded that the
air conditioning system was unable to cope with the peak occu-
pancy load.
Another review [4] focused on thermal comfort and indoor air
quality in a lecture theatre with a 4-way cassette air conditioning
and mixing ventilation system. This showed that increasing the
discharge angle from the supply grilles on the cassette unit makes
uniformity of thermal comfort worse, but rarely affects the indoor
air quality. A very comprehensive evaluation was carried out by
Kavgic et al. [5] on the thermal comfort and indoor air quality in the
mechanically ventilated theatre of Belgrade. The analysis based on
the results of monitoring and modelling as well as the assessment
of comfort and health as perceived by occupants showed that the
environmental parameters were within the standard limits. How-
ever the calculated ventilation rates showed that the theatre was
over ventilated, which has serious consequences for energy con-
sumptions, and the displacement ventilation arrangement
employed led to higher than expected complains of cold discom-
fort, probably due to cold draughts around the occupants feet. The
problem of air distribution in theatre was also recently developed
by Cheng et al. [6], who presented simulation results for the design
of a stratified air distribution system in a large space lecture theatre.
Results revealed that the best satisfied thermal environment was
obtained when supplied air from floor level, terrace and desk edge
mounted grilles simultaneously. A specific underfloor air distribu-
tion (UFAD), which is typically just used in office buildings, was
investigated for a huge theatre space with high ceiling by Kim et al.
[7]. Considering the performance not only for energy saving but
also for thermal quality, the UFAD system appears to offer many
advantages, however additional research is needed on key variable,
such as location and kind of diffusers, distance between diffusers,
configuration of buildings and height in order to put the system
into practise. The above scientific reviews show the great
complexity for obtaining adequate comfort performance, both
perceived and measured, in theatres. None of all the cited scientific
works showed a simple method to quickly evaluate thermal com-
fort conditions in this particular type of environment.
Other papers consider thermal comfort studies in climate con-
ditions focussing on other kind of buildings: DiasPereira et al. [8]
studied the thermal comfort in a Portuguese class-room, Con-
ceicao et al. [9] developed an adaptive comfort model in a kinder-
garten in Portugal, Asit Kumar Mishra et al. [10] proposed an
adaptive thermal comfort model for the tropical climatic regions of
India and Manu S. et al. [11] presented a single adaptive model for
office buildings across India asserting its validity for both naturally
ventilated and air-conditioned modes.
In the present study, in order to analyze the level of thermal
comfort in a typical eighteen century Italian horseshoe shape
theatre, with 5 orders balconies, a comprehensive evaluation study
was carried out in the Fraschini theatre of the city of Pavia, in both
mechanical and natural ventilated conditions. In addition the
method of the neutral comfort temperature was applied to the
theatre.
2. The Fraschini theatre
Thermal comfort in the Fraschini Theatre, located in the city of
Pavia (Italy), was experimentally investigated. The construction of
the building ended in 1773.
The plan surface is 340 square metres and its volume is 7200
117
cubic metres. The theatre has a typical Italian horseshoe shape with
5 orders balconies. In Fig. 1 the plan of the theatre is presented.
The building was object during the years of different actions of
maintenance, but the most important restoration took place in
1985 and interested the whole theatre. Recently, in 2010, the
wooden floorboards of the parterre were completely renewed and
the internal surfaces of some balconies were restored, in order to
regenerate the “marmorino” decorations.
In Fig. 2a and b interiors of the Fraschini theatre are shown.
The theatre has an air building service having a total power of
1220 kW and delivering 41,000 m3/h of air. The heating of the
parterre is provided by jet-nozzles diffusers situated in the fifth
order of seats. The hot air is then recollected by grilles situated at
every floor. In Fig. 3 is possible to see the nozzles and their position
in the theatre.
3. Methodology
Thermal comfort in the Fraschini theatre was evaluated with
analytical-objective method by means of experimental surveys and
questionnaires, in order to obtain information about the subjective
perception of the audience.
3.1. Questionnaire surveys
The questionnaire given to the audience was very similar the
one used by Buratti et al. and Nematchoua et al. [12e16], which
comply with ISO 10551 [17] and it is composed by three parts; in
the first one the interviewed person fills information regarding age
and sex, in the second one evaluations of temperature and air
speed, overall thermal comfort sensation and the presence of local
discomfort feelings. There is also a part in which people provide
information about their dressing and, by means of this data, it is
possible to estimate the corresponding thermal resistance. The last
part collects information about the possibility of micro-climatic
control and the satisfaction of the interviewed people about these
possibilities. In this part occupants had to indicate their position on
the theatre's plan (see appendix A of [15]).
By processing information acquired from the questionnaires, the
following data were elaborated:
 average age of the sample and number of interviewed people;
 Predicted Mean Vote (PMV);
 Percentage of people that consider the theatre not thermally
acceptable (TUI);
 Percentage of people that consider the theatre not thermally
comfortable (TAI);
 Percentage of people that consider the speed of air movements
not acceptable (UAMI);
 Thermal resistance of the clothing of the audience;
 Percentage of people that feels discomfort caused by too big
difference between the temperature at their head height and
the temperature at heir ankle height. (UVTGI).
3.2. Experimental surveys
The experimental measurements were conducted with the
same methodology and instruments used formerly in previous
studies [12e15]. In particular it was employed a Babuc eA storage
acquisition system that fulfils the requirements of ISO 7726 [18]
and that is made by LSI Lastem. Its acquisition rate can vary from
1s up to 24 h and, after downloading the data on a personal
computer.
The thermal-hygrometric parameters that was detected are
118 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

