By Dr. John McKeon  Medical director at Airmid and expert author on Aerobiology, infections aerosols and indoor air. Dr McKeon is an Ambassador of the World Filtration Institute, an accredited educator for the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Environmental Health Committee of ASHRAE.

From Historic Landmarks to Living Laboratories of Indoor Environmental Quality

When ASHRAE President Dennis Knight visited Trinity College Dublin recently, it was a privilege to guide him through the university’s architectural and intellectual landmarks, from the ancient Book of Kells to the pioneering Museum Building, where the past and future of sustainable design meet.

Passive Design Lessons from the 1850s: The Museum Building

Exterior of the Museum Building at Trinity College Dublin with annotated labels highlighting passive design features including stack ventilation, tempered incoming air, wind-assisted ventilation, heat recovery, and thermal mass.

Remarkable energy efficiency was the result of maximum possible use of natural systems carefully incorporated into original design courtesy of Dr Tim Cooper

Perhaps the most forward-looking moment came inside a 19th-century building: Trinity’s Museum Building, a masterpiece of passive design that quietly outperforms many modern structures.

Designed in the 1850s, the building showcases not only Romanesque revival architecture but also naturally integrated ventilation, heating, and thermal regulation systems that kept it warm in winter and cool in summer, long before HVAC systems existed.

Resilience Without Power: A Case Study from the 1976 Energy Crisis

During the 1976 energy crisis, when Trinity lost both oil and electricity, the Museum Building continued to function with minimal disruption. As detailed by environmental design expert Tim Cooper (who carried out in-depth energy audits and building monitoring), this resilience wasn’t accidental.

“I collected extensive data in the Museum Building that confirms the amazingly successful original heating and ventilation arrangements,” says Cooper. “In January 1986, I turned the heating off and monitored the building’s thermal response. It heated up at 2.5°C per week when the system was turned back on. The core of the building is a thermal juggernaut.”

His work reinforces the notion that passive design principles, stack ventilation, tempered airflow, thermal mass, and high ceilings, can outperform active mechanical systems, particularly in heritage structures that were built with careful attention to air and light.

Shirl and ASHRAE President Dennis Knight with Dr. John McKeon and Dr. John Gallagher standing outside the Museum Building at Trinity College Dublin on a clear day.

ASHRAE President Dennis Knight and his wife Shirl pictured with Dr. John McKeon and Dr. John Gallagher outside the iconic Museum Building at Trinity College Dublin, a landmark of passive design and sustainable architecture.

Aligning with ASHRAE’s Goals of Decarbonisation and Net Zero Energy

As ASHRAE continues to drive the global agenda for decarbonisation, net zero energy, and indoor environmental quality (IEQ), the Museum Building stands as a living lesson in resilient, low-energy design.

At Airmid Healthgroup, we believe in learning from the past to validate the future. Our work in performance testing and healthy building verification draws inspiration from cases like this, where empirical data, thoughtful architecture, and occupant well-being converge.

The Museum Building: Not Just a Monument, But a Model

The Museum Building is not just a monument. It’s a model. And through voices like Tim Cooper’s research into energy-efficient heritage buildings, we’re reminded that healthy indoor environments don’t always require new technology, just timeless design.

Local Expertise and Leadership from ASHRAE Ireland

We were also fortunate to be joined by Edith Blennerhassett of Arup, a leading advocate for sustainable design, and the current President of ASHRAE Ireland, whose presence added valuable insight and local leadership to this remarkable visit.

Group photo at Trinity College Dublin showing Edith Blennerhassett, Dennis Knight, and John McKeon during ASHRAE Ireland and Airmid Healthgroup site visit

Dr. John McKeon, ASHRAE President Dennis Knight, and Edith Blennerhassett (Director at Arup and President of ASHRAE Ireland) on the steps of Trinity College Dublin’s Museum Building, capturing a moment of shared leadership in sustainable building design and indoor air quality.

A Tactile Connection to the Past: Reaching Into History

At one point during the tour, ASHRAE President Dennis Knight reached into one of the original internal stone air vents, a tactile moment that connected us to the building’s living breathing infrastructure. I captured a wonderful photo of the moment, and it instantly brought to mind the Irish phrase “to chance your arm.”

