Straying off to one side of the topic, there is an interesting house in Texarkana that is now a museum. Called the Ace of Clubs house because of its shape -- the original builder supposedly won the money to build the house on the turn of a card. Anyway there is a central column in the middle of the three lobes of the club that goes all the way to the roof -- the house is three stories high. And there are sunken places around the outside walls that are meant to be sinks for cool air. So hot air rises through the central shaft and goes out the top, drawing in cool air at the bottom from the sinks. I can't say how well it works, but for late 1800s technology it seems pretty clever.
jhhaynes at earthlink dot net