2.10 Secondary Facades - External Ventilation Shafts

An alternative to secondary facades is to use external chimneys. This scheme uses very similar principles to that of a double facade; the difference being that the external chimneys are only used over the ventilation openings. This arrangement clearly has cost and space saving advantages over that of double façades.

A second architectural advantage is that it is possible to provide an animated facade. Forming the chimneys from glass or other translucent materials, allows interesting designs in the form of graphics to be incorporated within the chimneys, adding further interest to the facade of the building.

One of the drawbacks of this design is that acoustic treatment may be required within the chimneys to prevent the spread of sound along its length. This may be required to maintain the acoustic separation across floors. If this is the case, acoustic art work could be used to give the architectural design and also to provide the acoustic absorption within the chimneys.