Fundamentals of Natural Ventilation Design within Dwellings

Along with acoustical and lighting comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort upon households are essential to maintain a proper indoor environment, therefore ensuring a welfare toward the occupants. Nevertheless, sometimes, these features are neglected by building designers and constructers, causing problems such as the so-called sick building syndrome (SBS) and thermal discomfort, among others. Although there are short-term solutions such as purifiers, extractors, fans, and air conditioning, eventually these methods become not sustainable activities that consume energy and emit polluting gases such as chlorofluorocarbons. One alternative to this is natural ventilation, understood as the airflow throughout a building caused by changes of pressures naturally produced. In this chapter, the role of the early-stage building design as well as the correct occupant behavior is presented as essential to develop a naturally ventilated dwelling, which is an excellent alternative to achieve proper levels of indoor environment in a sustainable manner.