EVALUATING OCCUPANCY PATTERNS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF NATURAL VENTILATION DESIGN ELEMENTS IN MILITARY BARRACKS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
Natural Ventilation, Occupancy Patterns, Military Barracks, Indoor Air Quality, Thermal Comfort, Climate-Responsive Design, NigeriaAbstract
This study evaluates how occupancy patterns affect the performance of natural ventilation design elements in two army barracks located in contrasting microclimatic zones of Plateau State, Nigeria. A mixed-methods design was adopted, combining, physical building assessments, microclimate measurements and structured questionnaire survey administered to 245 respondents across the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment Barracks (MKCB) in Bassa Local Government Area (highland, ~1,200 m a.s.l.) and the 332 Artillery Regiment Barracks (ARB) in Shendam Local Government Area (lowland, ~300 m a.s.l.) to capture occupant perceptions of ventilation performance; physical building assessments documented design parameters at both sites; and microclimate measurements were triangulated with occupant perceptions. Multiple regression and Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to determine the predictive weight of occupancy patterns, design parameters, microclimate integration, and occupant comfort on natural ventilation performance. The regression model explained 80.6% of the variance in natural ventilation performance (R² = 0.806, F = 50.82, p < 0.001). Occupant comfort (β = 1.008) and occupancy pattern (β = 0.871) emerged as the strongest positive predictors, while microclimate integration returned a negative coefficient (β = −0.585), indicating that existing designs fail to adequately mitigate localised climate stressors. Strong positive correlations were found between occupancy pattern and occupant comfort (r = 0.921) and between occupancy pattern and natural ventilation performance (r = 0.825), and MKCB consistently outperformed ARB across all measured indicators, reflecting the joint influence of altitude, building typology, and occupant behaviour. The study concludes that occupant behaviour, beyond architectural design, is the dominant determinant of natural ventilation performance in military barracks and recommends that climate-responsive retrofitting strategies addressing both behavioural and technical dimensions be adopted to improve indoor environmental quality in Nigerian military housing and comparable sub-Saharan African contexts.Downloads
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