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Two things I have always included my architecture projects turn out to be things that make interior spaces much safer in the context of the pandemic: 1. Lots of natural light. UV kills viruses. and 2. Cross ventilation. Having windows on at least two sides of a room.
Cross ventilation is really important. One window in a room does little to introduce ventilation. Air flow demands openings on oposite sides of the room. Keep doors open if windows are not available.
Beware of buildings that do not rely on natural ventilation like standard commercial office buildings and hotels. These buildings are petri dishes. Like airplanes these buildings recirculate air. They also pull air from one room and heat or cool it and introduce it to another
Conventional ducted mechancial systems are awful for airborne disease control. They do not exhaust indoor air or bring in enough fresh air. What we know now is the interior spaces with little introduction of fresh air are super dangerous.
If you have a building with a ducted system have a HVAC contractor tune the system to allow more fresh air. There is a damper on these systems that can be tuned to allow for more fresh air. This is key.
The best technology for bringing in fresh air into a building is what is called a Heat Recovery Ventilator. This system allows 100% fresh air to be introduced into a building without loss of heat in the winter or coolth in the summer.
Robust ventilation with masks and proper social distancing will allow for us to re-occuppy our interior spaces safely. This is key for repopening schools and office buildings and other structures.
