Many modern office and residential buildings in Sweden include an atrium. The atria are often mechanically ventilated and sometimes they are heated. Very little is know about the ventilation and air infiltration in built atria. These issues were examined in an apartment building with a non-heated and mechanically ventilated atrium, built in 1986 in Sweden. The ventilation of the atrium is coupled to the apartments.
Existing regulations concerning the design and construction of residential buildings which are naturally ventilated via courtyards and lightwells have origins in daylighting rather than in aerodynamics. The design of narrow, high-sided courtyards which achieve healthy . conditions for occupants, has long been a problem and a subject of various guidance and research, although many doubts and gaps in knowledge still remained. The work described below resolves these problems, and the coherent theory developed may lead to clearer guidance on the design of courtyards for natural ventilation.
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