A passive night cooling system was developed and implemented for a new project of social housing. The passive cooling system incorporates a solar chimney in combination with high thermal mass in the building construction. The natural ventilation is enhanced with the help of the solar chimney and night fresh air cools the building structure. The design of this concept was calculated by balancing energy using basic thermal equations for a summer reference day and evaluated using two simulation tools, TRNSYS and TAS. The building has been constructed and actually in process of monitoring. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.