ASSESSMENT OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN A THEATRETTE-SEATING SEMINAR ROOM

Abstract

Inadequate ventilation has been a common issue found in air-conditioned classrooms. This has resulted in the buildup of indoor air pollutants, particularly carbon dioxide. As most university classrooms are designed for air-conditioned use, ensuring sufficient ventilation is crucial for maintaining optimal indoor air quality and for the health of occupants. This study mainly focuses on evaluating the adequacy of the ventilation system and the impact of occupants on indoor air quality within a theatrette-seating classroom (seminar room situated in the School of Design and Environment 1 (SDE1) within National University of Singapore (NUS). These assessments are termed the base case and occupied case, respectively. The collected results were compared against SS 554:2016+A1:2021. The secondary focus of the study was to explore the room’s suitability for use under natural ventilation mode, given the prevalence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. This assessment is termed the resilient case. For all cases, both real-time and spot measurements were conducted to obtain the air sampling results. Additionally, the Centre for Built Environment (CBE) Thermal Comfort Tool was used to evaluate the thermal comfort state in the seminar room, where it involved determining the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) values. The results revealed that the air quality in the seminar room failed to meet the recommended levels, and high concentrations of carbon dioxide were observed during occupancy, indicating insufficient ventilation in the room. Thermal comfort levels were only satisfactory when the room was scheduled for classes. However, the study was also limited by the absence of subjective data and uneven spread of occupants in the room.