ABSTRACT
Indigenous, or vernacular, architecture tends to provide thermal comfort using limited, local resources and energy. Lessons may be learned from both the past and the present where populations live modestly, in tune with their climate and region. Understanding and harnessing the forces of nature in buildings is key to a climate-responsive architecture. The position and direction of sun and wind vary season by season. Knowing the relationship between these two powerful forces allows the designer to manipulate a building’s orientation and form, the location of its spaces and the position, size and design of openings in order to take advantage of free heating, cooling and ventilation. It is wise to plan a building such that rooms that require little or no heating or that are occupied only occasionally and rooms that generate their own heat are located on the non-solar-oriented face as a buffer zone.
