Measurements of indoor environmental conditions in Italian classrooms and their impact on children’s comfort

Abstract

This study evaluates the indoor environmental conditions and children’s comfort levels in 8 classrooms in three Italian primary schools. It is a development of a pilot study previously carried out by the authors in other educational buildings. Spot and long-term measurements were made to evaluate microclimatic conditions (i.e. air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration, and illuminance). A questionnaire, distributed three times, investigated the students’ perception of thermal and lighting comfort, their satisfaction with building-related factors, and their interactions with the environment. Predicted mean vote and predicted percentage dissatisfied indexes were calculated and an adaptive approach was also applied, but their results did not correspond to the students’ subjective evaluation of thermal comfort. An innovative multivariate ranking method was developed as a possible tool to assess building stocks in order to establish priorities for repair, maintenance, and refurbishment. The problem which the students complained about the most was the thermal comfort in the hot season and solar penetration. Moreover, the school with the worst microclimatic conditions was also judged the worst for building-related and psychological factors.