Reducing mould risk during the building design stage: Case studies in South-East China

Abstract

Indoor mould is usually discussed for the building operation phase rather than the design stage. Moreover, the majority of existing studies were conducted by mechanical engineers rather than architects, who typically have a broader view of the whole project. The purpose of this article is to obtain a quantitative mould risk scenario across the Yangtze River Delta in China and make a matrix including all the possible design options to reduce the mould risk. A series of software is utilised to simulate the mould risk in three main cities across that region. Simulation results confirm high mould risk in all selected cities and the mould growth rates in different orientations match the Wind-Driven Rain diagram. After the simulation, all factors that can be tuned for the mould prevention were analysed. It is found that only humidity and substrate (material of finishing layer) characteristics can be practically controlled for mould avoidance. Meanwhile, the development design stage is the essential design phase while the envelope is the most crucial building element for mould prevention.