Fig. 1. Plan of Fraschini theatre.

those defined in ISO 7730 [19] Ashrae Standard 55/2004 [20], and parameters:
ISO 10551 [17].
Three measurement campaigns were carried out: on January,  Dry bulb air temperature (operative range 50 to þ 80
C,
March, and May 2011. Accuracy ± 0.17
C);
Fig. 4 shows the different points of acquisition of the environ-  Wet bulb air temperature (operative range 50 to þ 80
C,
mental parameters: - indicates the January surveys,  the March Accuracy ± 0.17
C);
ones, and x the May ones, respectively.  Dew point temperature (operative range 50 to þ 80
C,
In particular the probes allowed monitoring the following Accuracy ± 0.17
C);
 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127 119

Fig. 2. a. Interior views of Fraschini theatre. b. Interior views of Fraschini theatre.

 Average radiant temperature (operative range 50 to þ 100
C,
Accuracy ± 0.17
C);
 Average air flow speed (operative range 0 to 50 m/s, Accuracy
±0.05 m/s for va ¼ 0e0.5 m/s, ±0.1 m/s for va ¼ 0.5e1.5 m/s, ±4%
for va >1.5 m/s);
 Temperature of the floor surface (operative range 50
to þ 80
C, Accuracy ± 0.17
C);
 Temperature of the air at the height of ankle and neck (operative
range 50 to þ 80
C, Accuracy ± 0.17
C).
It was also used a portable data logger Data Ohm DO9847 to
measure the temperature and the relative humidity of the external
air. The mean values of the outdoor temperatures were respectively
5.3
C, 4.0
C and 17.8
C during the monitoring periods: these
values can be considered representative of two different seasons
(winter and spring). The Data Ohm DO9847 device was also utilized
to assess the thermal stratification in the main hall. The measure-
ments were carried out over three evenings, during a theatre per-
formance. HVAC system was functioning during two sessions, while
it was turned off during the last session, since it was spring time,
and the theatre was in naturally ventilated conditions. The first
campaign took place on 12 January 2011, and in that occasion the
120 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

Fig. 3. Diffusers position on the fifth order.

