ABSTRACT
Understanding the role of architectural design in identifying the risk of disease transmission is essential for creating resilience in buildings. Here we used a Grasshopper simulation workflow to execute aerosol disease transmission risk estimation coupled with EnergyPlus simulation inputs to assess the impact of architectural factors on the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We simulated the risk for a simple geometry with different window configurations and geographic locations. We observed that increasing the fractional opening of a single window as well as cross ventilation design can increase the outdoor air exchange, which corresponds to substantially reduced risk of disease transmission. Furthermore, indoor relative humidity in cold climates can be significantly lower in winter due to the impacts of increased mechanical heating which translates to an increased risk of infection. We demonstrate that early architectural design decisions implicate the resultant risk of disease transmission indoors that should be prioritized in the future. © 2022 Society for Modeling & Simulation International (SCS)
ABSTRACT
Understanding the role of architectural design in identifying the risk of disease transmission is essential for creating resilience in buildings. Here we used a Grasshopper simulation workflow to execute aerosol disease transmission risk estimation coupled with EnergyPlus simulation inputs to assess the impact of architectural factors on the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We simulated the risk for a simple geometry with different window configurations and geographic locations. We observed that increasing the fractional opening of a single window as well as cross ventilation design can increase the outdoor air exchange, which corresponds to substantially reduced risk of disease transmission. Furthermore, indoor relative humidity in cold climates can be significantly lower in winter due to the impacts of increased mechanical heating which translates to an increased risk of infection. We demonstrate that early architectural design decisions implicate the resultant risk of disease transmission indoors that should be prioritized in the future. © 2022 SCS.
ABSTRACT
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple institutions mobilized to create recommendations that maximize indoor environmental quality to keep building occupants as safe as possible. Many of those recommendations were implemented in buildings across the world even before the presence of field data validated their effectiveness. However, as the pandemic raised awareness of the risks present in the air quality of everyday built environments, little is known about how occupants perceive these interventions or how they will perceive buildings when activities resume with an in-person requirement. This paper presents results from an online survey, conducted from April 23rd to May 8th, 2021, and offers a window into the perceptions of university students on a variety of physical intervention strategies that have been promoted for the return to classrooms. Our analysis explores differences in these perceptions between students from Colombia and the United States, where the vaccination rates of the population as of May 2021 differed substantially. An anonymous online survey was disseminated to students of higher academic institutions using images portraying 3D models of classrooms and written prompts to assess perceptions. Health risk and health promotion perceptions were evaluated using four categories: visual connection to the outdoors, occupant density, additional furnishings, ventilation system type, and number of operable windows. While the effectiveness of these strategies from an epidemiological standpoint was not considered, this survey aimed to measure the perceived effectiveness of these strategies as students prepare to return to in-person education in the classroom. Our analysis found a significant effect of different degrees of “connection to the outdoors” and “occupant density” on both perceived health risk and health promotion in both countries. Respondents ranked strategies like mask-wearing and natural ventilation as important interventions when considering a return to the classroom. Perceptions of health risk and health promotion between students taking classes in the United States and Colombia were significantly different regarding the presence of additional furnishings, and ventilation systems and number of windows in a classroom. The results presented here may shed light on how aspects of the built environment help shape perceptions of healthy environments during the pandemic. Copyright © 2021 Coronado, Rockcastle and Kwok.