The period of time during which humans have relied on mechanical heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems is comparatively short. Prior to the introduction of mechanical HVAC systems, human societies (sedentary as well as nomadic) developed a number of methods to improve thermal comfort in the built environment. Those methods contributed not only to the survival of the cultures that developed them, but to their respective cultures' ability to thrive.
Over the millennia these methods, articulated as climate-responsive architectural features, have formed a resource of collective wisdom from which modern architects, developers and designers can draw in their quests to reduce energy consumption and decrease environmental degradation associated with new construction, renovation/rehabilitation/conversion and heritage conservation. The cultures that developed outside and before contact with the European continent have proven an especially rich source of this kind of architectural wisdom. And within that context, non-western vernacular residential architecture created prior to the industrial revolution offers the greatest promise as a model and resource for twenty-first-century residential housing design.
The introduction and integration of climate-responsive features from historic vernacular architecture of non-western cultures into habitable structures in Europe and North America provide a number of attractive opportunities for architects and developers. Such features offer design and construction professionals the tools with which to 1) reduce energy consumption without introducing costly and resource-intensive electrical and HVAC technologies into the designed and built environment; 2) complement existing and emerging mechanical HVAC technologies; 3) reduce long-term financial and environmental costs associated with on-the-grid energy consumption; 4) tap into current and emerging public concerns regarding energy consumption and environmental degradation; 5) increase and diversify consumer/end-user choice in single- and multifamily dwelling; 6) expand and diversify the aesthetic vocabularies of architect- and developer-designed housing in the areas under consideration; and 7) make innovative contributions to the globalization of architecture, design and development practice.
Climate-responsive features from historic vernacular architecture of non-western cultures include a number of elements that are normally associated with a single, culture, religion or geographic region. Thus, one seldom finds a combination of such features in a single structure. Through the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and climate-simulation software, this project seeks to 1) virtually model historic climate-responsive features individually and in various combinations to determine the feature and/or combination that would have the greatest potential impact on thermal comfort based on data generated in computer simulations; 2) translate the computer simulation data into small-scale test cells for use with climate sensors; and 3) combine the data from the simulations and climate-sensor analyses to construct human-scale test cells to (a) determine the efficacy of individual and combined features in contributing to air temperature and air flow, and (b) determine the efficacy of individual and combined features in contributing to thermal comfort as experienced and reported by live human subjects.
The climate-responsive features that we have selected for this project include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) the courtyard house plan; 2) the mashrabiya or jali (a wooden or stone screen that filters light and promotes air circulation); 3) malqaf (windcatching tower); 4) thermal resistive/ conductive construction materials; 5) structure orientation on the site plan; 6) evaporative cooling; 7) air and thermal mass convection venting; 8) sudare screens; and 9) ground coupling. Challenges and limitations that we face in the project include: 1) partisanship-based political resistance to sustainable architectural innovation; 2) consumer taste conditioned by developer-designed housing; 3) privileging of new technologies over mining historical wisdom by funding institutions; and, 4) In the case of low-income housing, fear of stigma associated with building morphologies that differ radically from surrounding housing structures. Once we have completed the analyses, data collection, and results synthesis, reporting and publication we will construct a human-scale, habitable prototype that incorporates the climate-responsive feature(s) that indicate the greatest potential for decreased energy consumption and improved thermal comfort for local conditions.
This blog will serve as a reporting and dissemination mechanism for our project as it moves forward. We welcome any and all questions, comments, suggestions, references, citations and contacts that may be relevant to our work.
