The Development of a Schematic Design Primer to Aid Architects in Designing for Wind

The wind tunnel research program being initiated at Miami University includes the development of a design guide or “primer” aimed at giving students and practicing architects the type of information that would be most helpful in the schematic design phase. The AIA grant supported the initiation of a series of studies aimed at testing many of the standing assumptions about wind and how it moves over and through buildings. In these experiments, airflow patterns in scale model studies are observed visually with smoke streams, as the effects of wind are measured through the use of pressure transducers and velocity sensors installed at appropriate points in the test model. Through this research we hope to draw connections between the conceptual understanding we as architects have of wind and the kind of analytical tools that can be used to actually test our assumptions.