PhD-BPD Doctoral Proposal Presentation: Kari Leif
Title: Living Environments for Learning: A Biophilic Post-Occupancy Evaluation Framework for K–12 School Environments
Name: Kari Leif, Ph.D. candidate in Building Performance and Diagnostics (PhD-BPD)
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Time: 12:00am-2:00pm ET
Location: Intelligent Workplace (IW) Conference Room, MMCH 415 & Zoom
Advisory Committee:
Erica Cochran Hameen, Ph.D., NOMA, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor
School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University
Prof. Vivian Loftness, FAIA, LEED AP, CPHC, Design Futures, NIBS Fellow (Co-Chair)
University Professor
School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University
Gabriela Gongora-Svartzman, Ph.D.
Associate Teaching Professor & Director of Computing Programs
Khoury College of Computer Sciences
Northeastern University, Miami Campus
Abstract:
K-12 students spend a substantial portion of their waking hours within school buildings, making the quality of indoor environments a critical determinant of health, well-being, and academic performance (NCES, n.d.). Yet many school facilities in the United States are aging, underfunded, and characterized by inadequate indoor environmental conditions, including poor air quality, insufficient daylight, and limited access to natural elements (ASCE, 2025). As concerns surrounding student mental health, attention, and learning outcomes continue to grow, there is increasing interest in design strategies that can create healthier and more supportive educational environments.
This research addresses a critical gap in the conceptualization and evaluation of biophilic design within K-12 school environments. While a growing body of literature suggests that connections to nature can enhance occupant well-being, cognitive performance, and environmental satisfaction (Heschong et al., 2002; Zhang et al., 2021; Kim et al., 2021), existing frameworks often lack clear linkages between design strategies and the human physiological systems through which these effects are experienced. Additionally, current post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods primarily focus on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) variables and do not adequately capture the multi-sensory and integrative nature of biophilic design (Park et al., 2018; Graham et al., 2021).
To address these limitations, this study proposes a novel, human-centered framework for defining, measuring, and evaluating biophilic design. The research is structured around three primary contributions. First, it develops a biophilic taxonomy organized by human biological systems, including the respiratory, ocular, auditory, digestive, musculoskeletal, integumentary, nervous, and community systems, to clarify the mechanisms through which environmental design influences occupant outcomes. Second, it introduces a biophilic POE framework that integrates two complementary tools: a Biophilic Satisfaction Questionnaire (BSQ) and a biophilic extension of the Technical Attributes of Building Systems (TABS), enabling the systematic collection of both subjective and objective data. Third, it applies and examines these concepts through three parallel and complementary empirical studies with distinct roles: (1) a pilot study across multiple building types to assess the feasibility and usability of the proposed tools, (2) a longitudinal charter school study that provides a real-world dataset illustrating how environmental conditions and occupant experiences evolve over time, (3) a large-scale survey of K-12 teachers that deploys the developed biophilic POE tools in an online format to enable broader, cross-sectional analysis of relationships between biophilic design conditions and reported well-being and performance outcomes.
Together, these parallel research efforts generate multiple datasets - pilot, cross-sectional, and longitudinal - that support the exploration of relationships between biophilic design conditions and occupant well-being, satisfaction, and performance. By linking environmental attributes to human biological systems and integrating them into established POE methodologies, this research advances a more rigorous and operationalized approach to biophilic design evaluation. The findings aim to strengthen the theoretical foundation of biophilic design while providing practical tools for architects, researchers, and educators to design and assess healthier, more supportive learning environments.