Brisbane is positioned to become the global hub for healthy buildings with today's launch of the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Building Systems against Airborne Infection Transmission (Thrive). Image Credit: QUT Officially hosted by QUT, the $5 million training center is working to design and develop a building system that reduces indoor airborne infection transmission by improving indoor air quality while maintaining comfort and energy efficiency. Heading up the center is QUT Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska who is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities in atmospheric, aerosol and exposure science in the context of building infection transmission.
“Every drop of water we drink and every piece of food we put in our mouth is highly regulated – yet the indoor air, which we take into our lungs 12 times a minute, is not regulated at all,” Professor Morawska said. “I firmly believe the center will be a catalyst for revolution and bring us closer to clean indoor air becoming the norm. This work has the potential to touch billions of lives in the next decade by enhancing safety from airborne transmission of infections in indoor spaces.
” While complex buildings normally have a building management or automation system that may use integrated sensors, these systems are not yet sufficiently advanced to support clean indoor air. The purpose and novelty of Thrive, Professor Morawska said, will be to bring together a body of interdisciplinary academic an.