On: Can turning office towers into apartments save downtowns?

[nine_k]

Offices have ventilation. They are usually more densely manned than apartments.

Unless they specifically tear it down during redevelopment (why would they?), there should be plenty of air circulation.

[dbuxton → nine_k]

If you read the OP you will see that in one example that’s exactly what they do do - in order to reclaim the space occupied by HVAC and turn into more apartments!