Group Assignment

1.
BUILDING SERVICES
VENTILATION PROBLEM IN HERITAGE BUILDING
● WONG DE­VIN ( 0319814 )
● GUNPUTH CHARANJEEV (0323942)
● TAN HWEE MIN (0326057)
● NURAFIQAH ZARIFUL (0321196)
● CHA SHU QING (0326178)
● LIM KAR YAN (0325602)
● ESTHER CHUAH NING SIE (0321422)
● LIEW LI WEN (0324297)

2.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT
PAGE NUMBER
Introduction 2 ­ 4
Installation Process 5 ­ 9
Advantage and Disadvantage 10 ­ 11
Case Study 12 ­ 17
Possible Problems 18 ­ 20
Recommendations 21 ­ 24
Learning Outcome 25 ­ 27
References 28
Appendices 29 ­ 30
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Introduction
Whenever we work in an enclosed space, at some point of the day we may feel
suffocated, start to feel the dust and other pollutants in a room. Moreover a rise in temperature
can make us very uncomfortable. This is because the air in the room is stagnant, it has no flow
and eventually start to smell. This discomfort can be eradicated by the use of ventilation.
Ventilation is the process during which a proportion of air in an enclosed space is
continuously drawn out and replaced by fresh air which is drawn in from a clean external
source. Ventilation is important as it is used to maintain air purity in an enclosed space. The
maintenance of air purity can be described as;
1.​ ​Preservation of oxygen content in the air.
2.​ ​Removal of carbon dioxide.
3.​ ​Control of humidity.
4.​ ​Prevention of heat concentrations.
5.​ ​Prevention of condensation.
6.​ ​Dispersal of concentration of bacteria.
7.​ ​Dilution and disposal of contaminants.
8.​ ​Provision of freshness.
Ventilation is experienced every day; the air­conditioning system in a car, fan in an office
and natural wind are few examples. Ventilation can be categorised into two groups, namely
natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation.
Natural ventilation is the flow of external air to an indoor space due to the difference
between the internal and external air pressures. Natural ventilation depends on wind and air
pressure or stack effect.
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Wind and air pressure
When considering wind and air pressure for ventilation, windows and doors are the
mostly used to channel the wind through the building.
Stack effect
Stack effect is the movement of air within a tall building due to a difference in their
temperature. The hot air which is less dense will move upwards and colder denser air from the
outside will get inside the building.
Mechanical ventilation
Mechanical ventilation is ventilation provided by machineries such as electric fans and
air condition system. The fan may circulate the air around or remove the used air inside.
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Heritage building
Heritage buildings means buildings that are of historic, architectural and cultural significance.
They must be preserved in order to share their part of history to the next generations to come.
Some buildings may be preserved in their normal state or some buildings are converted into
museums. The three key concepts that are needed to decide whether a building can be
considered as a heritage one or not are; ​historic significance, historic integrity, historic
context.
Historic significance is about the role played by the property in history, architecture or culture of
a community, region or nation.
Historic integrity is the originality of a property’s historic identity which can be proved by any
evidence which survived through the same historic period.
Historic context is the information that the property carries with itself about the history of the
community, region or nation.
Heritage sites can be spotted all over the world, some are big in size and some small but all of
them are very rich in history and had an important role for their respective countries.
Some of the most popular heritage sites in the world are Taj Mahal of India, Independence Hall
of Philadelphia, The Forbidden City of Beijing, Westminster Abbey of London and Chartres
Cathedral in France.
Installation Process
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Forbidden City
​1.Ancient traditional windows
Since the glass technology did not apply to the
construction industry in ancient China, kraft paper
or white tissue paper soaked in tung oil is generally
used as window materials , is the use of advanced
clamshell like the so­called " Ming Wa " to make .
This material with a thin piece of shell windows , called
" calabash shell window ," is a characteristic of the
Ming and Qing Dynasties Jiangnan architecture ; shell pieces by hand grinding process more
cumbersome , so there were only wealthy families that could afford it.
Many architectural features of the Forbidden City help
to relieve the summer heat. The Zhizhai window was
one of the great inventions: the upper part could be
tilted by strut for ventilation, while the lower part could
be removed to allow more light in. Due to the
ventilation needs during summer, the upper part of the
window should have a bigger area than the lower part.
Wall window is constructed by excavate a hole or
reserve a hole on a part of the wall, and then add on
some decoration around the perimeter of it to become
window. Actually it is more for decoration than
ventilation purpose.
