ABSTRACT
This article provides a review of recent developments in passive downdraught evaporative cooling (PDEC). This includes a description of the design and performance of proposals for office buildings in Spain and Italy. One of the significant characteristics of this passive cooling technique is that, in addition to meeting the cooling demands of institutional and commercial buildings in hot climates, buildings can be configured to deal with problems of urban noise and air pollution simultaneously. This technique, which has its historic roots in the Middle East, appears to have significant potential in urban areas of the hot dry regions of the world. This article is a progress report on architectural aspects of the EC-funded JOULE project on the application of PDEC to non-domestic buildings in southern Europe.
