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The main gallery spaces in the new Children’s Museum San Diego do not have a traditional mechanical HVAC system. Instead, a natural ventilation system is used, containing these four main components:
 Large roll-up doors
The cooling chimney
Automatically controlled windows and louvers
A computerized control system
Here’s how it works: natural breezes enter the building through open doors and windows at the lower level. As the air inside the building heats up, it rises and exits the building through the cooling chimney and other openings along the east and north walls. This convection process pulls natural air through the building. A computer monitors the indoor and outdoor climate and makes mechanical adjustments—i.e., opening or closing windows and louvers—to keep the Museum within a comfortable temperature range.
Roll-up Doors
Large roll-up doors connecting the interior and exterior activity spaces of the Museum will be located at the lower level, first floor and second floor levels. Prevailing bay breezes out of the southwest will enter through these doors, creating the main air intake for the building. These roll-up doors will be opened and closed manually by the Museum staff.
Cooling Chimney
The cooling chimney provides the main air exhaust for the building. At the base of the chimney is a vertical set of air-control louvers. Warm air rising through the building’s atrium will enter the chimney through these louvers. The computerized control system can automatically open one-third, two-thirds, or the entire set of louvers at one time. A similar set of louvers is located near the top of the chimney to vent warm air to the outside. The chimney itself is wrapped with glazing and has black corrugated metal panels inside. As the black panels heat up from sun exposure, the air inside heats up, pulling warm air up and out of the vents.
Automatically Controlled Windows and Louvers
Clerestory windows in the 2-story open lobby and the galleries, as well as louvers on the north elevation above the exit door, provide additional air exhaust as a supplement to the cooling chimney. These louvers and clerestory windows are opened and closed by the computerized control system as it works to maintain the indoor climate comfort level.
Computerized Control System
The computerized control system takes climate readings from an outdoor “weather station” on top of the cooling chimney and also from gauges inside the Museum. The weather station measures outside temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. The gauges inside the building measure indoor temperature and humidity. Readings from these gauges help the system determine whether to open the cooling chimney louvers and other air exhaust pathways throughout the building.
The computerized control system does not open and close the roll-up doors; as mentioned above, Museum staff does this manually. But the control system will “read” the open or closed positions of the doors and make adjustments to the rest of the ventilation system accordingly.
Control System Override for Fire Emergencies
In the event of a fire, the fire alarm system will override the natural ventilation system and take control of the roll-up doors. The doors will open automatically to provide air intake for smoke exhaust fans installed in the clerestory. These large fans are intended to operate only in the event of a fire. They are not part of the natural ventilation system.
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