1 building, 2 goals, 1 outcome
CFD enabling architectural/mechanical integration
The design direction of the large eastern-facing double skin façade of the University of Southern California’s Eli and Edythe Broad Institute brought with it a unique architectural/mechanical integration issue.
Instead of typical ceiling height-versus-duct size questions, AEI faced an unknown relating to whether or not a shared outside air intake well would result in the laboratory building's mechanical ventilation starving the passive stack effect in the ventilated air cavity of the double skin. AEI performance modeling experts turned to computational fluid dynamics analysis for answers. The project’s final design involved a modification to the air intake structure physically separating the mechanical system’s air handling units from the double skin façade, thus equalizing pressure between passive and active strategies. The detailed analysis preserved the façade design concept through indistinguishable adjacency while optimizing envelope and mechanical system performance.
