Using HAIEQ methodology for holistic analysis of IEQ in modern family houses

Abstract

The indoor environment of buildings consists of a set of physical, chemical, and social reactions between users and the building, including phenomena that affect the technical, natural, and medical sciences. To describe and quantify the parameters of the indoor environment of buildings, we commonly use a simplified model, describing and evaluating the individual components of the environment separately - thermal comfort, air quality, acoustics, lighting, electromagnetic and other fields that co-create the final state of the environment. Presented methodology is based on a holistic approach to the integration of information about the building-technical design and interior, heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, acoustics and electromagnetic, ionic, -static fields, and ionizing radiation, information about the real operation of the evaluated building, based on data from measurements, mathematical model, and questionnaire survey. The output is a set of information expressing whether the object under assessment, in terms of each criterion, is solved at the level of the current state of knowledge or has the potential to improve the quality of the indoor environment, or whether there are significant deficiencies in terms of the quality of the indoor environment. The methodology is applied here to the assessment of two similar modern family houses. The output shows not only the evaluation of IEQ in both houses, but also the potential to improve IEQ in these houses with identification of causes of the potential problems and ways of possible solutions. The case study points out, among other things, interesting differences in the perception of the indoor environment by individual occupants and shows user behaviour in connection with ensuring the indoor environment of their homes.