Department of Biology, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada.
School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada.
PLoS One. 2019 Aug 2;14(8):e0220556. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220556. eCollection 2019.
The new era in the design of modern healthy buildings necessitates multidisciplinary research efforts that link principles of engineering and material sciences with those of building biology, in order to better comprehend and apply underlying interactions among design criteria. As part of this effort, there have been an array of studies in relation to the effects of building characteristics on indoor microbiota and their propensity to cause health issues. Despite the abundance of scientific inquiries, limited studies have been dedicated to concomitantly link these effects to the deterioration of 'structural integrity' in the building materials. This study focuses on the observed biodeteriorative capabilities of indoor fungi upon the ubiquitous gypsum board material as a function of building age and room functionality within a university campus. We observed that the fungal growth significantly affected the physical (weight loss) and mechanical (tensile strength) properties of moisture-exposed gypsum board samples; in some cases, tensile strength and weight decreased by more than 80%. Such intertwined associations between the biodeterioration of building material properties due to viable indoor fungi, and as a function of building characteristics, would suggest a critical need towards multi-criteria design and optimization of next-generation healthy buildings. Next to structural integrity measures, with a better understanding of what factors and environmental conditions trigger fungal growth in built environment materials, we can also optimize the design of indoor living spaces, cleaning strategies, as well as emergency management measures during probable events such as flooding or water damage.
现代健康建筑设计的新时代需要多学科的研究努力，将工程和材料科学原理与建筑生物学原理联系起来，以便更好地理解和应用设计标准之间的基本相互作用。作为这项努力的一部分，已经有一系列关于建筑特征对室内微生物群及其引起健康问题倾向的影响的研究。尽管有大量的科学研究，但很少有研究将这些影响与建筑材料“结构完整性”的恶化联系起来。本研究重点研究了室内真菌在校园内建筑年龄和房间功能的普遍石膏板材料上的观察到的生物降解能力。我们观察到，真菌的生长显著影响了暴露在水分中的石膏板样品的物理（重量损失）和机械（拉伸强度）特性；在某些情况下，拉伸强度和重量下降超过 80%。由于可行的室内真菌，以及建筑特征的功能，这种建筑材料特性生物降解与建筑材料特性生物降解之间的交织关联表明，迫切需要对下一代健康建筑进行多标准设计和优化。除了结构完整性措施之外，通过更好地了解是什么因素和环境条件触发建筑环境材料中的真菌生长，我们还可以优化室内生活空间的设计、清洁策略，以及在洪水或水损坏等可能发生的事件期间的紧急管理措施。
