Examines an alternative strategy for heating, cooling and ventilation buildings combining the best features of both natural and mechanical systems. The holistic design approach treats the building and engineering equally. The resulting climate-responsive integrated building/engineering systems operate in the natural mode whenever possible to minimise energy use and only use mechanical systems under peak conditions at the extremes of external temperatures. Some of the building mass, walls, ceilings, etc. are used as thermal storage media, cooling overnight and absorbing heat the next day. Describes the philosophy and operation of mixed-mode systems used in conjunction with fabric thermal storage and suggests guidelines for the design of a practical system.

KEYWORDS: year 1996, Designing, heating, ventilation, cooling, buildings, nighttime cooling, natural ventilation, thermal inertia, structure heat storage