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Ventilation is essential when master planning an apartment building. It makes the building a more desirable place for tenants to live and extends the building’s life span by keeping fresh air circulating. Work with your contractor to achieve natural ventilation with any necessary additional systems. Here’s an apartment master planning guide for ventilation.

How to Achieve Natural Ventilation

Natural ventilation takes advantage of wind and design components that naturally move air through the building. The moving air cools the building and improves indoor air quality with no energy consumption. Add operable windows that can be opened to bring in fresh air.

Each space within the apartment should be no more than 25 feet away from an operable window; this is the furthest you can expect the air to move naturally through the space. The windows should take up more than 4% of the apartment’s total square footage.

Each window should have at least 12 square feet of glazed area, with 6 square feet of that being openable. This allows enough open space for the air to move through. Skylights and translucent panels can also provide natural ventilation.

Other Mechanical Systems to Add

While natural ventilation can be effective, it only works when the windows are open. As a result, the apartments will need mechanical ventilation as well to function when the windows are closed.

A kitchen exhaust is required to ventilate outside; a microwave or recirculation range hood is not enough. It can be either a general or a hood exhaust. A bathroom exhaust is also required.

Ventilation can be central throughout the building or compartmentalized for each unit. Generally, apartment buildings prefer compartmentalization to provide individual control in each unit.

 

The civil engineering professionals at Jackola Engineering & Architecture in Kalispell, MT, and Vancouver, WA, can advise you on all regulations and best practices for designing your apartment complex. This design-integrated firm is your one-stop-shop for master planning. They’ve been associated with projects in all major markets for more than 50 years. Learn more about their services on their website. To schedule a consultation, call their Kalispell location at (406) 755-3208 or reach their Vancouver location at (360) 852-8746.

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