The design takes advantage of the arid climate to provide cost-efficient evaporative cooling with a variable air volume (VAV) design that still manages to deliver good indoor air quality (IAQ) during the winter. This is unusual for VAV designs, which tend to decrease the supply air volume to the building as outdoor air temperatures drop. However, this particular air-handling unit (AHU) configuration includes an air-to-air heat exchanger, which can be used to preheat outdoor air, so that outdoor air minimum flow settings still exceed code.
One hundred percent outdoor air was desirable not only because of the high-density people loading associated with classroom environments, but also because this multifunction facility would provide limited dental care to uninsured members of the community, potentially increasing the number of airborne viruses.