ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
SEMINAR

I DESIGN
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RESPONSIVE
Responsive The exterior
architecture could be
responsive to
- responding the wind, sun,
rain, temperature
to climate, etc (macro);
using nature While the interior
could interact
as an digitally with the
users (micro);
example

CLIMATE . . . ? ? ?
Climate encompasses the statistics of
• Temperature
• humidity
• atmospheric pressure
• wind
• precipitation
• atmospheric particle count and
other meteorological elemental measurements in a
given region over long periods.

DEFINITION IN SHORT!
• Climate (from Ancient Greek klima,
meaning inclination) is commonly defined as the
weather averaged over a long period.
• The standard averaging period is 30 years

CLIMATE AND WEATHER
• The difference between weather and climate is a
measure of time.
• Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are
over a short period of time, and climate is how the
atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of
time.

CLIMATE & COMFORT
• The climate of a location is affected by its
latitude, terrain and altitude, as well as nearby
vegetation, water bodies and their currents.
• Climate affects the indoor climate and human thermal
comfort.

THERMAL COMFORT. . ?
 Comfort is defined as the sensation of complete physical and mental
well being.
 Thermal neutrality, where an individual desires neither a warmer nor
a colder environment, is a necessary condition for thermal comfort.
 The factors affecting comfort are divided into personal variables:
 activity
 Clothing
 and environmental variables,
 air temperature,
 mean radiant temperature
 air velocity
 air humidity

THERMAL COMFORT –
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
 Temperature
The average air temperature from the floor at a height of 1.1 m.
 Mean Radiant Temperature
The average temperature of the surrounding surfaces, which includes
the effect of the incident solar radiation.
 Air Velocity
Which affects convective heat loss from the body, i.e. air at a greater
velocity will seem cooler.
 Air Humidity
Which affects the latent heat losses and has a particularly important
impact in warm and humid environments

ELEMENTS OF CLIMATE
 The most important elements of climate and weather
parameters that affect human comfort and are relevant to
building design are:
• Solar Radiation
• Long wave Radiation
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Wind
• Precipitation

Building height combinations to control winds
(a), (b) and sunlight (c), (d) along streets.

WIND
Examples of different wind strategies in building design for
cold (a), (b) and hot (c) and (d) climates

6 CLIMATE FACTORS
I. Latitude IV. Mountain Barriers
II. Altitude V. Ocean Currents
III. Land - Water VI. Prevailing Winds
Relationship

Latitude
I. Latitude - Distance north or south of
the equator
A. Low - Warm to hot
B. Middle - Seasonal
C. High - Polar (cool to cold)

*Latitude
impacts EVERY
PLACE on the Earth*

Altitude
II. Altitude - Height above sea level
A. In mountain areas, there are major climatic
differences from the bottom to the top.
B. As air rises, it loses the ability to hold heat.
It gets 1 F colder for every 300-400 ft. you
go up.

Altitude
Snow Cap
Tree Line
Sea Level
* Altitude impacts if over 5,000 ft*

Land-Water Relationship
III. Land-Water Relationship
A. A large body of water tends to cause a
mild or moderate climate. (Very little
change)
B. A body of water heats up and cools down
slower than a land mass
C. Wind assumes the temp. of the surface it
passes over and carries that temp. with it.

Land-Water Relationship
LAND
OCEAN

Mountain Barriers
IV. Mountain Barriers - Cause different
climates on opposite sides of mountain.
A. Moisture carrying winds must rise to get
over mountains.
B. Air cools as it rises, losing ability to hold
water causing rain on the windward side
C. This leaves no moisture for the leeward side
creating a desert.

Mountain Barriers
NO
RAIN
WINDWARD SIDE Less
rain LEEWARD SIDE
Less
Rain
Rain
WIND
Cascade Mts
5,000 ft.
Dry
Spokane, WA
Ocean Seattle, WA 12 in. Rain per Year
(80 in. Rain per Year)

Ocean Currents
V. Ocean Currents - Rivers of water that
move through the ocean.
A. They assume the temperature of the water
that they pass over and carry that
temperature.
B. Wind passing over the current must pass
near the land mass to have an impact.

