Case Study: Architype validates classroom HVAC performance with SimScale

Architype Validates Their Classroom HVAC System Against the Passivhaus Standard With SimScale

Architype, an architectural practice focused on high-performance, low-energy buildings, worked with SimScale to assess the heating and ventilation strategy of a Passivhaus classroom during winter conditions. The team needed to understand how building fabric, ventilation, occupancy, and air quality would affect comfort and performance in a highly constrained school environment.

Using SimScale’s cloud-based CFD platform, Architype built a validated baseline model of the classroom and tested multiple ventilation scenarios, including different inlet designs and open-window conditions. The simulations delivered detailed insights into airflow, temperature, CO2 concentration, mean age of air, and comfort metrics such as PMV and PPD, helping Architype compare designs, inform decision-making, and better align predictions with monitored post-occupancy data.

Architype

Robert White

Technical Associate and CEPH Designer