ABSTRACT
It seems appropriate at this point to illustrate how new architectural forms
are emerging in response to the need to make buildings evermore environ-
mentally neutral. Reducing demand for carbon intensive energy is regarded
as the most cost-effective way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and
buildings are the biggest culprits. The drive to maximise natural light and
ventilation and reduce the demand for energy in space heating is leading to
new architectural opportunities. In offices the central atrium is not a new
idea, but as a means of admitting natural light to the interior of a building
and powering ventilation by means of thermal buoyancy it is creating a new
vocabulary of design possibilities.
