Getting Aggressive About Passive Design.

This article offers a look at the efforts of architects and engineers to push for more passive design strategies. According to Devon Patterson, a principal with Solomon Cordwell Buenz, they created a mixed-mode systems for Loyola University's digital library that combines conventional heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning with various levels of natural ventilation. There are basically two kinds of natural ventilation--the stack effect and wind. For risk-adverse developers, mixed-mode designs offer flexibility.