ISO 16813:2024

Overview

ISO 16813:2024 - Building environment design: Indoor environment - General principles defines the high-level framework for designing healthy, energy-efficient and sustainable building environments. The standard promotes a collaborative, iterative design process that balances occupant comfort (thermal, acoustic, visual and indoor air quality) with lifecycle sustainability, including owning and operating costs. It applies to both new construction and retrofitting existing buildings.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Iterative design process: The standard structures the project into staged design reviews (Project definition, Schematic design, Detailed design, Final design) where each stage is documented, evaluated and approved before proceeding.
• Building environment parameters: Requires assessment of thermal comfort, acoustics, daylight/visual environment, indoor air quality and energy performance at each design stage.
• Lifecycle sustainability: Encourages consideration of sustainability across the building life cycle, including operation and maintenance costs, aligned with the nine general principles of sustainability (NGPS) referenced from ISO 15392.
• Project team and collaboration: Emphasizes coordinated work among architects, building system designers, contractors and commissioning teams to harmonize architectural and technical building system design.
• Commissioning and commissioning process: Defines commissioning as a continuous sequence from conception through occupancy to ensure systems perform to design intent.
• Post-occupancy evaluation (POE): Integrates POE and lessons learned into the design and operational feedback loop to verify performance and inform future projects.
• Documentation and verification: Outlines required project information, design aids, criteria development and frameworks for verification and approval at each stage.
• Cost evaluation: Covers estimation of primary costs and evaluation of design benefits versus costs as part of decision-making.

Applications and who uses it

ISO 16813:2024 is intended for:

• Design teams: architects, environmental and building systems designers applying design criteria for indoor environment quality.
• Clients and owners: to set requirements and evaluate lifecycle costs, performance and sustainability outcomes.
• Contractors and commissioning teams: for handover, verification and ongoing system performance assurance.
• Facility managers and operators: to align operation with design intent and leverage POE findings.
• Regulators and researchers: as a reference for policy guidance and academic study of indoor environmental quality and sustainable design.

Related standards

• ISO 15392 (nine general principles of sustainability) - referenced for sustainability principles.
• Other ISO standards on indoor air quality, energy performance and building systems may be used in conjunction for quantitative criteria and testing methods.

Keywords: ISO 16813:2024, building environment design, indoor environment, sustainability, commissioning, post-occupancy evaluation, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic design, energy efficiency.