Preschool Buildings Research Articles

Indoor Environmental Quality In Preschool Buildings In an Andean City In Ecuador

ABSTRACT Indoor environmental quality has been associated with the health and wellbeing of building occupants; nevertheless, there is limited evidence in this regard for Latin American schools. This research aimed to characterize indoor environmental quality in public and private preschools in an Andean city in Ecuador. Data collection comprised onsite monitoring for the thermal-humidity microclimate of 90 classrooms in 30 preschools in Cuenca-Ecuador (March-August 2018). Infrared thermography and direct observation were applied to determine dampness. Classrooms seemed to be inadequate thermal-humidity microclimates; only a few maintained a comfortable temperature (6%) and relative humidity (11%) throughout the shift. When comparing public and private schools, in private schools, temperatures below the comfort range (61.3% in private schools vs 31.4% in public schools, p<0.001) and relative humidity measures above the comfort range were more frequent (74.3% in private schools vs. 58.6% in public schools, p<0.001). Hollow blocks were the primary construction material in private and public schools. Sixty-four per cent of private schools operated in adaptive, reused buildings, vs 19% in public schools (p<0.05). Infrared thermography confirmed dampness in 26% (n=23) of the classrooms in the covering structures indoors (15% in public vs 33% in private schools, p<0.05). This research reveals the urgent need to develop specific regulations and control mechanisms for building sustainable and healthy environments for preschools in Ecuador.

VOLUME-PLANNING SOLUTIONS OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS WITH PLACEMENT OF SHELTERS

The article highlights one of the most pressing problems of today ‒ the protection of children in educational institutions. The author analyzes the main requirements of the current legislative and regulatory documentation on the protection of children in preschool education institutions during military operations; recommendations of the State Emergency Service; the main provisions of the concept of security of educational institutions. The purpose of this study is to develop proposals for the placement of protected premises in preschool institutions, which will ensure the maximum possible safety, physical and psychological comfort of staying in a protected space in these conditions. Proposals have been developed to change approaches to the space-planning solutions of preschool buildings with the arrangement of protected rooms in the middle span of the building, which will ensure the maximum possible safety, physical and psychological comfort of staying in a protected space. The possibility of using the bedrooms of a kindergarten as a shelter is substantiated. A comparative analysis of regulatory requirements for insolation and energy saving in preschool educational institutions is carried out. It is emphasized that there is a mismatch between the requirements of these requirements and the safety of existing premises of preschool institutions. Proposals for new building codes for the protection of children in educational institutions, including the area of the premises per child, recommendations for the use of these premises in peacetime, and the composition of furniture and equipment, are analyzed. If these proposals are adopted, which include the use of bedrooms as permanent premises in the protected part of the building, as well as ensuring the optimal ratio of energy saving and insolation requirements, architects will have to completely revise their approach to the space-planning solutions for kindergartens. The new space-planning solutions will make preschool buildings more compact, which will provide energy savings, and most importantly, there will be rooms in the middle part of the building that will be enclosed by at least two main walls and, with appropriate structural strength, can be used as shelters. The results of the research can be used in practice in the construction of shelters in preschools.

Organohalogenated flame retardants and organophosphate esters from home and preschool dust in Sweden: Pollution characteristics, indoor sources and intake assessment

This study analysed settled dust samples in Sweden to assess children's combined exposure to 39 organohalogenated flame retardants (HFRs) and 11 organophosphate esters (OPEs) from homes and preschools. >94 % of the targeted compounds were present in dust, indicating widespread use of HFRs and OPEs in Swedish homes and preschools. Dust ingestion was the primary exposure pathway for most analytes, except BDE-209 and DBDPE, where dermal contact was predominant. Children's estimated intakes of ∑emerging HFRs and ∑legacy HFRs from homes were 1–4 times higher than from preschools, highlighting higher exposure risk for HFRs in homes compared to preschools. In a worst-case scenario, intakes of tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) were 6 and 94 times lower than the reference dose for children in Sweden, indicating a potential concern if exposure from other routes like inhalation and diet is as high. The study also found significant positive correlations between dust concentrations of some PBDEs and emerging HFRs and the total number of foam mattresses and beds/m2, the number of foam-containing sofas/m2, and the number of TVs/m2 in the microenvironment, indicating these products as the main source of those compounds. Additionally, younger preschool building ages were found to be linked to higher ΣOPE concentrations in preschool dust, suggesting higher ΣOPE exposure. The comparison with earlier Swedish studies indicates decreasing dust concentrations for some banned and restricted legacy HFRs and OPEs but increasing trends for several emerging HFRs and several unrestricted OPEs. Therefore, the study concludes that emerging HFRs and OPEs are replacing legacy HFRs in products and building materials in homes and preschools, possibly leading to increased exposure of children.