Warm Currents
LAND OCEAN
Causes
Warm
And
Moist
Climate
(Rain
Forest)

Cold Currents
OCEAN
LAND
Causes
Cool
And
Dry
Climate
(Desert)

Prevailing Winds
VI. Prevailing Winds - Winds that blow
most often in different parts of the Earth.
A. Wind blows because:
1. Air over warm land rises
2. Cooler air moves in from surrounding areas to
replace rising air
3. The cool air is heated and process repeats

Prevailing Winds
Low Pressure High Pressure
L H
Cool Air Descends
Warm Air Rises
Warm Land Mass Cool Land Mass or Water

CLIMATE RESPONSIVE DESIGN
• Climate responsive design is based on the way a building form
and structure moderates the climate for human good and well
being.
• Climate responsive design in buildings takes into account the following
climatic parameters which have direct influence on indoor thermal
comfort and energy consumption in buildings:
• The air temperature,
• The humidity,
• The prevailing wind direction and speed,
• The amount of solar radiation and the solar path.
• Long wave radiation between other buildings and the surrounding
environment and sky also plays a major role in building
performance.

PROJECT CLIMATE EVALUATION
• Every project starts with a careful evaluation
of what a project’s climate capital provides.
• We need to understand the resources
available for us to protect against and take
advantage of – whether that is
solar, wind, temperature, humidity or
rainfall.

1.PERFORM A SITE ANALYSIS
• Determine the weather patterns, climate, soil types,
wind speed and direction, heating degree days and
path of the sun. Look at the water flows, habitat and
geology of the site. Document each with a qualified
team of professionals to understand the ramifications
of building in that specific place.

2.LAYOUT THE BUILDING ON THE
SITE.
• Using the general program, through an integrative team
process, use a basic massing of the building layout to
determine specifically on site the most optimal location
for the building to be situated. Factors to consider here
are access to infrastructure, staying at least 100 feet
clear of any watershed, not building within a floodplain
and/or in a habitat with endangered species. Ask: what
trees and other existing geological features should be
avoided? How does the water flow across the site dictate
the location of the building?

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SUN - ORIENT THE BUILDING
BASED UPON CARDINAL DIRECTIONS.
• The goal here is to maximize the amount of sun
that heats the space in the winter (hence using
less energy to mechanically heat) and decrease
the amount of sun that cooks in the summer
(hence using less energy to mechanically cool).

Select the appropriate window areas
and glazing types based on
orientation
• South facing facades should utilize a window area
appropriate to its orientation and glazing should
utilize a double or triple paned glass with a low-
e coating to minimize the amount of heat transmitted
into the space in the hottest months, while keeping
heat inside during the cooler winter months.
• For example, a south facing glass window wall will
cook the occupants inside during the hot summer
months if care is not taken on this façade.

Building envelope design varies
greatly by geographic area.
• When designing the envelope of the building, factors
such as insulation, vapour barriers and air barriers
will vary radically depending on whether the project
is in the cold, snowy north, the hot and humid south
or the arid desert.

Design for natural ventilation.
• Since warm air rises, a building can be cooled by
designing for stack ventilation by drawing cooler air
from openings low in the building, while carrying
heat away through openings in the top of the space.
• The rate at which the air moves is a function of the
vertical distance between the inlets and outlets, their
size and the difference in temperature over the height
of the room.

BIDANI HOUSE
FARIDABAD

SITE ADDRESS/ LOCATION :
Faridabad
CLIMATIC ZONE :
Composite
BUILDING TYPE :
Residential
ARCHITECTS :
Dr Arvind Krishan and Kunal Jain
PROJECT STATUS :
Completed

 Very often it is stated that it is possible to design climatically responsive
buildings on a larger site, but in most urban situations where the sites are
constrained by their small size and of fixed orientation, it is not possible to
develop such a design.
 The Bidani House is a project that demonstrates a situation where a
climate -responsive form and design was achieved in an existing
urban situation with a fixed site size and orientation.
Faridabad, located in the ‘composite climate’ zone, has
large climatic swings over the year, i.e. very hot and dry period of
almost two and a half months and a colder period of a shorter
duration. The hot dry period is followed by a hot humid, monsoon
period of about two months with intervening periods of milder
climate.

KEY SUSTAINABLE FEATURES
•House form developed around courtyard (acts as heat sink)
•Large volumes of spaces coupled with courtyard for ventilation
•Buffer spaces located on the overheated south-western exposure
•Form of the building allows solar penetration according to seasonal
changes
•Pergola and louvers cut off unwanted radiation
•Local stone used as major construction material, which provides
thermal mass for attenuation of diurnal swings in temperature