Design Solution · HVAC & Energy
Design Solution · Dream about it
Natural ventilation holding spaces below 24C without cooling plant.
Natural ventilation through carefully placed openings keeps occupied spaces comfortable, holding the ground floor at or below 24C without mechanical cooling. Avoiding fans and chillers cuts energy and maintenance.
Keeping occupied spaces at or below 24°C without mechanical cooling is a meaningful performance target, and natural ventilation strategies capable of hitting it in temperate climates have a solid track record in single-aspect and courtyard buildings where stack and cross-ventilation paths can be maintained through the section. This record is supported only by claimed evidence, and the 24°C threshold is not independently verified on this project; the claim should be treated as a design aspiration rather than a measured outcome. The genuine value of avoiding fans and chillers is compounded — it cuts both embodied and operational carbon, removes a maintenance burden and eliminates the noise and draughts associated with mechanical supply. The risks a specifier must weigh are primarily climatic and programmatic: natural ventilation in deep-plan buildings or on constrained urban sites often requires mechanical supplementation during peak periods, and future climate projections for many UK and European cities indicate more frequent overheating that passive strategies alone will not absorb. A robust overheating analysis under a range of climate scenarios — not just current summer design years — is non-negotiable before committing to a fully passive approach.
#natural ventilation #passive cooling #comfort