Fig. 4. Measurement points on the parterre (left) and on the I, II, III IV order balcony (right): square points were in January, round points in March, cross points in May.

data logger Babuc collected measurements in five different posi-
tions in the parterre.
During this day the audience was only in the parterre and in the
first order balconies, so information from the questionnaires where
deduced just for these occupied places.
The second surveys were performed on 2nd march 2011 and
that time the Babuc was used in the parterre and in the upper or-
ders. The audience occupied the whole theatre and the question-
naire where given in each of them.
The last day of measurements was 4th May 2011. The mea-
surements with the Babuc were taken from the parterre and from
the upper orders. The audience was in the parterre and in the
balconies of the first order, so the questionnaires provided infor-
mation about the comfort of just these positions. In Fig. 5 it is
possible to see the Babuc storage acquisition system during the
measurement campaign in the parterre and in a balcony.
4. Results
During the three days of surveys a total amount of 409 ques-
tionnaires were collected for processing: 165 questionnaires were
filled by male and 244 by females.
Most of the audience is in the range between 30 and 50 years,
but also the samples composed by people with less than 30 and
 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127 121

Fig. 5. BABUC storage acquisition system during the measurement campaign in the parterre (on the left) and in a balcony (on the right).

more than 50 years were consistent.
In Fig. 6 the composition of the sample classified by day of
measurements, gender and age is represented.
During the first survey, questionnaires data, all referred to the
parterre, revealed that thermal sensation was oriented towards hot.
In fact the male people reported an average PMV of 0.8 and female
people an higher value of 1.69. Less than 5% of people considered
the theatre thermally not acceptable. For the 41% of the male
sample and for the 36% of the female sample the conditions were
satisfactory. Less than 15% of the audience felt discomfort caused by
local temperature gradient.
During the second survey, questionnaires were also distributed
in the upper balconies and this allowed to put in evidence the
problems caused by thermal stratification. In fact the PMV in-
creases with the height of the balcony order, varying from almost
neutral values in the parterre to values of 1.6 in the forth order. This
is directly confirmed by the TAI index, which represents the per-
centage of people that consider the theatre not thermally satis-
factory, and it varies from 21% in the parterre to almost 90% in the
4th order. The percentage of people not satisfied by the local
temperature gradient are higher in the upper orders, where the
values arise to 60% for males.
The third survey was conducted in naturally ventilated condi-
tions and the overall thermal sensation of the audience tended to
neutral-slightly cold. This is because the heating system was not on.
The percentage of not satisfied people is lower than 15%, both for
the overall thermal sensation and the local gradient of temperature.
The results from the surveys are reported in Table 1.
The instrumental measurements confirmed that, when heating
system is in function, thermal stratification is really relevant in the
theatre. In fact during the first two surveys the temperature runs
from 23
C in the parterre to 30
C in the upper order. As seen from
the questionnaires this causes serious problems for the thermal
acceptability of the audience that sits in the upper places.
When the theatre is in naturally ventilated conditions the
thermal stratification is not relevant.
The reason for this stratification that causes discomfort to the
audience, has to be found on the air emission system: the jet
nozzles situated only in the upper order doesn't allow an uniform
temperature field to be reached in the whole theatre.
In Fig. 7 the temperature in the different places of the theatre
during the surveys is represented.
The local vertical temperature gradient (at 0.010 m and 1.10 m
height) was also monitored with Babuc. According to measure-
ments the predicted percentage of dissatisfied people by the local
temperature gradient is almost zero. This agrees with the ques-
tionnaires' results, where the percentage of people that feel this
kind of discomfort were usually about 10%.

Fig. 6. Questionnaire classification by day of measurements, gender and age.

122 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

Table 1
Average surveys results.