A Simple Mthod for Building Orientation Definition of Standardized Preschool Design in Brazilian Climatic Zones

Introduction: Brazilian Government's Proinfância Program developed Standardized Preschool Designs (SPDs) to ensure children's access to preschool while reducing design costs and shortening bidding and construction processes. Local administrations are expected to define the SPD’s building orientation in an available site, Proinfância provides no information regarding the SPDs' building orientation definition. Methods: This study proposes a simple method to help local administrations to define an adequate building orientation of SPDs in the eight Brazilian climatic zones aiming for thermal performance and thermal comfort. This method combines the ABNT NBR 15.575:2013 simulation method for thermal performance assessment and the ASHRAE Standard 55-2017 Adaptive Model for thermal comfort assessment. The SPD Type 2 was chosen for the method validation, and a decision-support framework was developed to solve divergences among conflicting results. Results: Thermal performance and thermal comfort assessments demonstrated that Type 2 is more suitable for warmer CZs. In some CZs, the thermal comfort results showed significant variations with the building orientation shift. The proposed method proved to be adequate to indicate building orientation to Proinfância Program’ Type 2. Conclusion: In addition, this study allowed the elaboration of a building orientation’s recommendations’ list for each Brazilian climatic zone. Municipal administrations might use the results to guarantee thermally qualified indoor spaces based in cientific evidences. The data collected contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of thermal comfort regarding naturally conditioned preschool buildings.

Assessment of predictive models for estimation of water consumption in public preschool buildings

Preschool buildings are among the biggest water consumers in the public buildings sector, which efficient management of water consumption could make considerable savings in city budgets. The aim of this study was twofold: 1) to assess prognostic performances of 21 parameters that influence the water consumption and 2) to assess performances of two different approaches (statistical and machine learning-based) with 6 various predictive models for the estimation of water consumption by using the observed parameters. The considered data set was collected from the total share of public preschool buildings in the city of Kragujevac, Serbia, over a three-year period. Top-performing statistical-based model was Multiple Linear Regression, while the best machine learning method was Random Forest. Particularly, Random Forest gained the best overall performances while the Multiple linear regression showed the same precision as the Random Forest when dealing with buildings that consume more than 200 m3/month. It is found that both methods provide satisfying estimates, leaving for potential users to choose between better performances (Random Forest) or usability (Multiple Linear Regression).

The development of normative requirements for buildings of preschool educational institutions

Preschool education is intended for acquiring primary skills and knowledge. This is facilitated by the conditions in preschool educational institutions. The subject of this research is the normative requirements for preschool educational institutions. The goal lies in analysis of the development of normative requirements for preschool educational institutions. The task is to examine the basic technical regulations in the sphere of preschool education, as well as determine the changes in normative regulations. The research leans on the scientific materials on the topic and the content of the normative legal acts. The research material includes the results of scientific research on this topic and the content of regulatory legal acts. The article provides general characteristics to the development of normative requirements for pre-school buildings. The concept of “kindergarten” is introduced in the Building Code II-64-80. The normative legal acts outline the layout and architectural solutions of the buildings. Relevance of this topic is substantiated by the development of pre-school education aimed at improving accessibility and availability of place in preschool educational institutions; for this purpose the new ones will be built. The research relies on the historical development of architectural regulations, standard projects of Soviet period, sanitary and epidemiological requirements, greening of territories, modern architecture; reconstruction of preschool buildings in modern urban environment. The conducted analysis of the scientific works of the experts reveals the following peculiarities: historical development of architecture of preschool buildings in the Soviet period and emergence of new types; requirements for land allocated for this purpose; reconstruction of the existing preschool buildings. The first technical regulations set the basic requirements for project design and allocated land, standard values for indoor areas, noise and insolation levels; sanitary and epidemiological rules were established later on.

