WordNet
n. a shaft in a building; serves as an air passage for ventilation
Wikipedia
In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air.
In architecture, an airshaft is a small, vertical space within a tall building which permits ventilation of the building's interior spaces to the outside. The floorplan of a building with an airshaft is often described as a "square donut" shape. Alternatively, an airshaft may be formed between two adjacent buildings. Windows on the interior side of the donut allow air from the building to be exhausted into the shaft, and, depending on the height and width of the shaft, may also allow extra sunlight inside.
Usage examples of "ventilation shaft".
The ventilation shaft dropped vertically for about ten feet then turned a right-angled corner.
This means they will have to tunnel downwards, either through fresh rock or through the column of rubble with which this ventilation shaft will be filled.
The ground was not only three inches further from the ventilation shaft than he remembered, it was also on a different planet than he remembered, but it was the three inches that had caught him by surprise.
Its only notable feature is a narrow ventilation shaft, the opening a mere eight-inch-by-nine-inch rectangle.
The ground was about three inches further from the ventilation shaft than he remembered it so he misjudged the point at which he would hit the ground, started running too soon, stumbled awkwardly and twisted his ankle.
And that was how they happened to be standing under an open ventilation shaft deep in the ducting of the Vipod Mor.
There's a small odd-shaped room that doglegs around the fresh-air ventilation shaft leading down into the Ted Williams Tunnel.
I didn't think anything of it at first, back in the ventilation shaft.
I stuck my head in and found a ventilation shaft running between the walls.
He managed to elude those who chased after him and escaped through some kind of natural air ventilation shaft.