About
Architect: BDP
Contractor: Taylor Woodrow
Sector: Education
Overview
Leigh Academy is a gold standard educational academy in Dartford fitted with 12 No. natural ventilation wind towers to ventilate the corridors adjacent to the classrooms in the three storey building.
The Brief
The design for the school was to be fully naturally ventilated without the need for any mechanical intervention. The twelve units where architecturally inspired to be part of the overall building design that can be seen from the surrounding area.
Our Solution
Each of the ventilation units comprise of an aluminum insulated outer skin with a circular double glazed roof light and an outer fixed louvre assembly comprising of 6 No. sections each with a modulating inner damper positioned behind the external louvre.
All dampers open and close via a signal from the BMS system that monitors the internal temperature and adjusts the position of the dampers to maintain a comfortable internal environment. The roof turrets are designed to provide both inlet and extract through the same terminal.
The center of the unit is fitted with a central plaster cone that provided an air path of 150mm between the inside of the dampers and the outside of the internal cone.
The external face of the louvres exposed to the prevailing wind allows air to pass through the damper into the void around the cone. The velocity of the air and its density cause the air to drop into the room below. The effect of the inlet air displaces the warm air up around the cone on the leeward side to the prevailing wind. This in conjunction with the negative wind pressure caused by the wind as it passes over the turret draws the air to atmosphere.
