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This paper aims to investigate the optimum energy consumption of building atriums in hot, cold and dry climate zones in Iran.

This paper uses simulation software to analyze atrium design for energy saving in buildings and the effects of the energy saving process on the use of atrium in hot summer and cold winter zones in Iran. The buildings exhibit brick cavity concrete block plaster for wall, double-glazed alum frame for glaze, concrete slab on ground for flour and plaster insulation suspend for ceiling. This process is analyzed by choosing a suitable atrium for building energy efficiency in warmest session for warm weather conditions and the coldest session for cold weather conditions in Iran.

According to the analysis done using simulation software, with respect to the hot need prevention of direct and indirect solar energy and cold need absorption of direct and indirect solar energy, four-side atrium with total radiation incident of 2,506,027 and 69,613 W, radiation absorption of 902,795 and 29,057 W and radiation transmission of 297,118 and 4,201 W in hot summer and in cold winter are the best optimum selections.

The results of this research are useful for both building energy efficiency and producing a comfortable living environment in the future and will support new observations of how residential building developers can accept sustainable strategies to grow their overtaking in the Iranian construction market.

Your organisation has decided to move to a building with an atrium, and you are to manage it as well as the surrounding space. Should you be pleased or worried? Richard Saxon, architect and author of the standard work on atrium buildings, defines the characteristics of a form of building that will be new to many of us.

Purpose – Intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) is a very rare subtype of leiomyoma, involving the right obstruction of the heart, and is an unusual cause of outflow tract obstruction. The IVL grows from the vessel’s smooth muscle, protruding into the vessel’s lumen, and can expand to the right atrium and even beyond causing death due to blood flow obstruction into the right atrium and even to pulmonary artery.

Design/Methodology/Approach – We present a 33-year-old Indonesian woman with cardiopulmonary symptoms predominantly, and marked by an intravascular leiomyoma extending from inferior vena cava (IVC) to right chamber atrium, with the chief complaint being easily fatigued since seven months.

Findings – Echocardiography observations found a mass in the right atrium and the IVC that caused dynamics obstructed in tricuspid valve, right atrium and ventricle were dilated, no left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, normal LV and right ventricular (RV) functions, and no valve abnormality except the tricuspid valve gradient being 21 mmHg with mild regurgitation. Venography resulted in a mobile tumor mass in IVC mouth which partially flew into the right atrium, and partially blocked the IVC mouth. Tumor size was 6.4 cm × 4.8 cm. Abdominal multislice computed tomography resulted in a residual soft tissue mass (leiomyoma) along the IVC extended to the right atrium. The tumor mass size in the IVC and the right atrium was bigger compared to tumor mass on July 2008. The correct diagnosis was established during surgery; therefore a two-stage resection was done.

Originality/Value – Surgical resection is the best treatment for intracardiac extension of intravenous leiomyoma. To remove the ilio-caval portion, iliac venotomy was recommended for the tumor in both stages of the surgeries.

The purpose of this study is to compare the natural lighting performance of roof skylight systems in buildings with atriums and to compare the sustainability and energy efficiency of several roof skylight systems for educational buildings with atriums.

Five roof skylight systems previously assessed in another study were adapted for simulation. In order to determine the effects of each skylight system on natural lighting, all the physical data of the building to be studied were recorded and entered into a computer.

The results of the study showed that roof skylight systems should be designed both to limit light during periods of maximum daylight to avoid such problems as glare, flare, and so on; and to direct light indoors as fully as possible during periods of limited daylight. In this regard, the “Moving Sunshade Double Layer” roof system showed better performance than the other four roof skylight systems.

In subsequent studies, roof systems appropriate for natural lighting should be studied for other plan types, hospitals, public buildings and so on. Moreover, real structures in which direct environment measurements can be taken could be used for obtaining data, instead of simulations.

Use of the roof system suggested by the research will minimize lighting and air conditioning costs, and enhance building sustainability.

This study explores methods of taking advantage of natural lighting indoors through the use of roof skylight systems, and identifies the most appropriate, sustainable and energy efficient roof skylight system for education buildings having an atrium.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact the workplace can have on knowledge working for a multi‐generational workforce.

A case study analysis is undertaken of Leeds City Council (LCC) workplace in the UK.

The findings from the study show that in the context of LCC there are some key differences between the generations regarding knowledge working preferences for formal/informal meeting spaces. In other aspects, such as knowledge sharing, the generations appear to agree on key aspects such as mentoring and team‐based working environments.

Corporate real estate managers can use the research findings to assist them in providing a range of workplace settings to enhance multi‐generational interaction.

This paper fills a gap in current research by evaluating workplace preferences based on generational differences.

