JUL-SEP 2021 / PEOPLE / ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN 4
Adapting technology to design virusaware buildings WORDS MARK WARBURTON
One of the immediate impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to have on our industry is changes to the specifications on new projects. After all, COVID-19 is not the first coronavirus to have an impact on the human population, SARS and MERS are both from the same family of virus, and nor is it likely to be the last. An obvious change is making buildings as contactless as possible. Whilst this is not difficult to achieve in larger open spaces it is much more difficult in smaller offices or buildings whose usage naturally requires privacy. The first step to achieve contactless design is being able to determine when someone is entering or leaving a space, be that open or enclosed, and the ability to monitor much more accurately if people are still in a space. New building technologies such as KNX may offer one solution. For example, using detectors that employ microwave sensing
technology tuned to the movement signature of a human breathing. The sensor is designed to provide accurate presence information as well as outputs based on direction of movement and distance to movement. With motorised doors and intelligent lighting and HVAC, it would be simple to create a completely contactless environment as people move through a building and use different spaces. Other technologies include camera sensors which are able to determine the number of people in a room or in defined areas of the room. These could be used to provide feedback when additional people enter a shop, move from one part of a building to another or to increase the ventilation to ensure fresh, clean air is provided in more confined spaces.
So, as a scenario, in a high-rotation office space, a group of people have booked a meeting room, they enter the room, which has been brought up to temperature for them ten minutes before the meeting is due to start, and the lights turn on as they enter. They log in so their presence is recorded, the system adjusts based on the number of people actually using the room, then after the meeting the absence of people in a room might be used to trigger the cleaning crew to enter and wipe down the surfaces, so making the transition to the next users less risky. Managing the quality of the air in the building is another area where building controls have a major role to play. This requires a shift in mindset from HVAC being as efficient as
