Philosophy About the Quality of Our Indoor Climate

This chapter focuses on a new approach and ideas about the indoor climate of our built environment. For a long period, our views on this subject were supported by the technical solutions and possibilities of the past industrial revolution. As a dogma, we did focus on achieving a quality of our indoor climate based on steady fixed and measurable temperatures. By neglecting the factor human being, we created indoor environments which give unforeseen healthy problems. Besides that, fresh air is one of the most vital elements for our life; when ignored, it ends up with health problems like respiratory disorders such as asthma which causes serious difficulty with breathing. In case of asthma or other respiratory disorders, harmful substances and gasses like sulphur dioxide, ammonia, carbon dioxide and formaldehyde have been detected in many indoor environments. From various directions and at the same time, people with strong visions were alarming for the existing views on our indoor climate and the way how we achieve this. The new focus is based on a new way of thinking and is aiming for another quality of our indoor climate. New parameters are a healthy environment, a high level of comfort and a low consumption of energy, all based on the perception of the human being itself. The instrument to implement this new philosophy is integrated design. Architects and engineers in the building design are responsible for taking these signals seriously. It is not by accident that this instrument integrated design is introduced at the same time as our scream for sustainability!