Natural Ventilation
PASSIVE RESILIENCE
Recorded by Sofie Pelsmakers, images by Essi Nisonen and Veera Saastamoinen
KEY READINGS
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
Vivienne Brophy and J. Owen Lewis, A Green Vitruvius: Principles and Practice of Sustainable Architectural Design, Routledge
Huw Heywood, 101 Rules of Thumb for Low Energy Architecture, RIBA
Kimpian, J., Hartman, H., Pelsmakers, S. Energy, People Buildings: Making Sustainable Architecture Work, RIBA
INSPIRATIONAL BUILT EXAMPLES
Alvar Aalto, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark
Glenn Murcutt, Marie Short/Glenn Murcutt House, Kempsey, Australia
Herzog & de Meuron, Dominus Winery, California, USA
Sauerbruch Hutton, GSW Headquarters Tower, Berlin, Germany
Muzharul Islam, The College of Arts and Crafts, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Geoffrey Bawa, Ena de Silva House, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Charles Correa, Tube Housing, Ahmedabad, India
Glenn Murcutt, Marika House, Australia
Bearth and Deplazes, Vineyard Gantenbein, Switzerland
NATURAL VENTILATION
Natural ventilation is used to reduce overheating during hot periods (e.g. heat waves, in a hot climate). You must always consider natural ventilation and cooling strategies before considering active systems. Natural ventilation needs and strategies differ depending on different climates and building use and other factors, so you need to explore and understand the needs of your project and the context at the early design stages (Step 1). Natural ventilation in summer / during hot periods can be achieved with purge ventilation (cross-ventilation, single-sided ventilation, stack ventilation - also used for night-cooling), and earth tubes and evaporative cooling. In a cold / temperate climate year-round controlled background ventilation is also needed to ensure good indoor air quality (IAQ), this is often provided by low-energy Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR).