public buildings

Ventilation impacts the quality of the indoor environment. Indoor air quality (IAQ) contributes to the overall personal exposure of occupants of a building to certain pollutants and is therefore an important environmental determinant of health. Research shows that European citizens spend on average 90% of their time indoors. The Flemish government, and more specifically the Flemish Department of Environment & Spatial Development, has been conducting research on IAQ in homes and schools to inform and develop policy since 2007.

The EPLabel project addresses the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) Article 7.3: the requirement for ‘Public Buildings’ over 1,000 m² to display an Energy Certificate prominently, OJEC (2003)[1] and is supported by the EC’s Intelligent E

At present 95% of energy consumption for heating, domestic hot water, air conditioning, lighting andventilation in Europe are related to buildings built before 1980.

The Portuguese National Museum for Archaeology is undergoing an expansion and retrofitting. It is currently housed in one of the most important ancient monuments in Portugal: the Monastery of Jernimos. The authorities responsible for the museum, taking advantage of this retrofitting, decided to promote a modern and integrated design of the future archaeological museum. The architectural design aims to combine, aesthetically, the old and the new building, promoting sustainable architecture and energy efficiency (concerning, essentially, indoor climate, lighting and acoustical requirements).