Indoor and Built Environment

This review advocates that integrity remains a crucial requisite in designing and beautifying any created environment. Integrity of design and aesthetics in the Built Environment has historical antecedent in the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain in the early 20th century. Already, by this time, there were competing values of concern for prudence, morality and sincerity in the application of materials for design forms and functions, believing that in a created environment, physical features that were produced and modified by man to serve his needs should be governed by `social conscience'. This basic concept is still relevant to contemporary design. It is imperative for the artist/ designer, artisan, architect and planner to consider the matter of integrity in each of its separate applications: to materials, form, function, and ornamentation. Diversity of views concerning the meaning of design and aesthetics and the uncertainties they contain have little or no capacity to negate the principle of integrity of design whether as process or product. Nevertheless, design and aesthetics have common things to share in the harmony of functions. This paper considers the various opinions of scholars concerning the subject and highlights the importance of certain design elements and principles necessary for inducing and sustaining the aesthetics of the environment.

This paper advocates application of the performance-based approach to arrive at improved, innovative and more functional buildings. It does so by describing the development of a performance assessment methodology for the assessment of the efficiency of a ventilation system in an operating theatre. This assessment is performed in the design and use phase to adhere to the performance-based approach definition. The developed methodology was tested in a real case study with an innovative down-flow plenum. The focus was on the low infection rate functional requirement. The results from the case study indicated that the assessment methodology functions and that the innovative down-flow systems, that was the topic of the case study, adhered to the requirements set. Some parts of the methodology, however, allow openings for further research. On the other hand, a similar assessment can be extended to other requirements, such as thermal comfort, hypothermia, etc.

The impact of surface emissions (VOCs, ammonia, and formaldehyde) on the indoor air quality (IAQ) in newly established buildings was examined. Six apartment buildings, in which low-emitting, classified building materials were used, were investigated 0, 6, and 12 months after completion of construction work. The predicted indoor air concentrations based on the on-site measured emissions (floor, walls, ceiling) and air exchange rates were in general lower than the measured indoor air concentrations. The contribution of other sources was on the average about 50% for VOCs and 25—35% for ammonia and formaldehyde. The ceiling structure was the main source of pollutants throughout the first year. PVC floor covering affected IAQ significantly in the newly finished buildings. The contribution of walls was relatively low in spite of large surface area. The impact of VOC emissions from surfaces on indoor air clearly decreased during the follow-up period whereas the impact of ammonia and formaldehyde emissions remained about the same. Higher SVOC concentration was measured in the buildings with PVC flooring compared to the rooms with parquet flooring in the 0 to 6-month-old buildings.

This paper reports on the development of a thermal comfort toolkit designed for the normative assessment of the indoor thermal environment of office facilities. It is one component of a larger building performance toolkit developed for the US General Services Administration. The thermal comfort part includes a set of unambiguously defined performance indicators (PI) based on the notion of objectively quantifiable performance measures. The set of indicators is founded on existing knowledge in biophysics and physiology, and constitutes a normative tool to assess the performance of buildings. The calculation of PIs is fully operational and web based. In the paper, the theoretical derivation of the indicators is given and their relevance in design scenarios is discussed.

The need to design for low energy consumption dwellings has induced Malaysian architects to design naturally ventilated high-rise hostels (HH), near the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Objective and subjective measurements for thermal comfort investigations were conducted in two high-rise university hostels located in Universiti Malaya, Petaling Jaya (HH1) and Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang (HH2) from May 12 to June 19 in 2007. Eighteen rooms located at first, fifth, and top floor of each HH were measured for different orientations. The measured rooms were naturally ventilated with ceiling fans. Thermal comfort variables were measured prior to the subjective measurement. A total of 208 student occupants responded to the questionnaire. Subjects with 6 months and over living experience in those HH were selected randomly. This study was aimed: (1) to assess the indoor microclimate of each naturally ventilated HH, (2) to identify student occupants' thermal sensation during rainy and clear day, and (3) to simulate the neutral operating temperature for rooms in naturally ventilated high-rise hostels. Findings revealed that room in HH1 which is located on high land and shaded has a more constant operating temperature distribution than rooms in HH2 that is located on lower land and un-shaded. Operating temperature ranges for HH1 and HH2 were 27—31°C and 26—41°C, respectively. Results suggested that there is also a possibility that thermal comfort is achievable in shaded naturally ventilated hostels with a window-to-wall ratio of 0.35 where the internal—external relative humidity is above 70% RH, especially in south-facing rooms.