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Mullioned window is installed by arranging the
vertical timber wood within the door frame and also
adding one or two horizontal timber wood in the
middle. This kind of window is widely used by ancient
people during that time.
2. Ancient Traditional Doors
Symmetry production is the main technical point of view for traditional doors. These
doors are usually made by hardwood.The timber plank need to be flattened by placing it on two
wooden stool. After that, draw out all the turnstile, threading, wood pin mortise, and the sawing
linear line symmetrically, to avoid making error during production.The threading must be scewed
with cap iron nail to make sure it is tightened and solid.
Ban Men is made of plank which is approximately 6 cm thick. During the installation,
bearing stone is used as center shaft, and the door frame is fixed with door pin. So that the door
can be opened freely with the supportation of hinges.
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Arched door is built up with bricks and then form a
semicircular arch shape as it’s opening. Some
openings consists of door panels to keep the
certain places being enclosed.
Sliding door can act as windows, doors, and walls. It
provide protection from external environment and
also act as partition wall for the interior part. The leaf
of the door is light in weight, therefore it’s easy to
install and remove. It generally consist of 4 main
part which is the window frame, external frame,
skirting and sash ring plate. It is installed between
the hypostyle column and eave column of the
building.
Westminster Abbey
1. Windows
Clerestory is a kind of high section wall that
contains windows which are arranged in rows. As
the clerestory windows are typically fixed, the main
purpose is to create a solid band of light. But
sometimes these windows are operable to allow
hot air rise and escape. It’s a great invention as
these windows set high on the wall and are
protected by roof overhangs which can protect
home from summer­sun heat and only winter sun
is allowed in.
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The stained windows are handcraft works of art
which are commonly used in churches,
museum etc. This kind of window is visually
attractive and can provide privacy due to the
decoration on the glass. But it limited the
amount of passable light through windows and
hence the room may be darker.
2. Traditional Doors
The oak door in Westminster Abbey has been known as the
oldest door in Britain due to the timber wood of the door which
consists the pattern of the tree rings. It is made of 5 vertical oak
planks and held together with 3 horizontal battens / ledges and
iron straps. Due to the material used, it’s still solid enough for
thousand years.
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Ventilating Lamp ( Sun Burner )
During those days when houses lit by gas especially with open flame burners, ​the temperature
varied enormously throughout the house and without the gas lighting providing some heat
elsewhere. And so there’s a solution to this problem is to connect the lamp through chimney to
outside air.
Therefore, it form a passage for the hot products of combustion to outside of the room and
became a means of ventilation. Hence, so called ventilating lamp.
This lighting fixtures could perform exceedingly well in their guise as ventilators, as they are
high up to the ceiling level where the temperature is the highest
These imposing fixtures would be the focus of attention of the ceiling with those amazing
design.
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Advantages and Disadvantages
Most of the heritage buildings rely solely on natural ventilation, as mechanical ventilation did not
exist at the ancient time.
Natural ventilation do not have visible pipe­work or duct penetrations hence providing a beautiful
architecture externally compared to mechanical ventilation that has space consuming ventilation
units such as air­conditioners or fans. Hence the use of natural ventilation is more aesthetically
pleasant.
Natural ventilation is also energy and cost efficient, as it does not require mechanical energy
because it uses elements of nature such as wind energy to enable natural air movement within
the building. An addition to it would be the benefit of reduced energy bills compared to
mechanical ventilation system that relies on electricity in the modern days.
Furthermore, natural ventilation systems are highly adaptable. Natural ventilation can be used in
all seasons throughout year. When temperature greatly differs between day and night during
different seasons, the buildings would benefit from stack effect as cooler outdoor air is drawn
into buildings at a lower level and warmed by the sources of heat within the building, and then
rises through the building to vent out through the high ceilings. A positive pressure area is
created at the top of the palace and negative pressure area at the bottom. This process takes
place simply by introducing openings such as doors at the ground floor level of the building, and
openings at the top of the building such as ventilation ducts or ceiling opening.
Besides that, minimal maintenance is required compared to mechanical ventilation, as it will
retain airflow over time, because the stack energy is utilized as part of the very design of the
building. Besides that, natural ventilation system supplies every room with an adequate amount
of warm and cool air to ensure the room temperature remains constant, hence ensuring thermal
comfort among people, reducing possibility of Sick Building Syndrome.
