Case Study : Temperature evolution and thermal mass in a passively ventilated office : Houghton Hall, England

We report on a series of measurements of the temperature at Houghton Hall, Luton,over the Spring and Summer of 2003. The data show that the building tracks the externaltemperature, but that the amplitude of diurnal temperature fluctuations typically lies within 2-6 C,while the external fluctuations may be as large as 15-25 C. This buffering of the internaltemperature is largely due to the thermal mass of the space which introduces a time-lag ofbetween 0.5-3.0 hours in the response time of the interior to the exterior space, over the periodof our survey. The survey points to some possible improvements in the management system for thebuilding especially with the night cooling strategy.