Sedlmeier, Isabelle

Diploma Thesis:
1832

Topic:
Health effects of built-in materials, building structures and technical building systems

Editor:
Isabelle Sedlmeier

University Professor Responsible:
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Jens Otto

Supervisor:
University Supervisor: Dipl.-Ing. Carolin Senkel

Editing Period:
26.08.2021 until 26.12.2021

Abstract:
With the GEG passed last year, civil engineers, building planners and architects are facing new challenges today. In addition to the unrestrained growth of the population and increasing urbanization, new climate-protecting and sustainable alternatives are being sought because of climate change. One of the biggest transformations for energy saving is a new more and more airtight construction with artificially created building materials and the use of numerous technical building equipment. It seems that health has been neglected in the design of these buildings, as in fact over the years more and more complaints have been found to be
have been detected, sometimes directly with building related cause - the so called "Building Related Illness", sometimes without proper tracing - the "Sick Building Syndrome", however these symptoms disappear right after leaving the building. With more than 90% of our lives spent inside interior walls, people and especially children or already weakened people suffer from a variety of allergies, diseases or malaise that can be poorly remedied. Building biologists, and later physicians, have recently addressed health effects in energy efficient buildings.
In the context of this work criteria and their characteristics and elements are specified, which were noticed and/or received in the German set of standards and by medical profession in the course of the years. Their connection and influence of health effects on the human well-being and on the human organism as well as the importance of these criteria are analyzed. Furthermore, the American certification system WELL Building Standard, which has been published since 2014, is examined more closely and evaluated and compared with regard to these criteria. Apparently, this certification system is more focused on the well-being of people at work or to apply. By means of an example project, a standard GEG building is ultimately compared with a PlusEnergy building of a single-family house from a health point of view within the scope of this work. Although many medical experts claim that plus-energy buildings are more detrimental to health than GEG buildings, alternatives can be found to protect health. The question arises, however, to what extent health is preferred over climate protection and to what extent society wants to address the issue of health.