Hygienic requirements for school buildings’ modern architectural and planning solutions

Abstract

Introduction. In the last decade, it has become evident that the school is not ready to provide the material and technical capabilities for the modern educational process. The school design strategy is changing, but these innovations are hardly reflected in the research of hygienists. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the hygienic requirements for modern architectural and planning solutions of school buildings. Materials and methods. Expert-analytical research was carried out. The object of the study: documents regulating the sanitary and epidemiological wellbeing of the population, the development of school education infrastructure, documents and publications that reveal the prospects for designing schools. Results. Most functioning school buildings do not meet the requirements for modern school infrastructure. Fewer and fewer students report that they “really like school”, which negatively affects their academic performance and psychological wellbeing. The need for fundamental changes in the construction of school buildings is recorded in the National Educational Initiative “Our New School” (2010). The design decisions of school buildings should take into account the experience of quarantine measures that had to be faced in the context of the spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Hygienic requirements for modern architectural and planning solutions for school buildings are: taking into account climatic and geographical conditions; ensuring the psychological wellbeing of children, primarily due to the optimal number of classes and placement of educational premises for different age groups on separate floors, in blocks, buildings; convenient functional connections with the site; the possibility of transforming beliefs, protection from the effects of physical factors and the penetration of pollution from the environment, safe use of digital learning tools, optimal lighting and air-heat regime; sufficient area of educational premises for one student; optimal conditions for physical activity and physical education, regular healthy nutrition, meeting the needs of students in primary health care. Conclusion. Hygienic requirements for the spatial characteristics of school buildings should take into account the new risks to children’s health.