Adaptive Retrofit for Adaptive Reuse: Converting an Industrial Chimney into a Ventilation Duct to Improve Internal Comfort in a Historic Environment

The reuse of architectural heritage is a topic of great interest for scientific research, involving aspects ranging from the architectural compatibility of the interventions to the performance updating of the artefacts, from the point of view of both energy consumption and internal comfort suitable for the new use. Compatible technological solutions exploit the passive cooling activating latent physical mechanisms of the building, of the envelope or its parts, such as openings and disused shafts. This work concerns the conversion of an old chimney, completely integrated into the historical envelope, into a ventilation duct for the air exchange and the internal comfort improvement of an old factory, proposing an adaptive retrofit solution during adaptive reuse intervention. Thermo-fluid dynamics analyses, performed with an ad hoc CFD solver for flows with flotation effects, verified the effective functionality of the device in summer and winter conditions. The results show that, in summer, the activation of passive ventilation improves the indoor comfort of the environment, while, in winter, it worsens them. This study demonstrates the usefulness of activating passive cooling phenomena in preserving historical architecture. Finally, the future potential of the application is presented by integrating the ventilation chimney with a mechanical control system to optimize its operation even in winter conditions.