The Quality of Building as a Whole for Public Preschools at Klang Valley in Malaysia

High-quality preschool buildings are crucial for pedagogy. This paper explores and proposes improvements to the ‘building as a whole’ quality of 26 Malaysian public preschools in Klang Valley. Five aspects (image and scale, circulation, common core of shared facilities, indoor environmental quality, safety, and security) were assessed with the Children’s Physical Environment Rating Scale. The average ‘building as a whole’ quality is rated ‘Good’ and none were rated ‘Excellent’ nor ‘Poor’. However, the ‘common core of shared facilities’ aspect was only rated ‘Fair’ in most preschools. Recommendations are hoped to guide stakeholders to ensure better preschools in Malaysia.Keywords: circulation; facilities; image and scale; indoor environmental quality; safety and security.eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5iSI1.2291

Evaluation and measurement of indoor air quality in the preschool building

Under the principle that a suitable temperature and air quality are key to guarantee optimal conditions of learning and growth to students, this study has evaluated the comfort of the classrooms from the data extracted after analyzing the temperatures, the interior of each building, as well as the relative humidity of the classroom environment. In addition, to measure the quality of the indoor air, six chemical contaminants of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Formaldehyde (HCHO), Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) and Particulate Matter (PM) in the classroom were measured. The results indicate that the physical parameters of each building were in good condition. Meanwhile, on the chemical contaminants, the measurement shows that the concentration of CO2, PM and VOC for most buildings exceeds the acceptable exposure limits. In the end, the recommendations for a good quality of the indoor environment in the classroom have been suggested through an emphasis on good design, construction and renovation of buildings as well as continuous maintenance practices.

Assessment of antifungal agent for the treatment of Culvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp.

Fungal contamination in the indoor environment has become the major topic nowadays as it has been related to bad health impacts especially to children as they are more susceptible to diseases. An antifungal agent could act as the remediation to ensure indoor environment become less favorable to fungal growth. However, due to insufficient information on the use of antifungal agents in treating indoor fungal contamination, they were not widely considered for environmental application. The purposes of this study are to collect and identify the type of fungi present in indoor environment of preschool building, to obtain the pure culture of the collected indoor fungi in preschool building and lastly to access the efficacy and compare the efficiency of antifungal agents for indoor fungal remediation. The indoor fungi were collected using Anderson air sampler stage 6 at a classroom of Permata PKPS kindergarten. Wet-mount slide technique was used to identify the fungal colonies collected and they were identified up to their genus level. The fungal colonies were identified as Culvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. Pure culture of Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. were successfully obtained. The efficacy and efficiency of the antifungal agents were assessed using disc diffusion technique through the diameter of zone of inhibition formed. The five antifungal agents tested in this study were tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, vinegar, 70% ethanol and Febreze. Four out of five tested antifungal agents exhibited antifungal properties. They were tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, vinegar and Febreze. The finding of this study shows that lemongrass oil was the most effective antifungal agents as it completely inhibited the growth of both Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. and also have the ability to inhibit the production of spore of Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. Hence, lemongrass oil should be considered as remediation for fungal contamination in indoor environment to maintain good indoor air quality

PM1 in Ambient and Indoor Air—Urban and Rural Areas in the Upper Silesian Region, Poland

(1) Background: The work presents results of concentration measurements of PM1, collected in the indoor air of four preschool buildings in Gliwice and its environs (Silesia Province) and in ambient air in the vicinity of four working hard coal power plants and four coking plants located in southern Poland. (2) Methods: The samples of <1 µm, 1–2.5 µm, 2.5–10 µm, and >10 µm fractions were collected with the use of Dekati® PM10 cascade impactor, and concentrations of seven trace elements (Cd, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Se) were determined. (3) Results: The concentrations of PM1 changed in the range of 3.1 μg/m3–65.3 μg/m3. Among trace elements, the highest concentrations in indoor air were evidenced for Cr (129–219 ng/m3), while in outdoor air for Pb (12.6–21.2 ng/m3). Principal Component Analysis PCA analysis extracted three factors of rural dusts, city dusts, and natural soils. (4) Conclusions: The paper points to accumulation of carcinogenic Cd, Cr, and Ni in indoor air, and significant contribution of trace elements in PM1, which, owing to long-lasting exposure and elevated sensitivity of developing organisms, may evoke effects on health of children.

APPROACH TO REFURBISHMENT OF TIMBER PRESCHOOL BUILDINGS WITH A VIEW ON ENERGY AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

The refurbishment of educational buildings usually involves a variety of measures aiming at reducing energy demands and improving building functionality to achieve higher living comfort. This paper aims to develop an approach for determination of comprehensive refurbishment strategy upon existing preschool buildings in Slovenia from the aspects of energy and economic efficiency. The main idea of the approach is to separate and individually analyse the investments into those related to energy efficiency improvements and those related to improvements of building functional quality through the step-by-step evaluation of individual measures. The proposed approach was applied on the case study of the existing timber preschool building in the city of Maribor. Generally, the highest energy savings are detected only in the case of combination of multiple renovation measures. Moreover, the economic indicators show low efficiency for almost all measures if they are treated separately. Additionally, the analysis reveals that certain measures are totally inefficient in terms of energy, yet they are highly beneficial from the viewpoint of building functional quality, which indicates the importance of the multi-perspective assessment of renovation process. The conclusions of this study can be implemented to similar building types and construction ages in similar climatic and economic environments.

