Evaluating Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as Modifying Factor in Designing Public School Buildings in Jordan

Abstract

The most fundamental goal in the design of educational facilities is to provide an environment that encourages learning achievement for students and teachers. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) can negatively affect student health, comfort and performance that will eventually produce unacceptable learning environment. Poor IAQ can decrease a person's ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation and memory. Therefore, schools should be designed, built and maintained in away to minimize and control the source of pollution. Around 29% of Jordanians occupy school buildings each day. A specific prototype building design was applied in the different locations of the country. This prototype could be appropriate for one location but it is not for the entire country that has diversity in climatic and environmental conditions The purpose of this research paper was to evaluate the indoor air quality in public school buildings in urban and rural area, through investigations of the causes and its effects on student health, comfort, and performance. Achieving healthy indoor air quality is a multifaceted a problem which can be arrived at by a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the design, construction and operation of the school building. Results indicate that the prototype system used was not appropriate as healthy school design, and it did not take into consideration the indoor environmental factors as crucial issue in designing school buildings.