The external facade of a nine storey office building has been reclad with a ventilated cavity structure with a length to height ratio greater than forty. As there is little published information regarding the likely air flows within such cavities a research programme has been set-up to investigate the ventilation and energy performance of this structure. This paper will address the cavity air flows through both theoretical and full scale measurements.
A prototype of a low cost, low energy office building was built using a new Finnish component system building technology. Thanks to the energy efficient windows, the thermal insulation of the building envelope and the demand-controlled variable outdoor air flow HVAC system with heat recovery and energy-storing structures, the need for heating and cooling energy has been reduced to such a level that a low energy office can be cooled with outdoor air and with the aid of a heat recovery device. The building is kept warm with the support of its own operations almost throughout the year.
The NORWEB Headquarters in Manchester, UK, is an air conditioned energy efficient office building of unusual design, completed in 1988. It has three stories with overhanging canopies providing solar shading and 21 % solar control glazing. The open plan interior is ventilated by a displacement system with three twist outlets in the floor to each desk position. A detailed questionnaire survey showed this to be one of the 'healthiest' buildings tested so far, with a very low 'building sickness symptom score'.
Experiments were carried out in four naturally ventilated offices to measure the indoor environmental parameters such as air velocity, turbulence intensity and air temperature at three vertical levels, Air change rates for various indoor and outdoor climates were detetmined. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the room was monitored. Subjective assessment was made to evaluate the thermal comfort and indoor air quality in the offices. The effect of opening windows and doors on the indoor comfort conditions was also investigated.
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