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In a building in which the doors and windows have been strategically positioned, it is easy to
achieve airflow throughout the building without the use of mechanical ventilation that has
relatively high price.
However, there may be problem to achieve the desired indoor environment consistently with
natural ventilation. The openings must be constantly altered according to the modulation of wind
speed, wind direction, and outside temperature to ensure proper fresh air distribution and
satisfactory fresh air exchange rates within the building. If the openings are not properly
adjusted in response to weather changes, the humidity level will vary due to extreme
fluctuations of indoor temperature. Orientation has to be carefully planned for naturally
ventilated buildings so that it is exposed to prevailing winds during the hottest part of the year. If
the building is improperly oriented relative to warm­weather winds during the summer, it would
be under ventilated, resulting in extreme humidity levels, hence causing the Sick Building
syndrome.
Not just that, the building requires more land space in order to take advantage of warm weather
winds which includes surrounding free space. The basic requirement of it is to have
unobstructed airflow around the building. Obstructions such as trees, buildings and other large
wind­deflecting obstacles may affect wind patterns and reduce wind energy available to
ventilate a building.
Taking all these factors into consideration, it would be a laborious work to build a high rise
building in an urban area which depends solely on natural ventilation because there are too
many obstructions that limits surrounding airflow. It would be advisable for houses or buildings
in rural areas to undertake natural ventilation whereby there is minimal surrounding obstruction
as it provides greater benefits compared to those within the urban state.
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CASE STUDY 1: The Forbidden City
History
The Forbidden City was the palace of the Chinese emperor from the ​Ming dynasty to the end of
the ​Qing dynasty​—the years 1420 to 1912. It is situated at the centre of ​Beijing​, China, and
now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it was used as a home to the emperors
and also used as ceremonial and political for the Chinese government.
It was constructed in 1406 and consisted of 980 buildings covering an area of 180 acres. The
palace is an example for traditional Chinese architecture which influenced cultural and
architectural developments in ​East Asia and many other places. In 1987, The Forbidden City
was declared a ​World Heritage Site and ​UNESCO listed it as the largest collection of preserved
ancient wooden structures in the world.
Since 1925, the Palace Museum has taken charge of the Forbidden city,which has an extensive
collection of artwork and crafts inspired by the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing
dynasties.
The reason why we have chosen this place to use it as our case study is simple. It has nearly a
thousand buildings in the amazing heritage site and it is built for the royalties, emperors and
kings back in the chinese civilization. Simply because of that we can find out what has been
made to make sure the ventilation is good and comfortable and which part of ventilation can
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they improve in their building since there was not any surveyors to measure the perfect
ventilation made back then.
As the picture showed , this was one of the main type of
ventilation used back in the chinese civilization. The
problem with this kind of windows and doors are they
cannot be able to trap heat in the building, even though
when the weather is hot and warm, it gives better
ventilation and cool air comes into the building easier
and hot air can leave the building easier but when it
comes to winter, the people inside of this room will find
that heat is hardly being trapped and easily leaked out of
the building.
Another problem is that if there happens to be rain or snow, the snow and storm water can enter
the building as it is not properly sealed and only blocked by a sheet of bamboo blinding.
In the big event halls and gathering points in the forbidden
city, it can be noticed that the ceiling are all pushed to a
very high point and there are ventilation windows placed
all around the highest point of the walls. This is made to a
minor stack effect as hot air can rises during summer and
exits through these windows and cooler air can enter the
building by the windows at the bottom and also through
doors. This also provides sunlight for extra brightness and
vision into the building but the problem to it is the hard access to the high windows and open
and close it. These concept cannot be found in the smaller rooms like bedrooms as the ceiling
are not built high enough to allow a passive stack effect to occur.
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If anyone have been to forbidden city or any ancient chinese cultured
buildings, it can be noticed that this kind of humongous wooden door
are used almost in every entrance. The main reason of this huge solid
timber door is because it is very strong and can withstand a very high
impact or even extreme weathers. The doors are built so big that if it is
opened, it can allow chill air from outside to enter the building in hot
days but in the winter, it is mostly shut to prevent heat lost in the
building and therefore there is a smaller door always built next to it for
access during winter and also to prevent rain or snow to be blown into
the building.
