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ABSTRACT
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus how poor indoor air quality can amplify the effects of airborne viruses. Rather than promoting health and wellbeing, our built environment often worsens air quality through inadequate ventilation, air recirculation, material specification and the additional pollution load from mechanical heating and cooling. In this think-piece, we introduce a selection of interrelated building design strategies to improve indoor air quality and reduce the spread and impact of airborne disease. We also highlight the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, targeted policy change and leadership on air quality to build resilience against future airborne viral outbreaks.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Hannah Wood
Otis Sloan Brittain and Hannah Wood are both architects with a shared research interest in health and the built environment. They are currently managing the design and construction of 110 prototype homes in Tanzania for Ingvartsen Architects, part of a 3-year randomised controlled trial that investigates how housing design impacts family health. Otis also has an interest in how algae can improve indoor air quality and how this research can be applied in the design of building components. Hannah and Otis have previously contributed to research papers for Cities & Health (2019) and Plos-MED (2018).
Prashant Kumar
Prashant Kumar is a Professor & Chair in Air Quality and Health, founding Director of Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), at the University of Surrey, UK; and an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He researches urban air pollution, its sources, dispersion and exposure assessment; have published >200 journal articles attracting >6650 citations and h-index of 45. He has secured >£6.5 M research funding from RCUK & international bodies, serves editorial board of several journals and reviews/advises as a panel member many funding agencies worldwide.