AIR CONDITIONS
IN A summary of his evidence to the Mansion House Square public inquiry pub- lished in the Architect's Journal last September, Professor Geoffrey Broad- bent, Principal of the Portsmouth School of Architecture, observed that `the health hazards of sealed and air-conditioned buildings include such simple things as the Spread of colds and flu. Ailments such as bronchitis, dry skin, headaches, sore throats, lethargy, discomfort with contact lenses and other eye complaints are made Worse by air that is too dry. You can humidify the air, but this leads to further Problems: any damp surface in the system May propagate humidifier fever, Legion- naire's and other horrid diseases. Then there are electrical effects. . . . A very high proportion of those who work in totally sealed, air-conditioned offices — Probably 100 per cent — suffer from one or More of these. The mildest, such as electric Shocks, may be merely irritating, while the most severe, such as Legionnaire's disease, Can kill.' Now the victims of the disease at Stafford Hospital are likely to outnumber t_,I!e original unfortunate Legionnaires who died in Philadelphia in 1976. But we did not need this tragedy to appreciate the dangers of what architects call the 'well- tempered environment' reliant upon tech- nology. Last year the new Public Record °Mee at Kew had to be closed for several months while the air-conditioning system was cleaned out following the spread of a mYsterious illness. The Building Research Station is well aware of the problem and has just published an information paper by
Dr Wozniak on disease and hot water system in buildings. Progressive and tech,- nologically minded architects will answer that these are but teething problems that can be 'ironed out' in due course and that better maintenance is the answer. But stringent, frequent maintenance is expen- sive and common sense surely suggests that in the mild, benign climate with which we are blessed in this country air-conditioning is largely unnecessary and that an architect who relies on technology to solve environ- mental problems is not doing his job. Office workers, like the rest of us, like fresh air and windows that open, yet the out-of-date office block Mr Palumbo wants to build is another sealed and air- conditioned bronzed glass prison. Mrs Thatcher should reflect upon Professor Broadbent's observations and recall her own illness in Singapore — which she blamed on her hotel's air-conditioning.
'Was it as bad as living under Mrs Thatcher, Daddy?'
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