1st survey 2nd survey 3rd survey

Parterre Parterre 1st order 2nd order 3rd order 4th order Parterre 1st order

M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F

Number of people interviewed 44 59 19 46 5 13 11 17 3 11 10 8 66 84 6 7

Average age 49 44 48 50 50 46 38 36 37 35 34 37 37,98 38,49 30,50 27,86
PMVq 0,80 1,69 0,26 0,07 0,60 0,08 0,73 0,06 1,33 0,45 1,60 1,38 0,15 0,05 0,00 0.57
TAI (%) 40,91 35,59 21,05 28,26 40,00 38,46 45,45 11,76 100,00 18,18 70,00 87,50 24,24 30,95 50,00 85,71
TUI (%) 2,27 5,08 0,00 2,17 0,00 7,69 9,09 0,00 0,00 0,00 30,00 25,00 9,09 3,57 0,00 14,29
TDI (%) 13,64 23,73 0,00 15,22 40,00 23,08 36,36 5,88 66,67 18,18 40,00 50,00 16,67 14,29 16,67 14,29
UAMI (%) 13,64 20,34 5,26 4,35 20,00 38,46 18,18 5,88 66,67 9,09 60,00 50,00 18,18 13,10 16,67 14,29
UVTGI (%) 15,91 11,86 0,00 13,04 20,00 7,69 9,09 11,76 0,00 27,27 60,00 37,50 15,15 7,14 0,00 14,29

Fig. 7. Temperature distribution in the theatre during the three surveys.

5. Discussion e a new approach to adaptive temperature previous work [13] tn becomes:

The thermal comfort perceived in the theatre varies on person's
position and on building service conditions. When the heating
system was switched off, as in the third survey, the overall thermal
sensation of the audience tended to neutral-slightly cold and the
percentage of not satisfied people is lower than 15%. When the
heating system was on, as in the first and second survey, the per-
centage of people that consider the theatre not thermally satis-
factory varies from 21% in the stalls area to almost 90% in the IV box
seats denouncing a considerable problem of thermal stratification.
5.1. Optimal temperature evaluation: the “neutral comfort
temperature”
tn ¼ to  PMV=0:3879 (1)
where to is the operative temperature, defined as the uniform
temperature of an imaginary enclosure with which man will ex-
change the same dry heat by radiation and convection as in the
actual environment.
This calculus option was applied only to the situations in which
PMV is within the range between 1 and þ1, which could be
considered a comfort or light discomfort zone.
Using the adaptive approach the neutral comfort temperature can
be calculated with the relation:
tn ¼ a þ b  tamt (2)

