ABSTRACT
This chapter provides five exercises that can help students to design and gives a better chance of performing well on planet Earth. It focuses on thermal comfort, especially as it relates to the sun. The first two exercises are ordered in the same hierarchy as Lechner's low-hanging fruit tree. The chapter first discusses where the sun is so that one can orient their buildings properly. It then describes about glass, and how much is appropriate. The chapter explains third exercise is a connection between the ideas of thermal comfort and building integrity, looking at layers of protection in the design of building enclosures. However water in its many forms is so potentially damaging to buildings, the fourth exercise looks at ways to control it. The fifth exercise goes one step further in addressing the formal implications of turning water into an asset, rather than a liability, in the designs.
