Introducing the comfort performance gap in new educational buildings: a case study

Abstract

Providing adequate indoor environmental quality is crucial in educational settings. In this paper, we implemented and tested a framework that collects occupant feedback and investigated correlations between teachers comfort and the operational characteristics of an Austrian school building in September and October 2022. Initial results show that the measured average temperatures (23.1 t-25.1 deg C) in all rooms are on the upper limit of various recommendations, such as comfort guidelines for building operation or workplace regulations. This assessment is in line with the feedback we received from the teachers. A literature review demonstrated that childrens comfort temperatures are lower compared to adults. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that indoor temperatures during the survey period were inadequate for the pupils either, even without direct feedback. An analysis of the CO2 measurements showed that, during school hours, approximately 20% of all measurement values were above 1000 ppm, with 2% above 1500 ppm. CO2 levels above 1000 ppm are considered hygienically critical, with the latest research proposing to lower the limits below 800 ppm to ensure a healthy and effective learning environment. While we only assessed the challenges of providing a healthy indoor environment for an educational building in Austria, our literature review shows similar challenges and research efforts worldwide. Our analysis demonstrates the need for adapting design requirements, especially for school buildings, acknowledging the different comfort needs of adults and children and the importance of high indoor air quality for providing an optimum learning environment. Future research should focus on testing adapted indoor environmental quality requirements for schools, especially in urban areas, and how to integrate real-time occupant feedback in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.