The neutral comfort temperature “tn” is defined as the optimal
temperature in order to guarantee the best comfort. It could be a
useful tool in order to quickly estimate comfort conditions by
means of only one parameter. tn was calculated with both the
analytical and adaptive methods. Using the analytical method, the
neutral comfort temperature “tn” is the temperature that, for a
particular set of values of the air velocity, metabolic activity, ther-
mal insulation of clothing, relative humidity, allows the PMV to
become 0. In order to calculate PMV a spreadsheet with a macro
based on the BASIC routine was used as presented in the ISO 7730
[15]. Therefore with the analytical method the Neutral Temperature
tn is obtained applying an artifice proposed by Griffiths [17], who
indicated that when PMV ¼ 0, to ¼ tn. Therefore, as described in a
where a and b are coefficients that assume different values
depending on the fact that the building is in naturally ventilated
condition or the HVAC system is on. According to Literature [21],
the coefficients have the following values: a ¼ 18.9; b ¼ 0.255,
when the building is in naturally ventilated conditions. In case of
environments where heating system is in function, values are:
a ¼ 22.6; b ¼ 0.04.
tamt is the average monthly temperature; in this work the official
Italian data defined by the standard UNI 10349 [23] was applied.
By means of these two methods, the neutral comfort tempera-
ture for the theatre was calculated. The value obtained with the
analytic method was of 24
C, for the periods in which the heating
system was switched on, and 25
C, for naturally ventilated
 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127
conditions. With the adaptive method, the neutral comfort tem-
perature was calculated as 23
C both for naturally ventilated and
air conditioned conditions. The neutral comfort temperature values
calculated with both the methods for the three surveys are repre-
sented in Fig. 8.
The neutral temperature values in the adaptive approach are
always lower than the ones obtained by the analytical method, for
all the surveys. It could be due to the low values of the external
temperature, especially in the first surveys (te ¼ 5.3
C and te ¼ 4
C
respectively) and to the related adapting behaviours of the occu-
pants, who could prefer lower values of the neutral temperature.
In Fig. 9 the difference between operative temperature (to) and
neutral comfort temperature (tn) versus PMV (PMVq) from ques-
tionnaire for male, female, and male and female together was
investigated. When the neutral comfort temperature is higher than
operative temperature people should feel warm and therefore
PMVq is expected to be positive. Vice-versa in case of tn minor to to
people should feel cold and PMVq is expected to be negative.
It is interesting to notice that all the correlation lines have the
same slope and the only difference is the constant coefficient,
which is higher for female (R2 ¼ 0.667) than for male (R2 ¼ 0.438).
This result is in accordance with the fact that [24e26] females
usually have a lower metabolism than men, therefore, at the same
environment thermal conditions, females perceive colder than
men.
5.2. Analysis and comparison with data collected in open space
offices
In order to understand the applicability of the methodology of
the neutral comfort temperature used for a particular kind of
building, such as theatres, the above described method for the
calculation of the neutral comfort temperature was also extended
to data collected by means of a subjective and objective measure-
ment campaign in open space offices [13]. The other measurements
campaigns took places in nine different open space offices, both in
winter and in summer seasons, and for each day surveys were
carried out in morning and afternoon time. In these campaigns a
total amount of 846 people were interviewed.
For every office the neutral comfort temperature was calculated
in the same way as the one adopted for the theatre. Correlation was
differently evaluated for the series of data collected in wintertime
and the ones collected in summertime.
Since adaptive model does not take into account the difference
of gender, correlations for this method were performed on the
Fig. 8. Neutral comfort temperature values calculated with analytic and adaptive methods for the three surveys.
123
whole sample, while for analytic method correlations were inves-
tigated for the male, the female and the whole sample.
In Figs. 10e12 all the correlations are outlined when the neutral
comfort temperature is calculated with the analytical method,
respectively for males, females and both genders.
Among all the samples, as found before, females in office during
winter time found the best correlation coefficient (R2 ¼ 0.88).
In Fig. 13 correlations found when the neutral comfort tem-
perature is calculated with the adaptive method are shown, for
females and males together in theatre and open space offices.
With the adaptive model, the higher correlation was found in
offices in summertime (R2 ¼ 0.557) rather than the one in the
theatre (R2 ¼ 0.48). Anyway both the methods applied for the
calculation of the neutral comfort temperatures headed to signifi-
cant correlations and, as expected, the interpolation lines have
positive slope. This means that, as it can be imagined, more the
temperature and therefore the neutral comfort temperature are
higher more the people feel warm and vice versa. It was observed
that, since in the offices series the slopes are lower than in winter
time, people appear to have less sensibility for the difference be-
tween optimal temperature and real temperature than in summer
time. This particular condition happens because in wintertime it is
easier to change clothes in order to adapt to the comfort temper-
ature, while in summertime this is not always possible, since
clothing in offices should fulfil formal requirements and standards.
6. Conclusion
During the first survey, questionnaires data, all referred to the
parterre, revealed that thermal sensation was oriented towards hot.
This is confirmed by experimental results: temperature in the
parterre a bit lower than 24
C.
During the second survey questionnaires were also distributed
in the upper balconies and this allowed to put in evidence the
problems caused by thermal stratification. In fact the PMV in-
creases with the height of the balcony order, varying from almost
neutral values in the parterre to values of 1.6 in the fourth order.
Experimental data showed that temperature was varying from
22
C in the parterre to 28
C in the fifth order.
The third survey was conducted in naturally ventilated condi-
tions and the overall thermal sensation of the audience tended to
neutral-slightly cold. This is because the heating system was off.
The percentage of unsatisfied people is lower than 15%, both for the
overall thermal sensation and for the local gradient of temperature.
Measured temperature varied from 20
C in the parterre to 22
C in
124 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

Fig. 9. PMV from questionnaires versus difference between operative temperature and neutral comfort temperature for men, female and men and female together.

