The VELUX Daylight, Energy and Indoor Climate Team and the Interuniversitary Research Centre ABITA (Architettura Bioecologica e Innovazione Tecnologica per l'Ambiente) at the University of Florence collaborated in a study on indoor climate conditions in attic apartments. The study is called “Summer indoor comfort levels in the Mediterranean area”.
The aim of this research was to determine the indoor temperature, air flow and solar distribution in the summer time depending on window-shutter control regimes, window orientations and roof constructions. The study showed that a lightweight construction, in steel or wood, with an insulation layer of 16 cm lead to the same summer comfort as a traditional concrete roof construction with less insulation – 4 or 8 cm. However, the light roof construction with thicker insulation has far more advantages in terms of heat loss in winter. As a result, Atika is a lightweight steel construction with a 16 cm continuous insulation envelope in the roofs and facades.
Natural ventilation takes advantage of two principles: first, as air is heated it becomes less dense and flows upwards – the stack effect. Second, wind movement over and around the house creates pressure difference across the house. If a space has high placed air outlets and low inlets, ventilation occurs efficiently as the indoor air is heated. The greater the vertical distance between the outlet and inlet, the greater the ventilation rate will be.
On the left you can read about two principles in Atika that supports the above findings by creating a better indoor climate all year around.