In November 2001, Scott Carlson, in the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an article on library use titled “The deserted library: As students work online, reading rooms empty out—leading some campuses to add Starbucks” (Carlson, 2001). The essence of this chapter is that many librarians, facing dramatic declines in library gate counts resulting from the wealth of electronic resources accessible remotely, were beginning to move away from traditional conceptions of the library as primarily a repository for print collections. Carlson describes the “tough sell” that the Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville had experienced when planning a $19.5 million library addition in the mid-1990s. In response librarians had begun “fighting back” with “plush chairs, double-mocha lattes, book groups, author readings.” Still, no one knew whether these stratagems would enhance learning or bring its readers back.

In 2016 all new houses in England and Wales must be zero carbon. To date most work in zero carbon housing has been carried out on detached family housing typologies. Practice has shown that one of the overriding factors in the struggle to achieve zero carbon status (Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6) is the projected significant increase in construction cost. While grant funding can offset some of this increase, further costs savings will be required to allow developers to deliver affordable homes within reasonable profit margins. One result of this will be a reduction in design quality; which will impact on the quality of the spaces provided and the robustness and longevity of the construction and finishes. In order to deliver better design standards, higher density attached family housing models should be considered to ensure that a proportion of the projected increase in cost of the building fabric can be transferred to the internal volume of the house, thus achieving better quality living spaces. The following paper reviews the context for future housing provision in the UK and examines two existing medium density terraced housing developments. The existing examples reflect two contrasting approaches: one derived from low-energy principles utilising minimum space standards, the other reflecting the need for high quality spaces but at premium cost. A new medium density terrace model is proposed that deals with these conflicting demands to demonstrate that it is possible to provide affordable, high quality, higher density, family housing whilst meeting low energy targets.

Due to land resource scarcity, sustainable urban development in high-density cities has long been challenging. As such, many cities are formulating plans to “dig deep”, resulting in more citizens working and/or staying underground for longer periods of time. However, owing to the particularities of underground space, the factors involved in the creation of a healthy environment are different from those involved in aboveground developments. This study thus aims to investigate the influences of various underground environment factors on users' health through a holistic approach.

To achieve this aim, 12 underground sites and 12 corresponding aboveground sites are selected for a large-scale questionnaire survey, resulting in 651 survey samples. The survey covers post-occupancy evaluation of health (physical and psychosocial), underground environmental quality (visual, thermal, acoustic comfort, indoor air quality and ventilation), space design and greenery. Independent-sample T-test, Pearson correlation, multiple regression modelling and structural equation modelling are used to investigate whether significant differences exist between health of underground and aboveground users, and to develop an underground environment-health model for unveiling the significant associations between underground environment factors and users' health. To cross validate the results, an objective field measurement study is further conducted on six underground sites. The objective measurement results are used to cross validate the survey results.

The questionnaire results provide the following evidence: (1) health of underground users is significantly poorer than that of their aboveground counterparts; (2) underground development users' health is significantly affected by space design, greenery and environmental quality in terms of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, ventilation and acoustic comfort but not visual comfort; and (3) amongst the various identified factors, space design has the strongest predicting effects on human health. The field study echoes the survey findings and further unveils the relationships between different environmental factors and human health.

The results shed light on the importance of distinguishing between underground developments and aboveground ones in various guidelines and standards, especially those related to space management.

The purpose of this paper is to understand firm‐level entrepreneurship in diverse organizational contexts and explain its relationship with organizational factors.

The paper adopts a multiple‐case research design. In‐depth interviews are conducted with key informants in four cases. In each case, a firm‐level entrepreneurial story is focused on to understand the entrepreneurial process within its organizational context.

The findings show that there are two types of entrepreneurial activities in organizations – beyond‐boundary focus and within‐boundary focus. They exhibit different patterns regarding their relationship with organizational factors – top management leadership, strategic orientation, organizational culture, internal mechanisms and organizational performance.

Generalizability of the results may be limited due to the case study design of this research.

Top management leadership has a vital role in influencing entrepreneurial activity in organizations. When an organizational environment that favours entrepreneurship is supported by top management, then business‐level entrepreneurial activities are cultivated across the company. But if the organizational environment does not favour entrepreneurship, then entrepreneurial activity is mostly limited to the corporate level and only initiated by top management.

The multiple case analyses provide an extensive analysis of the organizational context and firm‐level entrepreneurship. Additionally, the emergent categories of two different types of entrepreneurial activities serve as a major and relevant step to reduce the ambiguity present in the field of study.

People who have been talking for years, with doom‐laden relish, about the death of the department store should take a trip to London's Oxford Street and take a look at the new Debenhams. Elegant, brilliantly lit, and with a generous approach to the use of space, the new store provides an appropriate backdrop for fashion merchandise which is sharply and colourfully contemporary. If the store doesn't quite have that deeply luxurious, self‐confident feel of the best department stores in Zurich, for example, or Copenhagen, then that in itself reflects the mood of 1980s Britain and the dichotomy of its economy — superficial glitter successfully concealing deeper uncertainties. And whatever happened to the much‐vaunted galleria idea? David Sands reports.