What do we need to be able to (re)design healthy and comfortable indoor environments?

Abstract

There are many indoor stressors that can cause their effects additively or through complex interactions (synergistic or antagonistic). It has been shown that exposure to these stressors can cause both short-term and long-term effects. There is a need for a risk assessment model, which takes account of the combined effects of these stress factors in buildings on people, comprising a framework of indicators, interactions and dynamic behaviour over time per scenario. Based on recent and past studies, information for defining a conceptual framework of cause–effect relations (patterns) for different scenarios (homes, schools and office buildings) for major end-points was gathered by a broad literature review. The outcome showed an incomplete and in many cases inconclusive information on associations between occupant-related indicators and dose and/or building-related indicators The information presented per scenario shows the need for other and more data collection as well as other analysis models, which acknowledge that the built environment and its indoor environment with occupants are a complex system.

Keywords:

• assessment
• indoor environment
• performance indicators
• risk assessment
• situation analysis