| dc.description.abstract | Wellbeing in the indoor built environment has become a crucial research topic in
relation to thermal comfort which helps to improve sustainable built environments.
Thus, thermal comfort requirements for humans is the main consideration in
building design. It is important to consider comfort and wellbeing of people with
physical disabilities. Thus, this research was conducted to investigate the indoor
environment quality of spaces in relation to the ‘thermal comfort in physically
disabled war veterans’ housing in the Sri Lankan context. An on-field investigation
was carried out to obtain physical measurements of microclimatic parameters of
interiors including indoor temperature, relative humidity and air velocity.
Secondary data were collected through semi structured interviews. Results
explicitly prove that the mean value of the operative temperature is 32.2°C, which
is above the ASHARE 55-2013 standard for comfortable thermal conditions. Mean
wind velocity is 0.25m/s, is low, as there is a high operative temperature adequate
interior ventilation needs to be provided. The Humphries comfort equation states
the required comfort temperature is 28.92°C, but the obtained mean operative
temperature is more than this comfort temperature, which proves that the interiors
are overheated. The most common adaptive behaviour of the veterans are switching
fans on and moving toward open spaces. Results also indicate that there is a
psychological link with thermal adaptive behaviour as these veterans opt to remain
in free outdoor spaces rather than in confined spaces as their battlefields. Thus, this
research paper highlights on the thermal conditions needed for interior spaces for
disabled war veterans and in the long-run contributes to regulations to add
developments to the National Policy on Disability in Sri Lanka. | en_US |