Fig. 10. PMV from questionnaire versus difference between operative temperature and neutral comfort temperature (analytical method) for males: comparison between data
acquired in the theatre and open space offices.

the fifth order. The temperature air stratification problem, evident
when HVAC system is on, is probably due to the air emission system
where the jet nozzles are situated only in the upper order. As
previously seen from Literature survey [5e7], thermal comfort
could be ameliorated by a better distribution of jet nozzles in all the
five orders and by the installation of a new control system for en-
ergy and comfort management [27].
A new approach for the evaluation of the thermal comfort in the
Fraschini theatre is proposed by the determination of the neutral
comfort temperature by means of both the analytical and adaptive
methods. PMV from questionnaire (PMVq) versus the difference
between operative temperature (to) and neutral comfort temper-
ature (tn) for men, female and men and female together, were
evaluated. All the correlation lines have the same slopes and the
only difference is the regression coefficient, which is higher for
female than for men. This confirms that females, having a lower
metabolism than men, usually prefer a warmer temperature than
men.
 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127 125

Fig. 11. PMV from questionnaire versus difference between operative temperature and neutral comfort temperature (analytical method) for females, comparison with data acquired
in the theatre and open space offices.

Fig. 12. PMV from questionnaire versus difference between operative temperature and neutral comfort temperature (analytical method) for females and males comparison with
data acquired in the theatre and open space offices.

The neutral comfort temperature, with the analytical and
adaptive methods, was also calculated using data collected by
means of a subjective and objective measurement campaign in nine
different open space offices. As discussed quite good correlations
have been found.
The analysis carried out in the theatre Fraschini of Pavia and in
open spaces offices led to the conclusion that the neutral comfort
temperature could be a useful parameter to evaluate thermal
comfort in buildings. However additional research should be car-
ried out in order to test the reliability of the method to other types
of buildings. In particular it would be interesting to evaluate the
utility of neutral comfort temperature buildings that differ from the
case of this study for the HAVC emission system (radiators, fan coils,
underfloor heating system et cetera) and composition of the
126 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127

Fig. 13. PMV from questionnaire versus difference between operative temperature and neutral comfort temperature (adaptive method) for females and males: comparison with
data acquired in the theatre and open space offices.

volumes of the space (for example homes and hospitals are [13] P. Ricciardi, C. Buratti, Thermal comfort in open plan offices in northern Italy:
an adaptive approach, Build. Environ. 56 (2012) 314e320.
composed by small rooms). It could also be interesting to perform
[14] C. Buratti, P. Ricciardi, M. Vergoni, HVAC systems testing and check: a
investigation about neutral comfort temperature in buildings that simplified model to predict thermal comfort conditions in moderate envi-
differs for activity of occupancy from the theatre and the offices, ronments, Appl. Energy 104 (2013) 117e127.
such as locker rooms, factories and sport centres. [15] P. Ricciardi, C. Buratti, Thermal comfort in the Fraschini theatre (Pavia, Italy):
Correlation between data from questionnaires, measurements, and mathe-
matical model, Energy Build. 99 (2015) 243e252.
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 P. Ricciardi et al. / Building and Environment 102 (2016) 116e127 127

UVTGI: Percentage of people that feels discomfort caused by too big difference be- tamt: Average monthly temperature
tween the temperature at their head height and the temperature at heir ankle
height. Subscripts
PMVq: Predictive Mean Vote calculated by questionnaire
te: External temperature
tn: Neutral comfort temperature n: neutral
tnf: Neutral comfort temperature calculated with the analytical method o: operative
tna: Neutral comfort temperature calculated with adaptive method and the q: questionnaire
monitored amt: average monthly temperature
to: Operative temperature