Beyond green labels: exploring comfort perception in educational spaces through immersive virtual reality

Purpose This exploratory study investigates how perceived comfort develops during a design-related task in a virtual reality simulation of an operational classroom. It examines how comfort changes across baseline exposure, physical-control and lighting-control conditions, and a placebo-like condition involving fade-back within a simulated occupied-building context. Design/methodology/approach Twenty-one students completed a design-related task across four sequential VR environments that varied in opportunities for environmental adjustment. Post-experiment interview data were analyzed qualitatively, with descriptive quantitative patterns used to support interpretation of comfort, perceived control, and awareness during task-based immersion. Findings Comfort relied mainly on visual and emotional cues during baseline exposure, broadened when participants used physical-control options, and was maintained in the lighting-control condition. Lighting influenced comfort but did not exceed the effects of physical-control options. The fade-back in the placebo-like condition was rarely noticed, suggesting that perceived control may shape comfort more strongly than the continued presence of specific environmental cues. Practical implications VR-based symbolic cues may offer an exploratory, low-energy supplementary approach to supporting perceived comfort in educational spaces where physical control is limited. Originality/value The study introduces an exploratory, task-based VR framework that examines comfort as a dynamic process shaped by perception, perceived control, and user agency within a simulated occupied-building context. It extends prior VR comfort research by combining baseline exposure, participant-selected physical-control and lighting-control conditions, and a placebo-like condition involving fade-back within a single staged sequence.