Natural degradation is the primary cause of damage to cultural relics. Implementing preventive conservation measures to create a suitable and stable environment for cultural relics can prevent damage caused by erosion and minimize the risk of potential future deterioration.Temperature, humidity, light exposure, and air pollutants are the primary factors leading to the deterioration and degradation of cultural relics. These environmental factors can induce physical and chemical changes in the relics.Upon comparing the conservation environment standards for cultural relics in China with those of several major international countries, it is evident that the international consensus on the preservation environment for cultural relics emphasizes a clean environment with no ultraviolet radiation, low light levels, low concentrations of air pollutants, and stable temperature and humidity at low to moderate levels.In the Chinese museum architectural design specification JGJ 66-2015, detailed requirements and recommendations are provided regarding the temperature and humidity ranges, light intensity, pollutant gas concentrations, and particulate matter levels for the preservation of cultural relics made from different materials.However, there are still some deficiencies and issues in both the standards for cultural relic preservation environments and their practical management. These primarily include the lack of clear guidelines on the required fresh air volume for relic preservation, the significant energy consumption required to maintain relic preservation environments, and the absence of unified recommendations for the preservation of mixed-material relics and relics composed of multiple materials.In the future, it is possible to establish cultural relic preservation environment standards based on the principle of adapting to local conditions by dividing regions according to climatic zones. This can include increasing recommended fresh air volumes in storage facilities, optimizing indoor design parameters, adjusting the energy structure of air conditioning systems, implementing passive building technologies, enhancing the assessment system for cultural relic preservation environments, and other management methods to further refine the requirements for cultural relic preservation environments.

There are some special spaces in which there is no air conditioning or the people are in move, thus exposing people to a hot environment. In this study, portable cooling systems were proposed and their effects on thermal comfort and work performance were investigated at an air temperature of 32 °C. Four conditions were established: cool air towards breathing zone (A), chest and back cooling (B), combined cooling (C) and no cooling (D). Twenty-eight subjects were exposed to the four conditions in a counterbalanced order. During each exposure they performed tasks and made subjective assessments, while multiple physiological parameters were measured. Compared with no cooling (D), cool air towards breathing zone (A) and chest and back cooling (B) improved work performance by 17.5% and 19.25%, respectively, while decreased the subjects’ thermal sensation, skin temperature, and heart rate. When the two cooling systems were combined (C), larger improvements in thermal comfort and work performance were achieved than no cooling (D); the mean thermal sensation rating decreased from 2.4 to 0.7, work performance increased by up to 33%, and physiological parameters including skin temperature, pulse, heart rate and salivary alpha-amylase significantly decreased. The present results suggest that the proposed portable cooling systems could maintain thermal comfort and work performance in a hot environment, while potentially improve air quality for some special spaces.

The lighting environment is one of the indoor environmental factors that may influence creativity. The combined effects of illumination (300 lx vs. 2000 lx) and color temperature (3000 K vs. 6000 K) on mood and creativity were investigated in 24 participants. During exposure, participants completed questionnaires to assess their mood and lighting perceptions, performed creative and analytical tasks, and collected saliva samples for analysis of melatonin concentration. An interactive effect of illuminance and color temperature on the mood was observed. The participants performed better on the performance of Flexibility, Fluency and Originality in the verbal creative task when they expressed higher positive mood (at 2000 lx, 6000 K and 300 lx, 3000 K) and performed better on the performance of Resistance to closure in the figural creative task when they reported the lowest positive mood (at 2000 lx, 3000 K). Analytical thinking, including calculation and echoic memory skills, was facilitated at the lighting setting (300 lx, 6000 K) that induced the least affective intensity. No significant difference in melatonin concentration was observed. This evidence implies that the affective state of the occupants was influenced by light and that their creative performance was altered accordingly. These findings will help to elaborate a design guideline on the lighting environment according to the specific needs of different tasks.