Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements obtained from air flow distribution in one configuration building-wind tower are analyzed. Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel tested by dynamic similarity between real and scaled building-wind tower geometries. This concept has been demonstrated technically feasible for producing thermal comfort in popular houses built in arid and semi-arid climates. The objective of this work is providing a Ply data basis, which is a non-intrusive technique, for the design of wind towers. The study used a stream of particles produced by a smoke generator which was injected as part of the air flow entering a scaled model of building-wind tower inserted into the wind tunnel straight section. Velocity data were obtained from several sections in order to reconstruct the whole distribution of the flow in the building-tower configuration assuming a steady state. The results are reproduced with good agreement by numerical simulations conducted with RANS method on a commercial program Fluent. The PIV data provided thus a source of validity for the computational model, which can be used to enhance the design of wind-towers.The PIV technique is used for the first time to study natural ventilation in a building-wind tower configuration. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.