The Effect Of Atrium Retrofit Design On Natural Ventilation For Hot Arid Climate

Abstract

Past decades had witnessed many attempts to improve natural ventilation in buildings to reduce the energy consumption for cooling purpose, and enhance air quality for promote public health, thus by studying the environmental characteristics as well as the passive design strategies of buildings, the atrium is one of the design elements that can be environmentally improved to enhance natural ventilation in buildings, as shown by previous studies, it has different effects on the formation of air flow inside the building, there is a research gap in the study of the characteristics of the atrium retrofit design and its importance in promoting natural ventilation inside public buildings in hot arid climate, which represented the research problem. The atrium in the Ishtar Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad was studied; with propose different design solutions to the retrofit atrium ceiling and comparing their different effects on the natural ventilation. The results showed that the change in the shape and height of the ceiling of the central space increased the speed of air flow inside the space.