The Influence of Balconies on the Indoor Environmental Conditions of Dwellings

The balcony is defined as an in-between architectural element that has the ability to intermediate the indoor and the outdoor environmental conditions. Through history, distinct balcony solutions have been used to improve the indoor environment according to their suitability to different contexts and climate conditions. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the impacts of different balconies on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of dwellings in the mild climatic conditions of Portugal. This paper provides the results of an assessment campaign conducted in a residential building constructed at the beginning of the ’60s. This existing building represents a relevant part of the housing stock that will need a deep rehabilitation intervention in the next decades. During the in-situ campaign, the indoor environmental quality was assessed in four balconies and their contiguous space: one open balcony, one glazed balcony, one eliminated balcony, and one open balcony with improved windows. The evaluated indoor environmental parameters included air temperature, relative humidity, CO2, PM2.5 and TVOCs concentration, illuminance level and acoustic sound pressure level. The results confirmed that different balcony solutions produce relevant impacts on the four factors that contribute to the indoor environmental quality (thermal comfort, air quality, acoustic comfort and lighting comfort). Additionally, the analysis of the interactions of the different balcony impacts highlighted the importance of finding solutions that can balance the effect on different IEQ parameters.