Dennis Knight reaches into a stone wall air vent inside the Museum Building, Trinity College Dublin, symbolising the phrase “to chance your arm” from Irish history.

ASHRAE President Dennis Knight reaches into a historic stone air vent in the Museum Building at Trinity College Dublin, symbolising the Irish phrase “to chance your arm,” a gesture of bold curiosity and reconciliation that resonates with the spirit of exploring natural ventilation in modern building design.

This expression, as told in the story of The Door of Reconciliation at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, dates back to 1492 when a man cut a hole in a wooden door to offer his hand in peace during a bitter feud, risking it being cut off. It’s a phrase about courage, about taking a leap.

In that spirit, Dennis’s gesture was more than curiosity, it symbolised a willingness to reach into the unknown, to trust the past, and to embrace the kinds of natural, passive systems that we often overlook in today’s high-tech world.

A Moment of Shared Knowledge in a Historic Science Lecture Theatre

We were all deeply grateful to Dr. John Gallagher, Associate Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling at Trinity College Dublin, for his generous hospitality and expert insights during the tour. His deep understanding of the Museum Building’s environmental performance brought the visit to life. A highlight came when he graciously invited ASHRAE President Dennis Knight to indulge his passion for education, handing him a piece of chalk in Trinity’s timeless science lecture theatre, where Dennis momentarily became the professor, speaking to the spirit of knowledge-sharing that unites engineers across generations.

 Dennis Knight stands at the chalkboard in a historic science lecture theatre at Trinity College Dublin, invited to give an impromptu lesson during a tour led by Dr. John Gallagher.

ASHRAE President Dennis Knight smiles at the chalkboard in one of Trinity College Dublin’s historic science lecture theatres, where he was invited by Dr. John Gallagher to briefly teach during a private tour. Surrounded by classic timber benches and original blackboards, the moment captured the shared passion for engineering, education, and timeless scientific inquiry.

From Steam Power to High-Efficiency HVAC: Engineering Through the Ages

As part of the visit, we also stopped by the Parsons Building, home to a collection of historic engineering equipment, including early steam engines that once powered entire campuses and communities. It was a fitting stop on a day centred around building performance and environmental systems. The evolution from steam power to today’s high-efficiency HVAC systems highlights how far we’ve come,and how the fundamental challenges of energy conversion, thermal control, and air movement remain central to both engineering practice and indoor environmental quality.

We were guided by PhD student Wenguang Zhao, previous winner of the THERMINIC Best Poster Award for his paper titled “Towards Quieter Air-Cooling Systems: Rotor Self-noise Prediction for Axial Cooling Fans”, co-authored with Sahan Wasala and Dr. Tim Persoons. Wenguang’s work exemplifies the cutting-edge research taking place at Trinity College Dublin at the intersection of thermal management, acoustics, and airflow dynamics.

As he showed us around the engineering labs and legacy equipment—including early steam engines—the connection between historical energy systems and today’s pursuit of quieter, more efficient ventilation technologies became strikingly clear. The visit reminded us that innovation in indoor environmental control is as much about reducing noise and discomfort as it is about energy and air quality—an ethos shared by both ASHRAE and Airmid Healthgroup.

Standing among the cast iron flywheels and pressure gauges of a previous era, Dennis Knight reflected on the enduring ASHRAE mission: advancing the science of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration, from legacy systems to next-generation solutions.

Wenguang Zhao, Dennis Knight, and Edith Blennerhassett pose beside model steam engines at Trinity College Dublin’s Parsons Building.

PhD researcher Wenguang Zhao, ASHRAE President Dennis Knight, and Edith Blennerhassett (President of ASHRAE Ireland) pictured beside historic steam engines in the Parsons Building, Trinity College Dublin. The tour, led by Zhao, connected heritage energy systems with modern research into quieter and more efficient air-cooling technologies.

Preserving Rare Books Through Better Air: The Long Room Conservation Project

Our final stop in TCD was at the Long Room of Trinity’s Old Library where another conservation project is currently underway. The project seeks to protect the library’s vast collection of rare and vulnerable books, not just from time and handling, but from indoor air quality challenges, including temperature, humidity, and particle pollution. As the university’s librarian and archivist Helen Shenton notes,

“Books are organic artefacts… and the thing we can do to slow [their deterioration] down is to have better environmental conditions… [including] protection against particle pollution coming through the windows.”

