Natural ventilation in office buildings - the do's and don'ts

As part of a graduation research, six case studies were carried out to assess the validity of 10 often heard assumed disadvantages of natural ventilation in offices, including poor IAQ and thermal discomfort. The case studies included a methodic comparison of six buildings based on literature, interviews, field measurements and re-analysis of reports by others. Thus the preconditions for natural ventilation of office buildings and the most important design features could be determined in order to meet the performance standards as in use in the Netherlands. One important finding is that the indoor environment in naturally ventilated buildings is especially sensitive for occupant behavior. A low tech and a high tech approach can be distinguished to deal with this.