How do green buildings communicate green design to building users? A survey study of a Leed-certified building

Studies investigating the benefits of green buildings can be approached by the affordance theory—the perceived properties of a thing that determine how it could possibly be used. This study focuses on the sustainable communication and education that a green building should provide. By applying the affordance theory, we examined whether a LEED-certified university campus building effectively communicates green design and sustainability to its users and if so, then how? We employed a questionnaire survey targeting campus users of a LEED-certified building by examining their awareness of the building’s LEED status and perception of green design elements at multiple spatial scales, as well as their general knowledge on green building topics. We collected 177 questionnaires, of which 153 were qualified for statistical analysis. The results suggested that the building itself can afford to promote awareness among users, but cannot afford to educate users on general green building knowledge. We found that building users perceived green design at different spatial scales, preferring either product or space-related design. Our results indicate that future design should continue promoting the use of educational signage, which was found to be the most effective communicator of sustainability. The communication of green design to users with different spatial preferences remains a future research focus. Further studies on the innovative use of green building design as effective communicators are needed to promote sustainability education among the building users.