Reply #12: Reminds me of my old High School... [View All]

Now it is in Pittsburgh, and thus rarely gets 100 degree days, and the School year ended on June 15 of each year (The City of Pittsburgh Schools was the last school district to close each year in Western Pennsylvania, except for schools that had gone on Strike) but do to the massive fan in the basement, the blew a steady flow of air throughout the school from deep underground, the School was cool even on days when the temperature was over 90 (This was in June or September and then only for a dew days, the School was closed during the heat of Summer). All of this without ANY air conditioning. That is the advantage of a well design building, with good air movement designed into the building.

The key was air flow, a gentle overall movement of air from inside the building to the outside. It was rare to have air to come in from the outside, do to the air flow. Air was pumped from the basement to the rest of the building. This flow kept the hot outside aid out, in addition to having a steady flow of air. Pulling the air from the basement via ducts from the outside, kept the air cool, for the air was exposed to the cool area of the basement of the building. This cool air then was pumped to the rest of the building. Al this decades before the invention of Air Conditioning.