Within the office building, three floors of open workstations are connected by atria containing stairways and meeting spaces. At the center of each floor is a family-style hearth with casual furniture. A raised floor plenum not only makes space for flexible cable management, but it allows under-floor air distribution with individual user comfort controls. The supply air is cooled by contact with the thermal mass of the concrete floor deck. This evens out peaks in cooling load, reducing the peak demand charges.
Nighttime ventilation keeps the floor slab cool.
With the return air in the ceilings, a significant proportion of convective heat gains from lights, equipment, and people are exhausted at high level before they become a load on the ventilation system.