Hygrothermal health and sustainability indicators in university buildings: A case study in Northwestern Argentina

[EN] Previous research has led to heightened interest in environmental conditions within classrooms. These conditions significantly impact students' health, well-being, performance, and productivity in terms of concentration, attention, and learning.This work aims to obtain indicators of environmental quality, focusing on data related to the hygrothermal behavior of classrooms in the university building concerning the thermal comfort of the educational community, with the purpose of detecting environmental modifications that could enhance students' performance in their learning processes. The methodology used combines: a) fieldwork through hygrothermal monitoring during regular class seasons in winter and summer, b) analysis of the utilization of Passive Architectural Design Strategies in the building according to IRAM 11,900 for the Warm Bioenvironmental Zone IIa of Argentina, c) complete energy simulation of the building using SIMEDIF and Energy Plus software, d) development of indicators based on data obtained in the previous stages. In this regard, national IRAM standards (series 11,000) and international ISO 7,730 and ASHRAE 55 standards on adaptive comfort zones are used as regulatory frameworks. A relevant result indicates that the analyzed area does not present adequate hygrothermal conditions to guarantee the thermal well-being of students at different times and seasons of the year. The low adoption of passive strategies in the architectural design of the building is highlighted, which is directly related to the amount of discomfort hours experienced in both summer and winter in the classrooms. The importance of adapting the enclosure of the area to the climatic zone considering both current climate and future climate change scenarios is concluded.