An Assessment Tool for Nature-inspired & Living Laboratory (NILL)™ Buildings

Abstract

A Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation in Engineering Systems Management by Mariam Ahmed Abdalla Yousif AlAli entitled, “An Assessment Tool for Nature-inspired & Living Laboratory (NILL)™ Buildings”, submitted in April 2025. Dissertation advisor is Dr. Serter Atabay and dissertation co-advisor is Dr. Salwa Beheiry. Soft copy is available (Dissertation, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).Laboratory buildings are known for their specialized technical activities that require different building design elements. Moreover, traditional laboratory building design and construction often prioritizes functionality over occupant well-being or sustainability. As such, applying green building rating systems or nature-inspired design strategies in the context of laboratory buildings is yet to be thoroughly investigated. Furthermore, nature-inspired design principles and living laboratory concepts offer promising solutions to enhance the design and construction of nature-inspired living laboratory buildings. As such, this dissertation work filled this gap by providing a comprehensive Nature-inspired & Living Laboratory (NILL) building assessment system to evaluate laboratory buildings based on principles of nature-inspired design and living buildings to promote occupant well-being, sustainability, and work efficiency. The sub-objectives of this research focused on identifying the gap in current literature to introduce the “NILL” novel concept, followed by validating the NILL indicators, assigning weights through Fuzzy AHP analysis, developing the assessment tool and implementing it through a case study of a laboratory buildings. Hence, the research followed a mixed method approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis tools, such as literature review, expert interviews through Delphi Rounds, Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to develop and validate the assessment tool. Finally, a laboratory building was assessed using the NILL Building Tool and highlighted strong security and operational efficiency, but revealed critical gaps in indoor environmental quality, energy and water efficiency, and biophilic integration, emphasizing the need for further design and operational enhancement to comply with higher NILL Building levels. Accordingly, the outcome of this novel research provided an understanding of the current status of laboratories as nature-inspired & living buildings and offered an assessment tool for further application that can be applied within research, academic/teaching, and industry laboratory buildings.College of EngineeringDepartment of Industrial EngineeringPhD in Engineering - Engineering Systems Management (PhD-ESM