Since the beginning of the 20th century indoor air has produced distinctive pollution problems. The most critical pollutants in relation to indoor air quality (IAQ) are chemical contaminants which, in the form of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), have been identified as arising mainly from building materials. Conventional solutions such as ventilation systems and bake-out processes have been developed, but the IAQ problem, often reported as sick building syndrome (SBS), still persists. This study set out to establish to what extent VOCs may affect the health of occupants in a particular built environment, and how much architectural design factors, the use of particular building materials, and human activities may contribute to the problem of SBS. A further question was to establish to what extent current attempted solutions to IAQ problems, namely ventilation and bake-out, were in practice effective in a specific built environment. While previous research and attempted solutions have focused on work places as areas of concern for SBS, the problem is especially significant in residential housing and is particularly concentrated in post-disaster public housing (PDPH). For this reason the research was based on the case of a PDPH project in Abuta, Japan. To analyse the separate components of the problem, several distinct studies were undertaken. The level of pollutants in the air was analysed by means of chemical sampling of VOCs in two units of the PDPH, while the a SBS survey and assessment of the residents of the entire project, as well as interviews with the building professionals involved was designed to identify the human causes and effects of the situation. The effectiveness of the attempted solutions to the problem were considered by means of a study of the bake-out procedure, and finally an airflow simulation by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was conducted to consider the design and ventilation features of the units in relation to IAQ. The study results have indicated that IAQ problems existed after the completion of construction. It was found that certain VOC levels were far above the guidelines, and the health hazard symptoms known for these VOCs matched the SBS symptoms found in participants??? health complaints. Interviews with building professionals involved in the project revealed that the lifestyles of the occupants were not seriously considered in the project design. The results of the airflow simulation also revealed problematic aspects of the planning design, exacerbating rather than limiting the pollution problem as intended. The study concludes with a number of recommendations for taking these inter-related aspects of the problem into consideration in future, so that the health of residents is not adversely affected.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/187163 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Hirota, Keiko, School of Architecture, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Architecture |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Keiko Hirota, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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