Reducing+Ozone+in+Offices

Kevin Alexander Watters Annotation 5 Reducing Ozone in Offices Medical News Today

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/163258.php

The United Nations Development Program estimated (1998) that more than two million people die each year due to the presence of toxic indoor air, while other studies estimate that 14 times as many deaths occur globally from poor indoor air quality compared with outdoor air pollution.

This article presents data concerning levels of toxicity in our indoor air that can potentially be more harmful to humans than the outdoor air. Why is this? Indoor air pollution is caused by the mechanical systems and other technologies we bring inside that give off chemical which react with oxygen to create pollutants like ozone.

Looking at this problem through an architecture lens, the indoor environment has changed dramatically since the industrial revolution. Our buildings, like nature, have become an area where we a humans feel like we can control the environment so much to our liking that we do harm. Instead of allowing natural outdoor air to freely move through our buildings, we have sealed them up so tightly that the interior air becomes more polluted than the exterior air. One solution to poor indoor air quality is bringing nature back into our environments. Not only will plants in the interior help create a cleaner indoor air quality, plants have been proven to increase productivity in employees.