Abstract
To investigate whether different colours of the indoor surfaces could have an effect on thermal comfort of children, 335 primary school children were invited to take part in a series of tests conducted in the thermal test chamber of the SenseLab. A three-way factorial randomized design was used to test the effect of three different colours of walls (white, red and blue) and floor (grey, green and blue) on the temperature and draught feeling in a winter situation (sunlight coming in: heat) and a summer situation (opening window: draught). A statistical relevant relationship between feeling of draught and feeling of temperature was found. Except for a significant difference in temperature feeling for different floor colours when the wall colour was red in the winter situation, no relevant effects (or interaction effects) were found for differences in wall or floor colours on the temperature or draught feeling.
Highlights
In a recent field study of 54 classrooms of 21 primary schools in the Netherlands, was found that among the 1145 children studied 42% was bothered by sunlight when shining, 35% didn’t like the temperature in the classroom, 34% experienced temperature changes and only 7% was bothered by draught [1]
A three-way factorial randomized design was used to test the effect of different colours of walls and floor on the thermal comfort and draught feeling in a winter situation and a summer situation
The air supply temperature was set at 21 oC, and supplied continuously with 250 m3/h, it was monitored during the tests that the air temperature in the thermal test chamber increased up to 23oC with the presence of people only and up to 25 oC in the situation that the construction light was turned on and off
Summary
In a recent field study of 54 classrooms of 21 primary schools in the Netherlands, was found that among the 1145 children studied (average 10 years old) 42% was bothered by sunlight when shining, 35% didn’t like the temperature in the classroom (too cold or too warm), 34% experienced temperature changes and only 7% was bothered by draught [1]. The significant relationship between presence of solar shade devices on the outside and thermal comfort responses (feeling too warm/feeling too cold) at child level, indicated that classrooms with external solar shades have fewer children feeling thermally dissatisfied. Preferences for colour might differ per child [3] and the colour/light combinations of indoor environmental surfaces seem to have an effect on perceptual performance of school children (e.g. colour of walls [4]) and their behaviour and mood [5]. Whether the colours of the indoor surfaces could have an effect on thermal comfort (temperature and draught), has not yet been investigated with children
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