Are Historical Buildings More Adaptive to Minimize the Risks of Airborne Transmission of Viruses and Public Health? A Study of the Hazzazi House in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought immense challenges to the natural and built environment to develop an antivirus-enabled model for reducing potential risks of spreading the virus at varied scales such as buildings, neighborhoods, and cities. Spatial configurations of structures may hinder or assist the spread of viruses in the built environment. In this study, we have hypothesized that suitable air ventilation in historic buildings may enhance the built environment to combat the spreading of infectious viruses. To provide such quantitative shreds of evidence, we have generated and estimated an integrated model to summarize obtained information by considering natural ventilation, wind speed, inflow and outflow, wind direction, and forecasting the associated risks of airborne disease transmission in a historical building (i.e., the Hazzazi House in particular). Intrinsically, the results have demonstrated that the effectiveness of natural ventilation has directly influenced reducing the risks of transmitting airborne infectious viruses for the selected heritage building in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The adopted methods in this research may be useful to understand the potentials of conserving old heritage buildings. Consequently, the results demonstrate that natural air ventilation systems are critical to combat the spread of infectious diseases in the pandemic.

Ventilation strategies and design impacts on indoor airborne transmission: A review

“…Kopec [ 118 ] introduced NV as a ventilation strategy that refreshes indoor air without mechanical systems and energy usage by using natural forces (wind and buoyancy), which results from pressure and density differences [ 119 , 120 ]. NV is a standard green alternative to MV systems that contributes to energy saving [ [121] , [122] , [123] ] and effectively prevents airborne transmission in indoor areas [ [124] , [125] , [126] , [127] , [128] , [129] ]. NV is categorized into two main types: organized and non-organized (infiltration-exfiltration because of the non-steady nature [ 130 ]).…”