333832

Shading Strategies for Outdoor Waiting Areas in Hot Climates: Improving Thermal Comfort and Healing Environments in the Post-Pandemic Era

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Architectural and Urban Planning Engineering

Abstract

The design of hospitals has become a critical issue in the post-pandemic era, especially for waiting areas where people tend to gather and increase the risk of disease transmission. Outdoor waiting areas are emerging as a viable alternative to indoor spaces, as they can reduce crowding and improve ventilation. However, in hot climates, achieving thermal comfort in outdoor spaces is a major challenge for designers, as it affects the healing environment and the well-being of patients and visitors. This paper explores the role of different shading strategies in improving the thermal comfort of outdoor waiting areas in hospitals, using Al-Nasr Specialized Hospital in Port-Said as a case study. The paper simulates five shading scenarios that combine shading devices and trees, and evaluates their impact on air temperature (TA), predicted mean vote (PMV), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET). The results show that the best scenario is the semi-shaded case with trees, which lowers TA by more than 1.5 °C, reduces PMV by 28.7%, and shifts PET from a hot state to a warm state. This study enriches basic research on outdoor thermal comfort for hospital users and offers guidance for the design of outdoor healthcare settings in hot climates.

DOI

10.21608/pserj.2024.256733.1305

Keywords

Healing architecture, post-pandemic design, outdoor waiting areas, thermal comfort, shading strategies

Authors

First Name

Dalia

Last Name

Elgheznawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

-

Email

dalia_elgheznawy@eng.psu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-5940-9749

Volume

28

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

46740

Issue Date

2024-03-01

Receive Date

2023-12-19

Publish Date

2024-03-01

Page Start

85

Page End

102

Print ISSN

1110-6603

Online ISSN

2536-9377

Link

https://pserj.journals.ekb.eg/article_333832.html

Detail API

https://pserj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=333832

Order

333,832

Type

Original Article

Type Code

813

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Port-Said Engineering Research Journal

Publication Link

https://pserj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Shading Strategies for Outdoor Waiting Areas in Hot Climates: Improving Thermal Comfort and Healing Environments in the Post-Pandemic Era

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024