The Ernst Barlach Haus was erected in 1962 to house a private collection of the works of the sculptor Ernst Barlach, as a single-story atrium bungalow with one room leading into another in a park on the Elbe River in west Hamburg. Various conventional heating systems and an air conditioning system were originally utilized for climatisation. During remodeling in 1995/96, it was decided to install a combination of a tempering system, for room heating and drying out the damp walls, and a ventilation system, with a maximum flow rate of one room air change per hour, that also dehumidifies the fresh air supply in summer, when sudden thunderstorms can cause pouring rains. The noticeable reduction in the amount of hardware required for this simplified climatization system and in its operation resulted in substantial reductions in energy and investment costs. This is possible because the ventilating system does not have to heat the outside walls; it must only heat the small amount of fresh air to a temperature slightly below the room air temperature. An improvement in quality with regard to conservation requirements was also obtained by changing the direction of the flow of air through the rooms, which is now from ceiling to floor, so that dust brought in by visitors remains on the floor rather than settling out on the sculptures, because it is not blown up into the air.