[GSBN] The Mechanical Ventilation Debate

[Oasis Design]

Art's $0.02:

I've realized that all of ecological systems design can be boiled down 
to one sentence:
/

/
/"Do what makes sense in the context"/


Taking in the full sweep of this fascinating discussion, there are a 
wide menu of possible solutions to the design question of how to control 
indoor climate, ranging from "let go of the idea of control" to passive, 
all natural materials solutions, to tight buildings with mechanized 
ventilation, to the space station...and that's just along the "level of 
technology" axis.

Does anyone on this list actually think that any of these options should 
just be struck from the list completely? From my view, nothing mentioned 
was so wrong that it would not be optimal *somewhere,* and nothing was 
so right that it could fully replace any of the other options mentioned.

While parts of the discussion sounded like this or that solution was 
being questioned in absolute terms--"is this a valid approach?" I think 
it might be helpful to explicitly frame this sort of discussion in terms 
of improving our algorithms for matching solution with context--"in what 
context is this approach indicated?" This was alluded to by one poster 
who said that he sees people from one context questioning a solution 
that's valid in another, but not so much in theirs, without seeming to 
clearly grasp how different they might feel, for instance,  about tight 
houses if it were -50° outside. (There has also been a wealth of useful 
detail-level stuff about things to think about if you are going with 
this or that approach).

There's an underlying tension in the world of building between the 
"Uniform Building Code" idea--one generic approach that works 
everywhere, and context-sensitive design. Even though I generally feel 
that the "Uniformity" idea is a single bottom line approach that has led 
to a world of problems, I see how it lives on inside me in the way that 
I personally am unconsciously inclined to apply the systems that I've 
evolved for my Santa Barbara context everywhere. The idea of tight 
buildings makes me nervous but I think I could warm to it. The 
electricity required for ventilation thing really creeps me out. It's 
just so alien to my design mind, which has been shaped by my 
environment...I'm grateful to John and others for helping me able to 
imagine contexts in which this would, in fact, often be the best solution.

Yours,

Art
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