Back in the chinese civilizations, it is noticeable that the building were all built with very big
windows and very wide pillars firstly to allow sunlight to enter the building as there were not any
light back then and oil lamp cannot produce enough lighting for the whole building. Secondly is
due to ventilation, large window and wide pillars allows air to enter the building easily when
windows are opened but the disadvantage if it is that it does not have good privacy settings
because it have too many windows. These buildings were only built for the emperors relaxing
area and not his private area.
There are many factors that can affect the ventilation of a building and many architectural
designs have to be considered to prevent sick building syndrome to take place especially to
someone so important to the chinese civilization. There was not any mechanical ventilation back
then so they have to apply only natural ventilation and therefore architecture takes a huge part
in natural ventilation. From this case study, many examples can be taken to apply into our
buildings nowadays in term of its architecture and also how can it reach the comfort zone even
without any mechanical ventilation components taking place. It is spectacular how smart were
the designers back in the days and manage to build humongous palaces for their king and make
sure he is comfortable even there was not any ventilation technology except having slaves to
manually fan their king.
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Case Study 2 : Westminster Abbey
The Westminster Abbey, used to be called Saint Peter Collegiate Church is a huge, gothic
church that is located in Westminster, London. It is one of the most eye catching churches and
one of the most religious buildings in England and it has been the traditional place of burial and
coronation for the English.
Today, the church is still function for tourist purposes and also to use as an event hall for some
royal events. It has been the signature of Britain and it has a long history since the 1500.
The reason why we chose this building as our case study as there are many ventilations
examples that we can learn from this heritage building. The Westminster Abbey has been and
always will be the symbol of churches and England. Until today, the Westminster Abbey is still
opened for tourist, active as a church and houses many remarkable events of England for
example the marriage of Prince William , Duke of Cambridge.
A venue with such important roles, without any doubt it has to have extremely good ventilation
as it was made to house most important people in the world. But, there are also still flaws and
things to be done.
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In every single block and rooms of the Westminster
Abbey, there are tons of ventilation ducts installed in
the roof above the ceiling. As mentioned before, it is
made to have very big events that sometimes involves
the appearance of the Queen, so these ducts is the
make sure there is a way of air exiting the buildings as
quick as possible in order for cooler or fresher air to
enter the building. These ducts works with a
ventilation fan that absorbs air into the duct and pass these ducts, it will be released out of the
building.
This particular church is built with many windows on
the top and also on the ground floor itself, it is simply
because to allow sunlight to enter the building and
also for natural ventilation to occur most of the time.
Back in the days when ventilation technology is not
developed yet, most of this buildings, in fact all
heritage buildings are very dependant on windows
and door and therefore windows back then comes in
many shapes in sizes and play many different roles
even though it runs on natural ventilation. High windows are normally placed in such a way that
a passive stack effect can occurs most of the time as the ceiling as built very high too. The lower
windows are made to allow the flow of air into and also exit the building conveniently.
In the old days there when there was not any mechanical
ventilation yet, these shafts plays a very important role.
These shafts are use to make sure air exit and enter the
building consistently even when the windows are closed in
the building. These shafts are normally built either in the
ceiling and at the bottom of a building and have a
underground channel to send the air in the building far away
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from the building itself. These shaft can be used for safety purposes as well. Some of these
shafts are built big enough to use as an emergency exit route.
These type of windows serve many purposes to heritage
buildings mostly in churches. These windows can be
found everywhere in Westminster Abbey. One of its
purpose is for design purposes but it also allows plenty of
sunlight into the building. These windows cannot be
opened but it can allow heat to enter the building in the
afternoon simply because it is made out of glass and it
can magnify the sunlight and allow heat to enter the
building easily. Therefore it serve a good purpose during
winter and also when there is insufficient of light in the building.
There are many ventilation design and technology can be found in the Westminster Abbey even
though it is made with a very simple way. It is a very good example that we can learn from this
building as it plays a very important role for major events in England and also for tourist
purposes.
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Possible problems
The ventilation system in Forbidden city and is basically natural ventilation. Due to limited
resources and techniques, mechanical ventilation is not available at that time. Impacts of poor
ventilation system in heritage building can have on differents parts of the buildings.Now,we will
examine the possible problems that arise from poor ventilation of the Forbidden city.
