Abstract: A facility including a booth for solvent or paint application or drying process is provided with ventilation inlets and outlets to cause stratification of constituents such as VOCs or particulate in the booth. The ventilation air withdrawn from the booth is split into two air streams, one air stream contains a relatively low volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration, and the other a relatively high VOC concentration. The ventilation air from the low concentration stream is vented to the atmosphere (or alternatively back in the booth) and the ventilation air from the high concentration stream is conducted to a VOC emission control device. Thus, adequate VOC emission control is achieved, and the volume of air processed by the VOC emission control device is reduced, along with the corresponding VOC emission control costs.