Assessment of indoor environmental comfort in a recently renovated office building in Messina city

Abstract

In recent decades, the construction industry has made significant progress in promoting sustainable buildings, with a particular emphasis on reducing environ-mental impact and energy efficiency. However, human well-being and occupant health have become increasingly central themes in this field. Awareness of the fact that the quality of buildings can significantly influence people’s health and psychophysical well-being has grown, leading to the adoption of a new approach in building design and evaluation. The main objective of this work is to explore the foundations for defining a “Healthy Building,” present a measurement model that takes into account various key aspects - thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, biophilia, functional efficiency of the workspace, perception of air quality, lighting quality, light colour and rendering, cleanliness, personal control of systems, privacy, emergency situations, and occupational safety prevention measures, among others that contribute to the well-being of building occupants, and propose design rules/hypotheses through a case study office building located in the city of Messina. This approach is based on sustainability principles, but it goes beyond, focusing on the comfort, health, and well-being of people living and working in these spaces, examining the various aspects of a “Healthy Building” and how they can be measured and properly certified.