Designing the Aperture to Improve Thermal Environment in Atrium

Atrium is largely designed nowadays to service a public space and to provide a pleasant space for the occupants. However atrium design is often focused only on aesthetic aspect overlooking environmental comfort. As a result, numerous problems were raised that involve overheating and local discomfort in cooling and intermediate period. Therefore it is important to design proper aperture to improve thermal environment in atrium. In this study, thermal environmental evaluation was performed to estimate possible issues in atrium and design of aperture was presented that improve thermal environment in atrium. The results show that shading device is needed to reduce incoming solar radiation. Also, upper and lower openings are essential for natural ventilation and the larger the size of openings are more effective but the same portion of upper and lower openings should be maintained.