Designing Post COVID-19 Buildings: Approaches for Achieving Healthy Buildings

• Published in: Buildings (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 74
• Main Authors: Navaratnam, Satheeskumar, Nguyen, Kate, Selvaranjan, Kajanan, Zhang, Guomin, Mendis, Priyan, Aye, Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-01-2022
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air conditioning; Air quality; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Architects; Architecture; Artificial intelligence; Automation; Bibliometrics; Building construction; Building design; Buildings; Citation indexes; Copper base alloys; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Design; Design modifications; Designers; Disease control; Disease transmission; Face recognition; Gardening; green plant; healthy building; Hospitals; HVAC; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Infectious diseases; Investigations; Ionization; Irradiation; Mechanical ventilation; Microorganisms; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Pattern recognition; Pollutants; Public buildings; ultraviolet germicidal irradiation; Ultraviolet radiation; Ventilation; Viral diseases; VOCs; Voice control; Voice recognition; Volatile organic compounds; Working conditions
• ISSN: 2075-5309; 2075-5309
• DOI: 10.3390/buildings12010074

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the accessibility, social gathering, lifestyle, and working environment to be changed to reduce the infection. Coronavirus spreads between people in several different ways. Small liquid particles (aerosols, respiratory droplets) from an infected person are transmitted through air and surfaces that are in contact with humans. Reducing transmission through modified heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and building design are potential solutions. A comprehensive review of the engineering control preventive measures to mitigate COVID-19 spread, healthy building design, and material was carried out. The current state-of-the-art engineering control preventive measures presented include ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), bipolar ionization, vertical gardening, and indoor plants. They have potential to improve the indoor air quality. In addition, this article presents building design with materials (e.g., copper alloys, anti-microbial paintings) and smart technologies (e.g., automation, voice control, and artificial intelligence-based facial recognition) to mitigate the infections of communicable diseases.