ABSTRACT
How thermally comfortable we are affects wellbeing. As improving indoor thermal environment costs energy, it’s central to ecological design. Traditionally, vernacular building and settlement forms moderated climate: cutting energy consumption, sometimes dramatically. Before improving buildings’ energy efficiency, however, it’s the climate around buildings that drives demand: local microclimate. Hence, to reduce heating (or cooling) need, knowing where sunlight will be, and when; and where windbreaks (or breeze-deflectors) are key. Many buildings, however, increase local wind speed, hence both heat loss and discomfort. Consequently, although high buildings intensify urban mood visually, socially, as wind acceleration deters street life, they can counter it. Conversely, climate-responsive design minimizes energy needs, maximizes comfort – and strengthens regional identity. Chapter 23 focuses on techniques for this, the principles underlying them and the translations from historical precedents that modern circumstances require. Although thermal comfort is a bodily science, thermal delight is a whole-being art.
