Identification of Retrofits Needed in Old Office Buildings to Achieve Thermal Comfort

Abstract

Building designs normally are made to offer a given level of comfort to occupants without any mechanical intervention. However, with the advent of global warming temperatures globally have been seen to rise making the occupants of most buildings uncomfortable. The immediate solution has been to add mechanical ventilation, which comes at an added cost of installation and running a building. A case study of old office blocks was used to determine the natural aspects of ventilation that can be utilized on existing old buildings to improve thermal comfort of the occupants after establishing the discomfort. The findings indicate that most office occupants have discomfort due to poor ventilation. This can be minimized with the use of high solar reflectivity roofing, appropriately colored walls, skylights, increased number of air vents and wide windows which are appropriately positioned.