Background Ventilation

PASSIVE RESILIENCE

Recorded by Sofie Pelsmakers, images by Essi Nisonen and Veera Saastamoinen

KEY READINGS 

• Christina J. Hopfe, and Robert S. McLeod. The Passivhaus Designer’s Manual: A Technical Guide to Low and Zero Energy Buildings. Taylor and Francis

• Pelsmakers, S., Donovan, E., Hoggard, A., Kozminska, U., Designing for the climate emergency, a Guide for Architecture Students, RIBA

• Pelsmakers, S., The Environmental Design Pocketbook, RIBA

• Nick Baker and Koen Steemers, Healthy Homes: Designing with Light and Air for Sustainability and Wellbeing, RIBA

• Kimpian, J., Hartman, H., Pelsmakers, S. Energy, People Buildings: Making Sustainable Architecture Work, RIBA

INSPIRATIONAL BUILT EXAMPLES

• Mole Architects – Cavendish House, Cambridge, United Kingdom 

• Architype Architects – The Enterprise Centre, Norwich, UK 

• Milena Karanesheva and Mischa Witzmann, Passive House, Bessancourt, France

• Allmann Sattler Wappner and Transsolar engineers, Passivhäuser Piusplatz, Munich, Germany

• Bere Architects, Mildmay Community Centre retrofit, UK

BACKGROUND VENTILATION

For summer and in warmer climates we can use passive cooling strategies, including natural purge ventilation to cool spaces and people. But continuous year-round background ventilation is also needed to remove humidity and safeguard good air quality and occupant thermal comfort. Continuous year-round background ventilation is difficult to provide reliably through natural ventilation. Instead MVHR (Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) systems are a low energy option, providing controlled extraction of warm, stale air and recovering heat to warm up the fresh air supply. When combined with high levels of insulation and airtightness, this provides low heating needs in a cold and temperate climate – all key strategies for low energy buildings.