Traditional Techniques

The Romans used a hypocaust, the Arabs a burj el hawa—harnessing the laws of physics to ensure heat transfer through a building takes many traditional forms. But the principle is the same across the continents and the centuries—warm air rises and is replaced by cooler air.

The WMO building uses Canadian wells, built into the foundations of the car park and linked through the supporting infrastructure of the main building, to all floors. Cold air is sucked into the system and as it heats up it rises. This natural process of heat transfer maintains the building at a constant optimal temperature, calculated at between 20 and 26 degrees Centigrade.

The incorporation of the twin flow ventilation system into the supporting pillars of the building is aesthetically pleasing and cost-effective, as it does away with the need for false ceilings and does not detract from the integrity of the structure as a whole.

Double floors on the ground floor allow for enhanced acoustics, which is important where multilingual conferences are to be reported and transmitted via different media across the world.