oa State of the art on indoor comfort and occupants behavior in warm climatic regions

Indoor thermal comfort is essential for occupants well-being, productivity and efficiency. Comfort standards state criteria in order to create adequate thermal comfort conditions in buildings. Early on, humans tended to create a thermally neutral environment in which they can feel comfortable to spend the most creative hours of their life. One of the greatest challenges of modern architecture is to create a thermally comfortable environment inside buildings, studying in detail all the factors that contribute to it. Nowadays the aim is also to achieve the preeminent indoor air quality and specifically thermal comfort with the minimum possible energy cost and environmental impact.This paper is a literature review of the thermal comfort requirements based on international standards and occupants behavioral trends with their effect especially on the energy consumption. The study focuses in the warm humid climatic regions particularly the Gulf area where comfort preservation and sustainability of a building could be very challenging. Extremely high temperatures and intense solar radiation are on the rise in this era of climate change and global warming. Thus achieving indoor thermal comfort and reducing energy usage in buildings is becoming increasingly difficult. Passive strategies and bioclimatic techniques may serve well and in combination with the growing environmental awareness of occupants may conclude to a more comfortable and sustainable built environment.