Abstract:
The Bijou movie theater is a popular spot
with a common problem to all movie theaters; it is too cold. The Bijou is
particularly interesting because of its age and its former use as a church,
which has design implications that exacerbate the buildings heating
issues. The intent of this study is to determine what factors cause this
thermal discomfort. The height of the space was the most probable candidate
for the inefficient heat usage and thermal discomfort for the occupants.
Four temperature-reading devices were placed throughout the space in order to
determine the temperature at both the seating plane and the ceiling
plane. Based on these measurements it was quite apparent that the ceiling
plane was significantly hotter than the seating plane demonstrating inefficient
heat usage. The main causes of this heat discrepancy are the lack of
insulation at the upper level and the location of the heating devices. A
few solutions to remedy this problem are included in this analysis but whether
or not these improvements need to be implemented is debatable because of the
theaters popularity regardless of temperature.