This paper addresses an important problem in the evaluation of the thermal comfort of people living or working in the sort of confined spaces typical of current architecture. In the details, a new algorithm is proposed for the evaluation of the angle factors of people within rooms characterized by complex shapes, where the envelope components are not always mutually orthogonal. The algorithm is based on field data obtained by means of an experimental photographic apparatus which allows measurements of projected area factors of seated or standing people in such complex confined environments.

With increasing interest in indoor air quality (IAQ), the recommended standards for the IAQ of public transportation were established in 2003 in Hong Kong and in 2007 in Korea. According to the recommended standards on the IAQ of public transportation of both Hong Kong and Korea, the air quality in the passenger cabins of railway vehicles may be improved through the ventilation system using outside air. Also, it is reasonable to use the carbon dioxide (CO₂) level as the index of improvement. The Korean guidelines on the air quality in cabins include the recommended standard for particulate matter <10 μm (PM₁₀) as well as CO₂. In this study, the levels of CO₂ and PM₁₀ were continuously measured in the subways operated in the Seoul metropolitan area and the number of passengers using subway vehicles was surveyed based on the lines in operation and each stopping station. In addition to CO₂ and PM₁₀ levels, the temperature and moisture (RH%) in the passenger cabins were also measured. The average CO₂ and PM₁₀ levels for each line were compared with the recommended levels of cabin air quality. The correlation analysis to the number of passengers proved that the CO₂ level was linearly correlated with the number of passengers. The average CO₂ level and PM₁₀ level in the subway trains in the metropolitan area were found to be below that recommended in the air quality standards for cabins.

An investigation was conducted into the level of conformance of ribbed steel bars used in Nigeria's structural concrete practice to relevant international and local provisions. In this research, all bars imported into Nigeria from member countries of ISO as well as those marked with the identity of the local producing mill are classified as steel of recognizable origin while bars imported from ISO nonmember countries as well as those without an identifying mark from the producing works are classified as steel of non recognizable origin. The investigation showed that steel of recognizable origin satisfied both local and ISO requirements for strength and ductility whereas those bars of nonrecognizable origin failed to satisfy the above requirements for high-yield bars but satisfied the local specifications if used as mild steel. Based on these findings, appropriate recommendations are made.

A preliminary Indoor Air Quality study was performed in 26 residential homes in 6 cities in different climate zones in China. In Chinese urban environments, coal gas and natural gas are used as the main fuels for cooking. Analysis of the results employed the ratio of living room to kitchen (L/K) pollutant concentrations and the correlation of their levels to assess the transport of pollutants indoors. Sources in the kitchen affect living room concentrations of SO₂, NO, NO₂, and CO, less so that of CO₂ levels and weakly of PM₁₀. Among all the pollutants, SO₂ has the minimum 0.88 L/K ratio value, and maximum correlation value, R2=0.89; on the other hand, PM₁₀ has the maximum L/K ratio value, 1.20 and minimum R ²-value, 0.55, which means that PM₁₀ is mostly influenced by activities and other factors that do not take place in the kitchen. Concentrations of SO₂ differed significantly depending on the fuel type used for cooking with coal gas producing 87.6% higher SO₂ concentrations than natural gas. Concentrations of CO₂ and PM₁₀ were the same regardless of gas type. The type of ventilation was found to influence polluant concentrations with a mechanical exhaust system showing higher efficiency than a natural ventilation system in exhausting pollutants. The period and style of cooking also affected concentrations of pollutants in the kitchen.

Indoor gamma dose and indoor radon, thoron and their progeny concentrations have been measured around the upcoming Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant i.e., in the Radhapuram taluk. The measurements have been carried throughout a year to account for the seasonal variation of indoor gamma dose and indoor radon, thoron, and their progeny concentrations. Indoor gamma dose value is found to be maximum in the summer season (459.2 ± 82.3 nGy·h^-1). Indoor radon, thoron and their progeny concentration are found to be maximum in the winter season. The annual effective dose due to indoor gamma radiation to the Radhapuram population is found to be 1.5 mSv. The total annual inhalation dose arising due to radon, thoron, and their progeny concentrations to population is found to be 1.03mSv in Radhapuram taluk.