Understanding cross-modal environmental perception is essential for improving occupant well-being and human-centric building design. This paper presents an open-access, multi-site database developed under the IEA-EBC Annex 79 project to test the Hue-Heat Hypothesis (HHH), which hypothesizes that light hue may influence thermal perceptions. The database comprises 543 experimental rounds conducted in eight laboratories across six countries and diverse climate zones, following a shared, rigorously designed protocol. During summer and winter campaigns, participants were exposed to controlled thermal environments and counterbalanced lighting conditions (neutral, reddish, bluish). The database includes detailed metadata on environmental variables, physiological measurements (i.e., heart rate and skin temperature), and self-reported perceptual responses. It also provides standardized technical documentation for each test room, including the detailed experimental protocol and translated survey instruments. All materials are available on the Open Science Framework under the “Multi-site Hue-Heat-Hypothesis Testing” repository. This resource supports research into multi-domain human comfort, enabling analysis of cross-modal and combined effects on human perception and physiological reactions.

Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS) offer adaptive strategies to enhance occupants’ comfort while improving energy efficiency. These systems may support the restoration of thermal comfort after spatial transitions. This study investigates occupants' psychophysiological responses after outdoor-to-indoor transitions in Florianópolis, Brazil. The experiments were designed to mimic a typical office day, in which participants transition from outdoors in the morning upon arrival and after the lunch break. Participants underwent three experimental scenarios: using a small evaporative cooler, a desk fan, or no PECS. Conducted in a university living lab with a slightly elevated cooling setpoint (26 °C vs. the conventional 23 °C–24 °C), results showed higher usage of evaporative coolers (50.0 %–87.5 %) compared to desk fans (37.5 %–58.3 %). Both PECS effectively modified near-body thermal conditions, reducing wrist-level air temperature (evaporative coolers: 1.10 °C ± 1.88 °C; desk fans: 0.96 °C ± 1.18 °C, mean ± SD), with long-term effects. Mean skin temperature (MST) reductions were higher using evaporative coolers. However, statistical modeling confirmed that the use of both PECS impacts MST. While PECS did not alter descriptive thermal comfort indicators (e.g., thermal sensation) under neutral indoor conditions, they influenced hedonic responses such as thermal preference. This suggests that thermal PECS may help reduce the preference bias toward cooler thermal sensations, commonly observed in warm-to-hot regions. Since PECS also affected physiological signals, the shift in preference likely results from a combination of physiological changes and lowered expectations for cooling. Consequently, using PECS may support higher setpoint temperatures and contribute to energy savings in buildings.

As occupants experience simultaneous stimuli from multiple environmental domains, integrating multi-domain simulation practices can significantly enhance decision-making in the building design phase. This study introduces a multi-domain simulation workflow, merging thermal, visual, acoustic, and air quality domains to evaluate IEQ in offices. A case study uncovered significant challenges in integrating the various domains, underscoring the need for better interoperability between simulation tools. Systems, boundaries, and fluid dynamics shape the interplay between thermal, acoustic, and air quality. Besides, the thermal and visual domains emphasise the need for a holistic approach that also considers the influence of outdoor climate on indoor environments. This comprehensive approach supports initial design processes while highlighting the relevance of detailed multi-domain interactions.

Buildings significantly impact worldwide energy consumption, emphasizing the need to reduce the cooling energy demand, especially in warm climates. Minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and seasonal performance metrics such as the Cooling Seasonal Performance Factor (CSPF) are crucial for improving room air conditioning (RAC) efficiency. However, challenges remain, particularly in emerging markets like Brazil, where seasonal performance metrics have recently been introduced. This study assesses the factors influencing country-level seasonal efficiency metrics and proposes a framework to refine these calculations by considering local climates and expected RAC usage in real-world households via building simulations. Key considerations include outdoor air temperature binning for different climates, RAC usage patterns (i.e., daytime and nighttime usages), envelope thermal performance of households, and urban heat island (UHI) effects. The results reveal that CSPF values can vary significantly based on climate conditions, with observed CSPF ranging from 4.10 to 11.59 Wh/Wh across 577 Brazilian climates. The inclusion of UHI effects led to a reduction in CSPF values by up to 29% during nighttime operations in hot urban areas. Additionally, building envelope efficiency showed contrasting impacts on RAC performance, with CSPFs reaching up to 15.35 Wh/Wh under specific optimized conditions. These findings highlight the need for transparent policymaking in RAC performance databases, facilitating the application of approaches like those proposed in this study and supporting diverse stakeholders in decision-making.