Existence of moulds and mildews
The first problem I would like to highlight is that the existence of moulds and mildews, which can
be spread within the building . The moulds and mildews are normally caused by the
condensation. When the steam ​touches cooler surfaces around the room ,it will start to
condense. It may peel off wallpaper, create an unpleasant look on the ceiling wall,and even
destroy the structural integrity. Mould on the ceiling wall cannot be easily cleaned without using
any chemical products. The experts need to make sure that the products used is suitable to be
applied on timber as most of the structure components in Forbidden City are made up of timber.
Therefore,the selection of the chemical products must be very careful to reduce the degree of
damage to the building in Forbidden City.
Attack of the termites to the building structure
As we know, timber is widely used for the construction of the most heritage building,as bricks or
concrete bricks is not yet invented at that time.In Forbidden city, the pillar ​of the most important
halls were made of whole logs of precious ​Phoebe zhennan wood.​, which might be attacked by
termites if the ventilation of the room is poor and the moisture level of the room is high. Termites
are often called as ‘silent destroyer’ and they like to feed on moist wood. Even if the outer
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surface of the pillar looks fine, the termites may be secretly
hiding and ‘eating’ the inner part of the pillar. If relevant
action is not taken immediately, the pillar which acts as the
structure component of the building might be collapsed. In
order to detect the location of the termites in Forbidden City,
high technology devices such as moisture sensor and termites
detection radar are used by the expert. Extra caution are
needed while doing the inspection to avoid any destruction to
the building.
​Rusting of the metal components of the building
Failure in having a good ventilation system might also cause rusting. ​Rusting is the process by
which a chemical reaction occurs between the metal and the elements resulting in the
orange­brown, depending on the metal, coloring on the surface.​The moisture produced by the
condensation process will cause the metal components of of the building such as nails,screws
and fixings to rust.The strength of metal components will be weakened and potentially break
which will endanger the safety of the occupants.
The rusted metal components from the roof The rusted shackle for connection purpose
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Excessive Heat / Cold inside the heritage building
Another possible ventilation problems in the heritage building is that the excessive heat cannot
be released in the summer and the cold air will enter into the building in the winter . In the
summer, the heat radiated from the sun to the building will increase the temperature inside the
building. Without a good ventilation system, there is no way for the hot air to be released. The
hot air is now trapped inside the building and it causes the discomfort of the occupants. On the
contrary, the hot air inside the building cannot be kept inside the building in the winter. The cold
air outside will flow into the building and decrease the temperature inside the building. With the
inflow of the cold air, the moisture level in the room will also increase which causes the
discomfort of the occupants too!
Existence of musty odour
Musty odour is the another possible problem I would like to mention about. In a poor ventilation
room, the build up of damp and humidity can create stuffy and uncomfortable odour, which can
spread to other areas of the building. It’s a dilemma, because if you can’t find the source, you
can’t remove the problem and get rid of the musty smells in the room. ​The use of air purifies and
air freshener can only get rid of the musty odour temporary. ​Breathing in this smell can affect
the physical well­being of the occupants.
Diseases transmission among the occupants
In addition, disease is the most severe consequence caused by the poor ventilation system. A
lack of ventilation can become hazardous for the health of the occupants. Respiratory and
pulmonary diseases such as asthma and difficulty in breathing can be linked to this problem.
When there is a occupant infected with some diseases such as flu or cough, the diseases might
be transmitted to other occupants easily in a poor ventilation room. Therefore, the ventilation
problem must be highly concerned to ensure the comfortable of the occupants.
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Recommendations
Forbidden City is only depending on the natural ventilation and it has already become an
advantage that the Natural Ventilation reduce the energy use and cost. However, they can still
improve the ventilation system without prevailing approach of using mechanical ventilation to
provide acceptable indoor environment quality and maintaining a healthy, comfortable indoor
climate. Since natural ventilation systems rely on pressure differences (temperature or
differences in humidity) and Beijing has a temperate and continental monsoon ​climate, with four
distinct seasons and big differences in temperature between day and night. Here are some
recommendations on how to improve the ventilation system:
1.​ ​Solar Chimneys
This works on cold and relatively cloudy days. It can be useful for locations such as Beijing,
with hot summers and cold winters, by opening and closing vents, we can control the cooling
and heating effect.
A solar chimney uses the solar energy to warm up the air rising and increases the stack effect
thus increasing the entry of cold air inside the building. Solar chimneys need their exhaust
higher than normal roof level, and requires adequate sun exposure. They are efficient for sunny
weather; windy climate on hot days can usually get more ventilation using the wind itself. Below
are diagram examples of different solar chimney designs.
