Some people asking ‘what would architects know about viruses?’ ... so, in reply 1/ Image
Outdoors spread is too low to sustain a pandemic as the R rate is <1, so pandemic would wane naturally

If we lived outdoor there would be no pandemic

So, suppressing this pandemic is about buildings (& vehicles) where people spend most of their time 2/
Architects are trained to design buildings for people

This includes knowledge & understanding of human behaviour, environmental science, building safety
.. & public health (incl air quality & ventilation) 3/
Architects design the ventilation in most buildings, & are responsible for it’s regulatory compliance

In larger buildings, that have mechanical ventilation architects work with & coordinate the work of specialist engineers 4/
(HVAC= heating, ventilation & air conditioning)
Architects are also trained in & are responsible for Health & Safety in buildings

This includes making risk assessments.. in order to identify, eliminate, mitigate & manage risks.. to protect the people who build, maintain & use buildings 5/
Architects coordinates many other technical & specialist disciplines, to analyse problems & find real-world solutions

They manage the process of change in the built environment, working with large teams in live (& changing) situations 6/
Enclosed spaces (buildings & vehicles) are micro-climates of trapped air

People spend most of their time (up to 90%) in these micro climates.. & can be at risk of breathing infected air

Some buildings are higher risk (esp under-ventilated, over-crowded, or where no masks) 7/
how buildings are designed, regulated & operated varies very significantly depending on the society, the climate, local resources, use/occupancy, etc

‘Risk’ of stale air is factor of the season, weather, age of building, maintenance/operation, number of people, activity, etc 8/
‘Risk’ is also factor of how building/vehicle is operated in that season for comfort, energy efficiency, etc

So, seasonal risk isn’t ‘weather’, it’s architecture & building physics

Conditions of trapped infected air are now understood

High-risk conditions are preventable 9/
‘Risk’ can also be over-crowding, people’s behaviour & the activity in buildings

Architects can also assess & advise how to manage these problems, to lower the risks

Architects have been responding to public health needs throughout history 10/architecturaldigest.com/story/subway-t…

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More from @Orla_Hegarty

5 Apr
‘dogma that increasing housing supply will unlock issues is becoming increasingly jaded in face of overwhelmingly evidence

Not once in recent history has supply improved affordability, & constant erosion of affordability lies at the heart of the problem’ irishtimes.com/business/econo…
Economist @DrCameronMurray supply/demand analysis suggests that ‘constraints* on density increase optimal rate of supply by reducing return to delaying development’

*constraints meaning stable Planning policy, not lowering standards or raising height caps
‘The policy lessons are (1) the relationship between demand growth & optimal supply rate limits ability for market supply to reduce prices & (2) increasing the cost to delaying housing development is primary way to increase market rate of housing supply’ osf.io/7n8rj/
Read 7 tweets
4 Apr
‘Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council & Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council *did not build a single home in 2020*, according to @DeptHousingIRL data. Fingal led as developer on 24 homes, & Cork City Council built only 9 homes’ @killianwoods
businesspost.ie/houses/over-75…
In 2019, leases were costing €7,473/ home/ year

New lease deals are costing Dublin City €17,155/yr.. & Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council €28,310/yr

..state is paying investors €2,359/month for social housing apartments.. amount equivalent to mortgage on €500,000 home Image
“half a million euro” social home is now established in policy, & at a time when the Minister confirms an all-in cost of less than €250,000 nationally, for two-bedroom apartment developed by local authorities
irishtimes.com/opinion/progra…
Read 4 tweets
28 Mar
Ventilation in schools, 1850:
‘Let is suppose the case of a schoolroom containing 10,000 cubic feet (50 x 20 x 10’)* of perfectly pure air with 200 pupils. To each of them will be allowed 10 cubic feet of air per minute...’. 1/
*283m3 (15 x 6 x 3m)
‘..there would be 50 [cubic] feet for each pupil & air of the room would be rendered unfit for respiration by carbonic acid [CO2] alone in ~just 5 minutes~.. at the end of 5 minutes pupils begin to inhale again & again the excrementitious matter from their own & others bodies’ 2/
‘..at end of one hour, 84 ounces (2.4kg) of this poison would be held in solution in the air..& be constantly going the round of the circulation, sowing the seeds of death’ ‘the oxygen would be entirely exhausted in 14 or 15 hours.. many pupils would not be living long before’ 3/
Read 10 tweets
27 Mar
#Covid19 made us more aware of dangers.. an outbreak of SARs virus in Hong Kong in 2003 was traced to #apartments plumbing & ventilation, leading to warnings from the World Health Organisation about shortcuts in design, construction & maintenance’ 1/ independent.ie/business/perso…
‘SARS virus was spread primarily through the air. High concentrations of viral aerosols in building plumbing were drawn into #apartment bathrooms through floor drains.. virus-laden air was transported by prevailing winds to adjacent buildings’ 2/ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16696450/
‘infected cases found along 2 vertical lines of #apartment building & each line was connected through a single ventilation air duct in the bathroom.. investigation found no other possible contact between cases than airborne infection through air duct’ 3/ ijidonline.com/article/S1201-…
Read 9 tweets
20 Mar
[Thread] Chicago didn’t have a second wave of Spanish Flu.. so what did they do, & how did the city re-open when there was no vaccine? #Ventilation #COVID19 1/
..here are the public health measures that Chicago took on the autumn of 2018
‘open window ventilation in all school rooms.. pupils warmly dressed.. daily check on pupils & absentees in schools.. use of masks.. landlords required to heat homes.. ’ 2/ documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri
..’isolation & quarantine.. home nursing provided (see my thread on home nursing).. churches required to improve ventilation.. 150 city health officers on full time service’ 3/
Read 17 tweets
20 Mar
‘2m distancing & Perspex screens’ do not protect from airborne #Covid19 indoors

No one should be asked to remove a mask in an enclosed space or to travel unnecessarily.. technology is available for safe oral exams #LeavingCert2021 irishtimes.com/news/education…
*I have arranged &/or attended 100+ remote oral exams in the last year
Link to SEC exam guidance examinations.ie/misc-doc/BI-SC… Image
Read 4 tweets

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