Field Survey on the Indoor Environment of Elementary Schools for Planning of Environment Friendly School Facilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest a direction by which to develop environment-friendly school facilities. To achieve this, field measurements were conducted to evaluate indoor environmental conditions such as thermal, visual and indoor air quality in 15 schools. Additionally, environmental elements were also investigated and analyzed through teachers' questionnaires. According to the results of measurements, the thermal condition, minimum illuminance, CO, TBC and formaldehyde were satisfactory in most of the classrooms. However, CO2, PM10 and TVOCs exceeded the standards. As it was found that the indoor classroom environment significantly influences the academic achievement of students, a plan should be made for indoor noise isolation, comfortable thermal environment maintenance, and uniform light distribution. The environment-friendly architectural design elements applicable to school facilities were found to be: environmental studio, vegetable gardening, school forest, and landscape architecture elements, in this order.