The orientation and overall shape of buildings utilising natural ventilation is less influenced/dictated by the natural ventilation concept than initially expected. Considerations related to the urban context and laws and regulations decided the orientation of the buildings to a far greater extent than did considerations to the natural ventilation concept.

Furthermore, the buildings investigated in this study show that the form of naturally ventilated buildings need not be shaped more aerodynamically than mechanically ventilated buildings. The greatest difference in terms of shape appears to be that the majority of naturally ventilated buildings are rather narrow (even though there are examples showing that naturally ventilated buildings can be designed as deep plan buildings). It can therefore not be said that natural ventilation dictates the shape of buildings; they can evolve into "any” shape.

Most characteristic ventilation elements associated with natural ventilation do influence the shape of the building, however. Characteristic ventilation elements located on the roof (chimneys, wind scoops and wind towers) influence the silhouette of the building like e. g. the wing on the GSW Headquarters. Solar chimneys as well as double facades and ventilation openings in the fagade (GSW Headquarters) also influence the appearance of facades.

The proportion of the plan of a naturally ventilated building must be shaped to facilitate natural airflow. This results most often in linear plans or in various atrium designs that can be effectively cross-ventilated (GSW and B&O Headquarters). The plan layout must further accommodate natural airflow from the inlet(s) to outlet(s) when stack and cross-ventilation are the applied ventilation principles. This is best achieved with an open plan layout, or a layout with fewest possible internal walls. Such layouts coincide well with utilisation of daylight and view to the outside, but may conflict with flexibility/use, as well as with fire and acoustics issues.

Section

Utilisation of natural ventilation does not have any obvious architectural consequences in the section of buildings other than those associated with vertical air paths in stack-ventilation principles. Such a vertical air path with architectural consequences can typically be interior spaces stretching over several stories, like e. g. a lobby or a reception, or stairwells that are used as exhaust air paths and therefore must be connected openly with the spaces/stories served (like in the B&O Headquarters). Other examples of vertical air paths are chimneys and double fagades serving all (or some) stories in a building (like in the GSW Headquarters). The roofs of low-rise buildings (or the top floor of taller buildings) utilising the stack ventilation principle can be sloped to accommodate a natural airflow up and out of the room, like in the classrooms of Media School.

Facade

Ventilation openings constitute the greatest architectural consequences of natural ventilation in the fagade. Local inlets and outlets, rather than central, affects the fagade expression to the greatest extent, as they are distributed over the entire fagade and need to cover a rather large area to avoid large pressure drops. The east fagade of the GSW Headquarters, which has a lot of ventilation inlets, is a prime example of that. Centralised ventilation inlets are typically located in towers away from the building, and outlets are located on the roof and do consequently not affect the facades. The Media School is a representative example of that. Characteristic ventilation elements like chimneys (Lanchester Library, UK), solar chimneys (The Environmental Building, BRE, UK), and double facades (Deutsch Post Headquarters, Germany) are all integrated in the fagade and therefore influence the fagade expression.