In 1993, the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, refurbished the open-plan first floor Design Studio in their Publishing Department to use natural ventilation to keep the interior cool. At the same time the third floor, which was not suitable for passive cooling, was fitted with mechanical comfort cooling units and the intermediate floor was not changed. This paper compares tl1e thermal performance of the three floors and discusses the results of a staff-satisfaction survey conducted among the occupants.

In equatorial warm humid climates, ventilation has been largely adopted as a major strategy for natural passive cooling. In those climates the use porous elements are common to allow for permanent ventilation as temperature rarely drops below 20°C. Nevertheless, the performance of many building components has not been thoroughly determined, making it difficult to predict buildings performance as ventilation rates, estimated in most simulation codes are often based on apertures typologies from temperate and cold regions.

The role of metallic surfaces is not only to save energy in winter and in summer by separating the inside and the outside. New and inexpensive ways of collecting solar energy for internal heating, new ways of ventilating, heating and cooling through the fabric elements are described. Two very significant prospects are : radiative cooling by metallic surfaces and enhancement of indirect daylighting by optimised ceilings. The subject of the European CURES program is to promote these new technologies by simulating and testing them.

Thermal comfort in transitional spaces of buildings is established from a field study conducted in the cool season of Bangkok, Thailand. IL involved 302 indoor subjects occupying either air-conditioned or naturally ventilated environments and 291 outdoor subjects who were leaving the indoors. The data were analysed by using a calculating method, "Griffiths" values, giving neutral temperatures, and a quadratic regression for thermal acceptability.

This paper considers the building's envelope in the design phase. Energy related decisions during the design phase have great influence on the life cycle cost of the building. Since sunlight and climate are changing factors, the envelope is equipped with mobile and adaptable components (shading devices, movable insulation, opening window schedules ...) which can react to climatic conditions. Architects use computer aided design tools to describe a building and its envelope.

The application of a continuous thermal insulation on the external face of building walls ameliorates the thermal performance of external walls and alleviates problems related to thermal bridges. However a further improvement of this insulation system may be achieved by using ventilated walls, which consist of an open ended cavity placed between an insulating board {directly applied on the external side of outer walls) and an external cladding.