Thermal chimneys can also act as a cooling effect, as shown on the diagram above, the
incoming air like evaporative cooling passes through the openings.
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Aside from the cooling advantages, solar chimneys can also be used for heating. If the top
exterior vents are closed, the heated air is not exhausted out the top; at the same time, if high
interior vents are opened to let the heated air into occupied spaces, it will provide convective air
heating.
2.​ ​Effective area of multiple openings
In Natural Ventilation, the amount of ventilation will depend critically on the size and placement
of openings in the building, it is best for the Forbidden City to increase their installation of
openings between rooms such as transom windows, louvers, grills, or open plans to complete
the airflow circuit. Understanding how to bring wind into a building can make a big difference in
controlling thermal comfort inside a building. Strategically placed openings on windward sides of
a building benefit from the pressure of the wind to drive air through the windows. With cross
ventilation, air enters one side, goes through the whole targeted area and leaves on the
opposite side, but the ​pressure can also
stack effect.
A building section showing multiple
strategies for ventilation. (Image by R.
Thomas Jones)
Design strategies that help to beneficiate from wind pressure and air density to create an airflow
throughout the building.
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1) Place windows at both high level and low level to prevent cross ventilation.
2) Place corridors and chimneys such that it encourages airflow and stack effect within the
building.
The differences in air pressure will create a good airflow if one set of openings is on a hotter
side of the building and another on a cool side.
3.​ ​Installing waterproof vents
This is to ​passively ventilate attic spaces in hot climates. It is an important design strategy that is
often overlooked. On the other hand, to simply the prevention of overheating​, these principles
can also be used to actually help to cool a building by using ventilated attics. There are several
types of passive roof vents such as openstack, turbine, gable, and ridge vents, to name a few.
Pictures below shows some of the example of how roof vents look like.
Stack ventilation can also allow the adjustability for the amount of cool and fresh air, operable
windows or ventilation louvers must be equipped with adjustable with inlet openings. Such
systems can be industrialized and controlled by thermostats to optimized the process.
4.​ ​Indoor climate cooling
Many of our historical buildings are actually old residences intended for a small number of
people. The primary task is to work with reducing the Instead of installing climate cooling, it is
possible to reduce solar heat gains by using external sun­screens. When installing plant rooms
in attics in older buildings, special solutions are often necessary to reconcile the work
environment requirements with the building’s design. If cooling is still needed in accordance with
the climate calculation, sun­shading should be investigated as an alternative: automatically
controlled awnings can often be the solution.
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5.​ ​Intake air via external walls
It is an advantage if you can pre­heat the intake air upon entry. One way is to convey outside air
via an intake air radiator. The air is drawn in through the external wall, filtered and pre­heated
when passing out through the rear of the radiator to be dispersed over the radiator. Another way
is to use an intake air convector that consists of a heat battery where outside air is pre­heated.
Taking in outdoor air via grilles into the radiators is a technically
good solution.
Vent convectors can also provide
pre­heated outdoor air when needed.
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Learning Outcome
It has been shown, therefore, ventilation plays a vital part in dominating the totality of
one building condition. In the older days, as the technology was not that advanced, natural
ventilation is the only way to keep a building in suitable condition for a human being to live in.
Based on the research we have done earlier, windows and doors were mainly used as the
ventilation system during the past centuries, which are being called as the natural ventilation
nowadays. Natural ventilation is the process which supplies and removes air through indoor
spaces by natural means, meaning without using any other mechanical system such as fan, air
conditioning and so on. It uses the physical theory which implies pressure difference between
the building and its surrounding, causing outdoor air flow to provide sufficient ventilation and
space cooling.
As global warming and increasing of high rise building, needs of ventilating and cooling
is amplified, making natural ventilation is not enough supply fresh air and has to be supported
with additional mechanical ventilation. According to the research done previously, natural
ventilation and mechanical ventilation both have advantages and disadvantages. In the
beginning of our research we briefly introduced the definition of the two ventilation system, the
natural and mechanical ventilation system. Next, we moved on to discuss about the methods of
natural and mechanical ventilation systems which acted as the prologue for the following parts
of the research. After that, we concise the features of heritage buildings and briefly introduced
the heritage chose for our case study, which are the Forbidden City and the Westminster
Abbey. Few possible problems are then being established from the case studies done which are
the causation of failures and defections of such ventilation system. Lastly, we provides some
recommendations to improve the existing ventilation system or to reduce the possible negative
effects caused by the system used now.
