The technical building management department started spraying the roofs with water in July. In theory, the water should have diminished the heat in Lumen, but that did not happen. Klaas Metselaar, lecturer at the Soil Physics and Land Management department, started performing measurements in August to map the effects. He concluded that the roof was indeed 10 degrees cooler, but that the temperature inside the building did not drop. ‘The effect was negligible. I think this can be attributed to the radiation entering the building directly.’
For the management council of Lumen, the results of Metselaar’s measurement were reason enough to stop the experiment. Twan Gutten of technical building management: ‘The results were insufficient.’
The idea to spray water on the roof originated with Metselaar. He still holds further ideas to counteract the heat problem in Lumen. One such idea is to outfit the outer walls with blinds that would hang at some distance from the windows. ‘This would enable air to flow between the windows and the blinds. It would help to cool the building.’
Whether technical building management will search for other solutions in the future is unknown.