Buildings | Water Management | Teaching & Research | Map | News | History | Brochure | Thurgoona Home

> insulation > water system > ventilation

The thermal mass of the rammed earth walls, concrete floors and ceiling slabs act as heat sinks to stabilise temperatures in rooms, storing the sun's heat and warming buildings in winter and cooling during summer. > See diagrams of heating and cooling systems Wool insulation in ceilings insulates the roof against penetration by the sun's heat in summer and traps heat in buildings during winter. Left: Rammed earth walls and concrete floors and ceilings provide cooling and heating. Photo: M. Fallander

Window shading from all direct summer sun reduces room heating and the impact of glare. Left: Windows are shaded from heat and glare. Photo: M. Fallander

> back to top

Water system

Water provides heating and cooling for the buildings through pipes laid in concrete floors
and ceilings. Water is stored in large tanks in the roofs of each building.

In winter, the water is heated in solar collectors on the building roof and spread through
the pipes to warm buildings. Gas heaters can also be used to heat the water.

> See diagram of the heating system

	During winter, water is warmed in solar collectors during the day ...
... and circulated through building floors by pipes. Photos: W. Ward

In summer, the system works in reverse, with piped water that is warmed during the day
being pumped to the solar collectors at night to allow heat to be dissipated and the water to
be cooled. The cooled water is then circulated through the building to cool it.

> See diagram of the cooling system

During summer, water warmed during the day is cooled at night through the solar collectors on building roofs. Photo: W. Ward

> back to top

Ventilation

Ventilation improves cooling in buildings at night, through the use of automatic louvre
vents, which flushes hot air from large spaces and lowers the internal temperatures. Low
level vents are located beneath windows in each room, while high level vents are
located in large central shafts or high roofs.

> See diagrams of the heating and cooling systems

Cross ventilation is attained through air moving through openable windows and vents in
the central shafts or roofs. Air is also circulated in each room by a reversible ceiling fan,
which mixes warm air near the ceiling with lower cool air during winter. The fan reverses air
flows during summer to move warm air out of rooms to cool them.

Right: Ventilation is provided through the large windows and automatic shutter system below each window. Photo: W. Ward

Thermal chimneys (right) provide cooling during summer. Photo: W. Ward

Thermal chimneys in office and teaching buildings and the Herbarium assist internal
cross ventilation between offices and corridors and help cool the building, as hot air rises
and exits through louvres at the top of each stack.

> return to top > next page > home page

For further information about developments on Thurgoona Campus,
contact CSU's Director, Building & Design, on telephone (61-2) 6933 2265.

Produced by the Media Unit, Division of Marketing & Communications
Web design and editor: Wes Ward
Last edited: 3 February 2003
© Charles Sturt University
Please send comments to albury-media@csu.edu.au