Abstract
Given the perennial incidence of thermal discomfort, health issues, as well as energy costs associated with naturally ventilated classrooms in Yola, the study aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of classroom designs for natural ventilation comfort by examining the effects of six architectural design variables—size and position of openings, form of buildings, orientation of buildings, site planning, topography, and physical features, on the ventilation coefficients of 61 classrooms selected from nine stratified clusters in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using percentages, ratios, means as well as standard deviation, and then sorted in groups using tables. The study revealed that the form and orientation of the classroom-buildings, as well as topography, site planning and other physical features, have no significant effect on ventilation coefficient. In addition, a new mean ventilation coefficient was obtained in ten classrooms against an earlier claim that ventilation coefficient cannot exceed a fixed average regardless of the ratio of wall opening to floor area.
Highlights
Ventilation is primarily required for the human physiological need for oxygen from fresh air
Given the perennial incidence of thermal discomfort, health issues, as well as energy costs associated with naturally ventilated classrooms in Yola, the study aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of classroom designs for natural ventilation comfort by examining the effects of six architectural design variables—size and position of openings, form of buildings, orientation of buildings, site planning, topography, and physical features, on the ventilation coefficients of 61 classrooms selected from nine stratified clusters in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria
Most of the cited works above are in the hot humid climates and are microclimatically oriented. This is in agreement with [15] and [18] that thermal comfort through natural ventilation requires the analysis of a given location because a wide variation of climate conditions can occur as a result of local, natural and man-made features
Summary
Ventilation is primarily required for the human physiological need for oxygen from fresh air. Even the cultural theory of form portrays buildings as the expression of the structural relationship between technological, social, symbolic and natural forces [14]. These forces have since been reinforced by economic, political and popular factors that arose from the global energy crisis of 1973 as well as climate change due to global warming, prompting the need for building, land, nature and energy conservation through practices that lower energy demand, including (but not limited to) designing spaces for natural ventilation
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