Healthy building design: A study on dwellings

People spend the majority of their time indoors. Dwellings, accounts for 50% of these indoor spaces. Dwellings should meet the psychological, sociological, biological demands of users while also providing a healthy and comfortable living environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, dwelling has had to meet many different user needs along with shelter. This situation has increased the importance of the dwellings in terms of spatial. Dwellings are associated with healthy indoor environment and quality interior space and it is possible with building materials and comfort conditions. Furthermore, the structural qualities of building materials should be appropriate for the function of the space, they should not include components that are harmful to the environment or human health, and they should not have an adverse effect on indoor air quality. The fulfilment of all these requirements can only be possible by considering the user needs in the architectural design stage and making use of the science of building biology. In the thesis, the spatial characteristics and material properties required for healthy dwellings were investigated. In this context, the relationship between spatial qualities, building materials and human health is discussed. Moreover, the guidelines developed by organisations for assessing dwellings in terms of health criteria were reviewed. Consequently, a Healthy Housing Checklist was developed were made, allowing users to evaluate the houses they live in or would live in in the future within the context of health. In addition, predictions concerning the future effects of the healthy housing checklist are given in the conclusion part.