The Indoor Air Quality in a Shared Students Kitchen: Pre and Post refurbishment Measurements

Abstract

Indoor air quality and wellbeing are basic features in buildings’ design criteria. Human behaviour and activities can be very unpredictable to intercept with the appropriate action by the buildings technical systems. This is especially true in shared accommodation in zones such as kitchens. In this study, a shared kitchen in a students’ building was monitored to plan refurbishment. That included the particulate matter; CO₂; CH2O; VOC; and air temperature and humidity. The same quantities were measured post-refurbishment using same device deployed at same location. The refurbishment included replacement of gas cookers by modern electrical cookers; appliances replacement with highest available energy class; kitchen furniture and visual quality; and greenery houseplant ventilator. The results show a comparison and analyses of the measured quantities pre and post refurbishment.