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)

Alaa Alaidroos, Ayad Almaimani, Ahmed Baik, Mohamed Al-Amodi and Khan Rubayet Rahaman
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Alaa Alaidroos: Architectural Engineering Department, Collage of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University KAU-Rabigh, Rabigh 25732, Saudi Arabia
Ayad Almaimani: Architecture Department, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Baik: Geomatics Department, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Al-Amodi: Architecture Department, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Khan Rubayet Rahaman: Department of Geography and Environment Studies, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-19

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.

Keywords: historic buildings; airborne transmission; public health; risk management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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