Ventilation is a process of air circulation of space, maintaining required air quality. This encourages air flow in a house and helps in reduction of humidity, temperature, odour, smoke, etc. This article covers critical aspects of ventilation when constructing your house or buying an already constructed house or flat.
Design principles such as orientation, spatial organization, shading devices, placement of doors/windows etc. are some of the strategies to achieve the comfort level in the house and have good ventilation in apartments.
Ventilation strategy allows the fresh air to enter inside the apartment, it is important to know which way the wind is likely to blow if you want to make the most out of natural ventilation. During property site visits, you should carefully evaluate ventilation in floor plans.
How do you Ventilate an Apartment?
There can be two categories of natural ventilation, they are:
- Single Sided Ventilation
- Cross Ventilation
Single Sided Ventilation in Apartments
In this type of ventilation, the inlet and the outlet of the openings are provided only on one side, this works when the depth of the room is less than or equal to 2.5 times of the room height. The height of the room should not exceed 10m.
Side Ventilation In Apartments
Cross Ventilation in Apartments
Cross Ventilation is one of the most important aspects to improve the indoor environmental quality, minimum 50% of the regularly occupied spaces in apartment shall have an opening to the outdoor environment in at least two of the orientations. Regularly occupied spaces include Living Room, Bedroom, Kitchen etc.
Cross Ventilation in Apartments
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Depth and Height of Rooms in Cross Ventilation
Cross ventilation works when the depth of the room is less than or equal to 5 times of the room height.
What causes Poor Ventilation?
It is generally not a good option to have openings exactly opposite each other in a space, as it may leave some parts of the apartment without ventilation as having the opening across from, but not directly opposite to each other causes the movement of fresh air in the entire space.
Poor Ventilation Example
How to Improve Air Circulation in your House or Apartment?
The inlet of the fresh air(opening facing the wind direction) should be lower and smaller than the outlet which should be higher and bigger, this helps push cooler air through the space, while locating exhaust helps pull warmer air out of the space.
This form of ventilation is effectively free and shall ensure that the apartment is properly cooled. There are no mechanical or electrical measures required and it helps in preventing from excess moisture and the heat building up in ceiling cavities.
Air circulation in apartment
Home ventilation is an important aspect of a floor plan and should not be neglected while comparing floor plans. We would love to hear from you about this guide for ventilation in apartments. Please share your feedback and comments below.
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