Investigations on natural ventilation in public higher education buildings

Abstract

The original structures of UFCG Campus I were designed based on architectural solutions that included shading and natural ventilation. However, these passive strategies were gradually replaced by artificial air conditioning, modifying the characteristics of the original project. In order to emphasize the importance of passive solutions, Environmental Comfort II students were proposed the exercise of analyzing the behavior of natural ventilation in buildings on Campus I. Therefore, the objective of this article is to present the methodology used in the discipline, through results from a team of students, and question whether the changes found in the studied blocks favor the use of natural ventilation. For didactic purposes, multimethods were used to analyze natural ventilation in the external and internal environment. The results showed the feasibility of natural ventilation when windows are open. However, currently, they are closed using artificial air conditioning.