First school class tests SenseLab

News - 13 February 2018 - Communication BK

A healthy and comfortable indoor climate is essential for good health. The launch of the SenseLab in the Science Centre Delft marks a major step forward in achieving a better balance between a range of environmental factors. Led by Professor Philomena Bluyssen, around 400 primary school students will spend the next few months experiencing different indoor environments and addressing how they would like to improve the indoor quality of their own classrooms. 

The SenseLab is a laboratory in which the different factors for an optimum indoor environment are tested. A complete classroom has been equipped with three different ventilation systems and modules that can adjust both the light and the background noise. The floor, walls, and ceiling coverings can also be modified in order to improve acoustics, for example. The primary school students are collaborating on creative assignments about the indoor environment of their own classrooms, while the different components are being adjusted. They can then complete graphics-based questionnaires to indicate whether they feel they have experienced an improvement in the indoor environment of the Experience Room of the SenseLab. 

Four life-sized cold stores provide space for separate tests to be conducted on air, thermal, lighting and acoustic quality. All this provides the primary school students with a playful way of learning what factors influence the senses. At the same time, the test results provide input for Indoor Environment researchers to determine how classrooms can be better fitted out in order to create a more comfortable and healthier indoor environment for every student. 

From April, the SenseLab will be open to the public in weekends and during holidays, and can be accessed via the swing doors at the back of the Science Centre Delft exhibition hall. 

More information

Lighting quality

Air quality

Acoustic quality

Thermal quality

Students from the Bredero elementary school Rijswijk have been the first to experience the SenseLab. The SenseLab team consists out of: Philomena Bluyssen, Marco Ortiz (PhD candidate), AnneMarie Eijkelenboom (PhD candidate and architect at EGM), Dadi Zhang (PhD candidate), Tatiana Armijos Moya (PhD candidate), Stanley Kurvers (researcher), Martin Tenpierik (associate professor), Arno Freeke (researcher), Arend-Jan Krooneman (researcher).