Natural ventilation for buildings

Article By:

Battaglia, Francine Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Passe, Ulrike Department of Architecture, College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Last reviewed:2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB150704

Ventilation is a way to introduce fresh air into a room and simultaneously extract warm, stale, polluted, or odorous air. Natural ventilation has become an important consideration as we seek ways to improve indoor air quality (clean air) in buildings. The energy required to cool and ventilate buildings continues to increase, along with associated costs and the building carbon footprint. Natural ventilation can be utilized to decrease the amount of energy needed to condition buildings, and delving into the past few centuries, we find buildings designed specifically to exploit natural ventilation. Historical examples include the Palladian villas (Italy), the corbelled domed roofs of the Harran houses (Turkey), and the wind catchers of Yazd (Iran). Three extraordinary and famous twentieth-century houses that utilize natural ventilation strategies are the How House (Los Angeles, CA), the Affleck House (Bloomfield, MI), and the Esherick House (Chestnut Hill, PA). To reduce energy requirements and costs to ventilate buildings and provide thermal comfort (how humans perceive comfort), these historical buildings can serve as a basis for future designs.

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