Modern preschool building: design and construction practice

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the design solution of the building of a preschool educational establishment in the city of Guastalla (Italy) with the aim of the possibility of adapting such a project to the conditions of Russian cities. A set of basic requirements for preschool buildings according to Russian building codes and rules is presented. They are grouped into four main groups: compliance with sanitary- hygienic and psychological requirements, safety, durability, cost-effectiveness, good appearance. A detailed analysis of the structural design of buildings based on a glued laminated frame with curved sections is presented from an environmental point of view. The conclusion is made about the inadmissibility of the use of glued laminated frames as a structural element of the preschool buildings. It is emphasized that the preschool building must in a special way satisfy the physiological needs of a small person. If this requirement is not met, no other advantages of the building will make it suitable for a comfortable and safe stay of children. The paper also presents a comparison of the development trends in the architecture of modern preschool buildings in the Russian and foreign practice of design and construction.

SELECTED ANALYSIS OF ENERGY-SAVING KINDERGARTEN IN ZŁOTY POTOK – COMMUNE OF JANOW, ALONG WITH ITS USAGE EVALUATION. A CASE STUDY

Abstract The paper analyses the energy-saving building – kindergarten in Zloty Potok. The project was analysed in terms of energy efficiency and meeting the requirements of the passive building. The results of this analysis showed that the building does not meet all of the criteria for a passive building. The next study was a survey of the tenants of the facility. The results obtained from the conducted research indicate very good building assessments. Users are satisfied and feel the comfort of staying in the building. It should be concluded that objects that have not obtained a passive building certificate, but are built in accordance with the passive construction concept, still show very high standards of energy-efficient construction and enjoy the recognition of users. The fulfilment of higher guidelines for thermal insulation and air tightness than those set out in the applicable Polish regulations result in better energy-saving parameters and user satisfaction. At the same time, the research revealed a contradiction between the passive housing guidelines and Polish legislation, especially in correlation with pre-school buildings.

Experimental study on the movement characteristics of 5–6 years old Chinese children when egressing from a pre-school building

Because of the difference in body size and athletic ability, children’ evacuation characteristic is different from that of adults. Therefore, one of the important work of ensuring safety in the emergency evacuation process of pre-school building is to extract the specific evacuation parameters of children. In this study, an evacuation experiment is conducted in a pre-school building in China, and then the evacuation process of 84 children aged 5–6 years is extracted and analyzed. Several key factors have a significant influence on the children evacuation process during the experiments: the guidance of teachers, stairs or steps and congestion on the transition platform. The critical movement parameters of children are extracted and then compared with the existing results. There are distinct differences between adults and children: the average speed of children is lower, which is 0.81 ± 0.40 m/s in the corridor and 0.63 ± 0.20 m/s on the stairs; but children could move faster at the same density; furthermore, children could still maintain a high evacuation efficiency at higher density; at last, the equations of velocity-density and flow-density for children aged 5–6 are presented according to the experiment results. These results could provide basic parameters for the design of evacuation facilities and the prediction of evacuation process in pre-school buildings.

Case study of a preschool transition: an example of building resilience in times of uncertainty

ABSTRACT Transitions in early childhood can create unease for young children, which may be reflected in their internalizing or externalizing behaviors. It is important to ensure that any large or small transition ends in positive attitudes towards school experiences. This case study describes the events that led up to and followed an abrupt preschool building move. The researcher investigated a preschool’s approach towards preparing children before, during and after the transition, and examined parent and teacher perspectives of how the children responded to the transition. The researcher employed a qualitative methodological approach. Data were collected through parent and teacher interviews and supported by video recordings of classroom activities, photographs and children’s drawings. The data analysis process generated four themes, which offer lessons learned from a successful school transition. The researcher makes the argument that positive experiences with transitions can help children adjust to new contexts and build resilience for future transitions.