Ventilation is crucial for every building to ensure the air quality meets suitable living
standard for occupants of that premises. Firstly, it controls impurities in the air as ventilation is a
process that expels polluted air (probably contains pollutants like bacteria, moisture and nasty
whiffs such as body odour) and replaces it with fresh air. Ventilation system also reduces
possible condensation which may cause mold and rotten surface due to the damp condition of
such spaces where air flow are not directed. Furthermore, ventilation system serves as the key
constituent for controlling the temperature of the building. When the amount of people
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occupying a space is too hot, the environment may become hot and stuffy. At this time, natural
ventilation is not adequate to give continuous supply of fresh air needed, and so, mechanical
ventilation is used to solve this problem, leaving the environment to be more comfortable.
Incapable ventilation system can lead to relevant problem. The most significant is the
stimulation of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). Sick building syndrome (SBS) is used to describe
situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear
to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. Hence,
a good ventilated building or space is necessary to keep the occupants in good health condition
and to promote a highly productive workplace for the occupants.
There are few objectives set for this entire research. One of the objectives is to extend
and refine our knowledge relating to the building services technology and the management
system chose which is the ventilation system. Through this research, we are broadly exposed to
different types of ventilation components used previous and now. By comparing the past and
now, we are able to understand current application in construction industry and identify the
benefits of having both traditional and modern ways of ventilating. We also learn that different
ways of ventilating gives different capacity of ventilating strength. Decision of usage of each
ventilation way depends on the demand of the airflow of the space, comprising the factor of
number of occupants and the usage of that particular space.
When browsing through the online materials available as reference for this research, we
are required to filter and interpret what we read to get the relevant points which support the topic
we chose. We tried to gain knowledge which is accurate and may be activated at the
appropriate time which then promotes new learning. We also found that it’s important to
organize the knowledge we got and able to retrieve and apply it effectively and efficiently in our
daily basis when appropriate connections between pieces of knowledge are made. As this is a
team­based assignment, all the work is separated evenly among the team members. We first
had few times discussion after the class to discuss on the assignments and follow up each
progress so that the assignment can be done before the due date reaches. All team members
are willing to spare their time and be active on each discussion session. This is good fact as any
idea can be shared among team members and the best solution can be picked. This
assignment gives a great impact in developing our interacting and research skills which can be
very useful in our future career. We very appreciate each effort and responsibility given by each
member throughout this assignment. Whole process runs smooth as each member able to offer
helping hands to each other when any of us met problems on retrieving information or
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28.
explanation. Credits also to be given to our lecturer, Miss Lim Tze Shwan who always gives
appropriate explanations in solving our problems met during this assignment. She leads us to
think in different point of views and so, excites our thinking and evaluating skills, which are
fundamental in completing this assignment. We are happy and satisfied working together as a
team and we deeply hope that there may be a second chance that we may work together again
to achieve higher goals. Thank you.
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29.
Reference
http://zyk.bucea.edu.cn/pub/fczgmc/gzygy/ztmcdgy/index.htm
http://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/forbidden­city/
http://www.kinabaloo.com/forbidden_city.html
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/China/HistoricBeijing/Forbidden_City/
https://www.wbdg.org/resources/naturalventilation.php
http://www.sfv.se/globalassets/bygg­pa­kunskap/byggnadsvard/ventilation_in_historic_buildings
_b­2.pdf
http://www.i­sells.co.uk/blog/ventilation­for­westminster­cathedral/1707
http://www.dyerenvironmental.co.uk/sectors_heritage.html
http://climatechangeblog.historic­scotland.gov.uk/2012/07/ventilation­old­buildings­and­all­that­h
ot­air/
http://www.geocities.ws/dwetheridge/contents.htm
http://www.westminster­abbey.org/visit­us
http://www.visitlondon.com/things­to­do/place/610825­westminster­abbey
http://www.sacred­destinations.com/england/london­westminster­abbey
http://gbtech.emsd.gov.hk/english/utilize/natural.html
https://www.wbdg.org/resources/naturalventilation.php
http://sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com/buildings/natural­ventilation
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143277/
http://coolvent.mit.edu/intro­to­natural­ventilation/basics­of­natural­ventilation/
http://www.heritagebuildings.com/
https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage­at­risk/search­register/
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30.
Appendices
29

31.
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