Low energy cooling of the White Tower, functioning as a contemporary museum

Historical buildings are of significance not only because they preserve the cultural heritage of nations but also because of their representative character. However, as buildings they not necessarily provide satisfactory comfort and health conditions, despite the fact that they can be high-energy consumers. The Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki has decided to convert the White Tower, a six-floor fortress dating back to the 15th century, into a contemporary city museum with means of audiovisual, virtual and information technologies. A study has been carried out in 2005–2006 to determine the possibilities, given the restrictions applying, to implement measures in order to establish and maintain satisfactory thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions in the White Tower, whilst ensuring its unobstructed function as a contemporary city museum. The measurements and simulations carried out, together with the resulting suggested interventions are discussed in this paper.