Natural ventilation of the contact theatre.

This paper describes the design and development of the natural ventilation system of the new Contact Theatre Complex Manchester, UK, designed by A Goldrick of Short Ford Associates. The ventilation design is based on a stack dominant system using an "H-Pot" chimney configuration. The paper describes the development of the ventilation design of both the studio theatre and main auditorium ventilation systems. These have been developed with the aid of wind tunnel and CFD testing in order to produce a strategy and design relatively insensitive to wind direction, yet providing sufficient ventilation to overcome the high heat gains expected from an audience and stage lighting. The potential for conflicts between wind and buoyancy forces have been reduced through the location and positioning of inlets and through the sizing and design of the stack and H-pot devices.