ABSTRACT
Many of the most important things about buildings are invisible. The way heat or cold creeps around walls and floors, the dynamic evolution of a thermal profile of the stratified air in an occupied room or the richness of thermal micro-climates at floor and ceiling levels of even simple buildings. One of the most powerful tools a passive designer has is the ability to thermally landscape spaces, structures and complex aspects within buildings in relation to the micro-climates both in and around them and the lifestyles of those who occupy it. In this chapter I attempt to formalize their basic rules and the opportunities available to designers to exploit the thermal resources to hand with intelligent thermal landscaping. Good thermal landscaping is essential to maximize the extent to which buildings can be run on free, local and renewable energy and also to provide natural climate refuges within them to protect occupants from the worst exigencies of increasingly extreme weather.
