A course which implemented a computer tool •As/CL/MA", as an aid in passive solar design, was taught in the School of Architecture of the University of Zulia, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. AS/CL/MA was designed by the author and used by students for the simulation of thermal conditions inside buildings. The students applied their creativity to generate ideas and the computer program to evaluate them, with the benefit of increased speed and precision over manual methods.

This paper describes the measurements and evaluation of the indoor thermal environments in a large domed stadium. This stadium was built mainly for professional baseball games, but it has a lot of other purposes. It will be used not only for many sport games but also for various entertainment events. To satisfy such purposes, various intelligent mechanical systems were equipped to control and create a suitable space and environment without consuming excessive energy.

The article describes experiments with wall-mounted air terminal devices. The airflow from an air terminal device influences the occupants' thermal comfort and, therefore, it is important to develop an expression for the flow in the occupied zone. The velocity at the floor is influenced by the flow rate to the room, the temperature difference and the type of diffuser. The flow is stratified at Archimedes numbers larger than four. The article gives expressions for the velocity distribution close to the floor.

A case study of the ventilation characteristics of office accommodation forming part of a recently refurbished building is presented. A mechanical system has been installed to ventilate and cool two floors that are interconnected by a series of atria, with a novel application of displacement ventilation applied where there is a very low ceiling height. The air distribution and air quality within the space have been studied by the application of computational fluid dynamics (cFD) to allow the computation of air change effectiveness in terms of local mean age.

Positive input ventilation systems for dealing with dampness in dwellings have been available for many years, but do they really reduce condensation? A DETR-funded research project has provided some answers