Climate change and global warming have contributed to an increase in air temperature, in both outdoor and indoor environments. Educational buildings are to provide a comfortable environment for teaching and learning activities. However, the rise in air temperature, density of occupants, and range of activities in lecture halls have resulted in indoor air environment that cause discomfort for students and interfere with sound academic work. This study determined the air quality of lecture halls at Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU). The variables for building-related factors of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated lecture halls were measured by examining the design of the ventilation system and window opening and closing behaviours. Questionnaires were administered through the ‘reference by reference’ or ‘snowball’ sampling technique. The main classroom blocks/lecture halls within the institution (Blocks A, B, C, D, and E) were covered in the study. Exploratory factor analysis was used for the data collected, and further factor extraction and factor rotation was conducted on the variables to identify non-observable and non-measurable variables. Extracted factors were rotated to obtain common factors by rank analysis and calculating their coefficients and factor loadings. Findings show that the classroom blocks/lecture halls had less than sixty students. Most of the classroom blocks/lecture halls had two (2) doors with louver blade windows and one-meter intervals as sitting arrangements. Windows were often opened or using ceiling fans to regulate the indoor environment. OutofthefiveBlocksunderthestudy,onlytwoBlocks(CandE) were outside the standard set for the external window-to-external wall ratio (WWR). Students mostly wore short-sleeved shirts made of cotton as a means of maintaining thermal comfort. The lack of concentration of the students on their lessons and distraction of students’ attention were attributed to the poor environmental quality of the classroom. The study recommends appropriate measures to be considered by the Development Office of CCTU to improve classroom blocks/lecture hall environmental quality.

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Keywords

Doors and windows openings; Naturally ventilated classrooms; Thermal comfort