This intersection of air quality science, cultural heritage, and environmental control resonated strongly with ASHRAE President Dennis Knight, whose leadership reflects the importance of environmental stewardship, not only for occupant health but for the preservation of history itself.

Dennis Knight and Shirl Knight stand beneath a giant suspended globe in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin, surrounded by classical busts and ancient wooden bookshelves.

ASHRAE President Dennis Knight and his wife, Shirl, pictured beneath the suspended Earth installation in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin—a powerful setting to reflect on the global impact of healthy indoor air, environmental stewardship, and sustainable design.

Honouring Robert Boyle: A Founding Figure in Air Science

We also paused in the Long Room of Trinity’s Old Library for a photo beside the bust of Robert Boyle, one of Ireland’s most renowned scientists and a founding figure in the field of air and gas physics. Although not a Trinity alumnus, Boyle’s legacy is deeply honoured here, and rightly so. His famous Boyle’s Law, which describes the inverse relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas, underpins many core principles in modern HVAC systems.

Dennis Knight, ASHRAE President, stands next to a bust of Robert Boyle in Trinity College Dublin’s Long Room, surrounded by historic bookshelves.

ASHRAE President Dennis Knight stands beside the bust of Robert Boyle in the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin. Boyle’s groundbreaking work on gas pressure and volume—now known as Boyle’s Law—remains fundamental to the principles of HVAC and building science.

As HVACR School explains, Boyle’s insights continue to shape how we control indoor air, through compression, expansion, ventilation, and building pressurisation. In a conversation about air quality, energy, and the built environment, standing beside his likeness felt like standing beside the roots of our science.

Concluding a Memorable Visit

We extend our sincere thanks to ASHRAE President Dennis Knight and his wife Shirl for their time, insight, and enthusiasm throughout this memorable visit. Our gratitude also goes to the dedicated staff at the Museum Building, the Old Library, and the Parsons Building at Trinity College Dublin, whose support and hospitality enriched every moment of the tour.

Following our time at Trinity, we continued to University College Dublin, where we were welcomed by Professor Donal Finn for a thoughtful exchange on Student Affairs and the impactful work of Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA). Dennis had the opportunity to meet with YEA members from UCD, engaging in meaningful conversations about the future of engineering leadership.

We now look ahead with great anticipation to welcoming Dennis to Airmid Healthgroup, where we will proudly showcase our state-of-the-art facilities and continue the conversation around innovation, health, and performance in the built environment.

Related Testing Services at Airmid Healthgroup

  • Aerobiology Testing Services

Room Air Cleaner Devices and Portable Air Purifiers Performance Testing

  • ASHRAE 241 Testing Services
  • Custom Bioaerosol Protocols
– At Airmid Healthgroup, we specialize in developing customized, real-world testing protocols for air cleaning technologies targeting infectious aerosols, viruses, bacteria, mold, allergens and other fine particles.

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Tags and Keywords

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About AHG
Airmid Healthgroup is a leading biomedical contract research organization specializing in aerobiology and indoor air quality. We assist global companies, in developing, innovating, and validating products aimed at enhancing indoor environmental quality (IEQ) as well as IAQ. Our state-of-the-art laboratories, including climate-controlled environmental chambers, enable precise testing of airborne pollutants, pathogens, allergens, mold, as well as infectious aerosols such as viruses, and bacteria. With ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited allergen and virology labs, we also provide GLP based projects with reliable data for health-based marketing claims. Our multidisciplinary team of scientists and health experts is dedicated to advancing public health by minimizing exposure to indoor air pollutants.

About the Author
Dr. John McKeon is a trusted subject matter expert for Airmid Healthgroup’s thought leadership blog. He has extensive expertise and contributions in the fields of medicine, entrepreneurship, and indoor air quality.  He is a recognized leader in the field, participating in various industry committees related to health and indoor air quality. Dr McKeon is an Ambassador of the World Filtration Institute, an accredited educator for the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Environmental Health Committee of ASHRAE. Read more here.

 

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