Students and educators spend considerable time in indoor learning spaces on university campuses, where indoor air quality (IAQ), of which particulate matter (PM) is an important component, is a critical concern that architecture students must address. However, IAQ is seldom monitored and very rarely, if at all, reported in these spaces. We used a novel living lab approach to provide third-year students of building services with a hands-on learning activity. During a two-week monitoring period, students designed, assembled, and operated low-cost PM sensors using Arduino platforms. The data analysis showed hotspots where the IAQ was consistently compromised and showed repetitive patterns in time. Workshop and laboratory areas repeatedly recorded the highest PM levels in 15 min sampling events distributed over daily two-hour segments, averaging 43.3 and 47.9 μg/m³ PM₁₀, respectively, with maxima of 118.6 and 119.9 μg/m³ PM₁₀. These measurements would have qualified as ‘moderate’ IAQ if sustained over a full day. A distinct weekly pattern was discovered, with Mondays being worse. The results demonstrated a new practical approach to monitoring the building’s IAQ at minimal cost while obtaining reproducible data. This tool provided educators with a valuable teaching tool that provided students with a deeper understanding of indoor air pollution.

It is known that indoor air is affected by outdoor air, thanks to the various studies that have been conducted in this area, the causes can be varied, from infiltration of buildings, natural or mechanical ventilation. Although it is known that transportation is one of the major contributors to this problem, studies have concluded that there is a proportion of pollutants coming from 'non-specific sources of human origin', all this emphasizes the importance of identifying and quantifying the sources of air pollution.The intention of this research project, is to characterize and quantify the pollutants that are emitted from residential buildings through their ventilation systems, and how such exhalation affects urban air quality both outdoors and, through recapture, indoors.The design of a viable methodology for monitoring two residential buildings in Pamplona (Spain) has been proposed, involving aspects such as the extension of the city where the buildings selected for the project are located, their typology, the areas destined for the ventilation systems, the equipment chosen for the quantification of pollutants and the procedure to be followed. All this procedure represents the core of the monitoring process.Thanks to this methodology, the researchers intend to present results of the quantification of pollutants such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Methane (CH4), Particulate Matter (PM), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), resulting from the exhalation of residential buildings. These results are the foundation for demonstrating how residential buildings can become another source of pollution for urban environments.