Redesigning space layout by considering thermal comfort and prevention of COVID-19 transmission in campus building

Abstract

Lecture building is one of the important facilities in supporting the success of the teaching and learning process. The lecture room should be thermally comfortable and has a low risk of disease transmission. In adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic, attention to prevent disease transmission is necessary to the safety of students and lecturers while staying on campus. This study aims to propose a new concept design related to the arrangement of indoor layouts that minimize the crowds and reducing indoor air temperatures due to exposure to solar radiation on the east-west side of the building. The research was conducted by observing human movement patterns and measuring indoor air temperature and surface façade temperature adjacent to the outside environment. The results obtained that the average indoor air temperature was in the range between 28.8 - 33.2 °C, with a surface temperature on the east-west side, reaching 39.1 °C. The new design proposed the concept of one-way access by separating vertical and horizontal circulation, additional corridors, and rearranging the layout of lecture rooms to distinguish in-out access to minimize contact physical contact between building users.