Source: Web page  Canadian Consulting Engineer (http://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/)
Designers of the Computer Science Building at York University bring natural air-cooling strategies to Toronto's extreme climate.
The courtyard atrium acts as a ventilation pool for the building and expels air through opening glass vents at the roof.
The entire building envelope and structure is designed to minimize energy use; on the south facade deep shading devices keep out the sun and yet allow transparency.
MECHANICAL OPERATION FOR SPRING/FALL 1 Fan coils locked out, windows and stack dampers open, to allow cross ventilation. 2 Hot air rises through openings in atria to create pressure differential. 'Stack effect' draws air in operable windows. Wind pressure raises air change rate, passive cooling. 3 As outdoor air temperature rises, solaron stacks use wind and built-up heat to suck hot air out of the building. Smoke exhaust fans are turned on to assist ventilation. 4 Stack effect draws air through intake grille, into underground plenum where air is passively cooled, and then up through floor diffusers into classrooms, labs and theatres. 5 Relief air hoods open on the roof. Hot air rises up through relief air hoods, creating pressure differential. As outside temperature rises, fans are activated to assist ventilation.
Interior view of crush space.
Engineers on Canada's temperate west coast have been using natural ventilation to cool modern buildings for several years. In central and eastern Canada, though, engineers have not been so eager to venture down the same road because it's much more difficult to maintain comfortable indoor air environments in climates that can be anything from glacially cold to tropical and steamy.
Now, however, the engineers of a large campus building in Toronto are also taking the plunge and are using natural air currents to cool the building as part of a holistic design approach. The Computer Science Building at York University in northwest Toronto is designed by a team that includes Keen Engineering (mechanical), Carinci Burt Rogers Engineering (electrical), Yolles (structural). The architects are a consortium of Van Nostrand Di Castri and Busby + Associates -- the latter having worked previously with Keen Engineering's Vancouver office on green buildings on the west coast.
The 102,000-s.f./9,475-m2 Computer Centre is so outstanding in its environmental design it was one of the three Canadian projects exhibited at the international Green Building Challenge Symposium held in the Netherlands in October 2000. Built for a modest $168 per square foot, the facilility has been occupied since September and was officially opened in March.
The building's form and structure help to minimize its need for mechanical cooling and reduce its energy consumption to 40% of an equivalent building designed to the ASHRAE 90.1 standard. | 