“Passive Downdraught Cooling is a technique which will potentially become a subsitute for conventional air-conditioning in Southern Europe and the hot dry regions of the world.  As well as providing substantial energy savings, the technique avoids the need for ductwork, fans and suspended ceilings, and reduces the need for refrigerant based cooling. However, this approach has architectural implications which extends the vocabulary of ‘passive design’.”

Abstract from “Passive Downdraft Cooling” pp 83-87

Brian Ford, Camillo Diaz, Mark Hewitt

“This paper describes a developing methodology for sustainable urban design, based on a postgraduate teaching experiment at the University of North London. This project uses a collaborative approach, taught by architects and services engineers, with the ambition of evolving a more intelligent and informed design team platform. Problems in communicating between two very different mental mindsets are revealed, and the attempts to overcome these through constructing a design process, which excites productive interaction between the two disciplines are discussed.”

Abstract from “Using design imagination to develop sustainable urban strategies-towards a methodology for collaborative design” pp 702-705

Mark Hewitt, Andrew Ford, David Ritter