Benchmarking heat consumption in educational buildings in the city of Kragujevac (Serbia)

Educational buildings are buildings with special social importance, and their energy consumption requires particular attention. Since the majority of educational buildings in Serbia were built between 1950 and 1990, with concrete frame, brick walls and poor thermal insulation, it can be concluded that these buildings have relatively high potential for thermal energy savings. In this paper, specific heat consumption of educational buildings (42 different institutions classified throughout educational levels) in the city of Kragujevac (Serbia) was analysed in order to determine their specific heat consumption (per heated floor area and per user) and to list the priorities for refurbishment. According to educational level, they were classified in preschool buildings, elementary and high schools and faculties (university buildings). Data about heat energy consumption were collected during several heating seasons in order to minimise the influence of seasonal climate variations. Values of specific heat energy consumption of the buildings were benchmarked with data on specific heat consumption of schools from different European countries. In order to accomplish the tasks, authors introduced the concept of weather normalised specific heat consumption. Results of the performed analysis pointed out preschool and elementary school buildings as refurbishment priorities since their average specific heat consumption is the biggest (186 and 176 kWh/m2/a, respectively). Besides, normalised specific heat consumptions of the educational buildings in Kragujevac are higher than in comparing countries, and the potential for their energy efficiency improvement is significant.

Modular system in the development of pre-school buildings

The present work is devoted to the study of the possibility of applying an integrated modular approach in the development of buildings for children's educational institutions. Three aspects of the problem are considered. Firstly - the need to comply with the requirements for the device, content and organization of the mode of operation of children's preschool organizations. Secondly - ensuring urban planning maneuverability of structures. Parameters of the premises of a children's institution allow using a single module for any functional area. Thus, it is possible to arrange individual function blocks in different ways, and, by changing the number of units, vary the filling number of a children. Thirdly, the integration of architectural design with the simultaneous design of developing territorial complexes - locales in children's educational institutions.

Features of information modeling in the design of pre-school buildings in Russia

In the context of modern industrial base establishment on the new technology platform, the tendencies of IT-technologies penetration into building and structure design, construction and operation and transition to Building Information Model are getting more and more emphasized. This article focuses on BIM-modeling employment in the design of pre-school educational institution. Advantages of IT-modeling for buildings complying with modern ecological and safety demands are illustrated. Integration of data on building architecture, structure, interior decoration and utilities into integrated data model effectively saves time and allows making right decisions at all stages of object life cycle. The model allows making optimal decision accounting for such factors as weather conditions analysis, building shape, amount of people to be hold, periodicity of their stay, materials to be used, natural light level, utilities design etc.

Comparative Analysis for the Pre-School Institutions in Municipality of Centre with Modern Tendencies in Designing and Articulations of Specific Interventions in Space as A Result of the Psycho-Physical Needs By The Children

Main subject for the research in this paper are the pre-school object/buildings in the Municipality of Centre, where throughout comparative analysis we get concrete solutions for improving the psycho-physical needs by the pre-school children. With proper space organization and proper use and heat comfort which is key condition for unspoiled development of all functions set by the needs of the children.
 Playrooms as central rooms in the pre-school buildings, where all the functions of the children during the day are carried out, are subjected to a major articulation and specific interventions. With proper conception of the inner space in the building and use of proper equipment, the play room will be transformed in a place where the children will have healthy and adequate growth and development.
 The use of furniture which is suitable to the proportions of the pre-school children has key influence for proper body development of the children. Therefore in this paper I used anthropometric analysis to the pre-school children, where throughout the relevant figures we can fulfil proper projection of the furniture elements which are used in pre-school institutions.

BARRIER OF VENTILATION MODES TO ACHIEVE A BALANCE ENVIRONMENT IN REFURBISHED PRESCHOOLS

The preschool education is compulsory to children in Malaysia. This regulation has encouraged more premises to be refurbished as a preschool building. This paper examines the pupils’ absenteeism and the prevalence of Sick Building Symptoms (SBS) initiated in congested private preschool with different ventilation. The study analysed data from the attendance record of 10 classrooms and the questionnaire surveys administered to 151 parents about their children health symptoms once they were leaving the schools building. Indoor Carbon Dioxide (CO2) measured as indicator of the problems. Questions on SBS used 5-point likert scale with symptoms concern on nose, eye, head, throat, skin, breath and tiredness. The descriptive and chi-square test applied to obtain the association of SBS and ventilation strategies in the classrooms. With quantitative and qualitative explanation, the unhealthy environment in refurbished pre-schools explained respiratory symptoms and higher rates of absenteeism frequently reported in air-conditioning (AC) classrooms due to concentrations of CO2 exceeded 1000 ppm. These symptoms show there were weaknesses in ventilation performance and environment in the selected preschools. Further analyses on objective measurements in future research are strongly recommended.