Design Solution · Building Envelope
Design Solution · Dream about it
A tall ventilated lantern bay for drying tents passively.
A seven-metre-high lantern bay projects through the roof to provide a tall, ventilated volume where wet tents are hung to dry throughout the year. Stack ventilation through the lantern removes moisture without mechanical drying. The feature solves a specific operational problem while shaping the building's form and daylight.
A seven-metre lantern projecting through the roof to dry wet tents by stack ventilation is an elegant piece of operational problem-solving: it addresses a specific, recurring maintenance need without any mechanical energy input, and in doing so also drives the building's form and daylight quality. The design logic is straightforward — tall enclosed volumes with high-level openings generate buoyancy-driven airflow, which removes moisture — and there is no reason to doubt the principle works. The evidence is entirely self-reported and project-specific; no post-occupancy drying performance data, seasonal effectiveness or ventilation rates are offered, so the claim rests on design intent rather than measured outcome. For a specifier, the lesson is the method: let an unusual operational requirement shape architectural form rather than squeezing it into a generic shell. The replication risk is that the solution is highly bespoke — its value depends on a client with exactly this drying requirement — but the underlying technique of using stack-driven lanterns for passive moisture removal transfers to other operational contexts, from sports kit stores to changing facilities.
#stack ventilation #daylight #passive