design guidelines

Buildings account for 40% of EU energy consumption and 36% of the energy related greenhouse gas emissions at present. Consequently, the net zero target set by Energy Performance of Building’s Directive by 2050 for building stock is ambitious to achieve. The often default design choice to adopt mechanical cooling in non-domestic buildings highlights the lack of robust decision support tools or frameworks available to designers to properly evaluate ventilative cooling as a realistic alternative.

Through history; a large body of research has found a relationship between the IEQ and the recovery of patients in healthcare facilities. IEQ factors include natural ventilation, daylighting, acoustics, materials off gassing, etc... This research is to identify the guidelines to healthy daylighting in hospital buildings. Research methods include grounded theory finding through intensive literature review and analysis of successful international examples.

A study is being conducted to assess the performance of displacement ventilation in high-ceiling areas such as commercial and industrial manufacturing facilities. These areas, which can range from 5 to 20 meters in height, often feature high internal heat loads and contaminants associated with heat sources. Very little performance data exists for displacement ventilation installations in high-ceiling areas, particularly any which account for the influence of wall temperature.