Well-Being and Sustainability in Cold Climate Schools

Melanie Watchman (Université Laval)

Sustainable school buildings promise to enhance the health and well-being of students and staff while simultaneously reducing energy use. Their ability to achieve these multiple aims rests on the interactions between occupants and school building features such as windows and sunshades. Yet in the province of Quebec, Canada, restricted sunshine, prolonged periods of precipitation, and low temperatures can limit passive and low-energy architecture strategies and influence the quality of the indoor environment. In order to guide the sustainable construction and renovation of primary schools, a better understanding of low-energy architecture and comfort perceptions in a harsh winter climate is needed. This paper discusses the frequency of adaptive actions and occupants’ satisfaction with lighting, temperature, air quality and noise in primary schools in the province of Quebec. An online survey completed by 1036 school personnel in 195 buildings gathered concrete and practical knowledge and perceptions from a diversity of staff members, not only teachers. Occupants’ subjective perceptions were analysed in association with building plans and sections of each school to determine the associations between daylight, temperature, ventilation and noise perceptions, frequency of adaptive actions, and architectural features. Combining survey results with building characteristics captures key differences between indoor environmental satisfaction and building construction year, classroom proportions and window-to-floor area ratio. It also provides architects with a deeper understanding of the opportunities to seize and challenges to overcome in cold climate schools in order to enhance occupant comfort and well-being without compromising sustainability.