English

The office workers in Bangkok are accustomed to their environments of a hot-humid climate, resulting in a wider range of acceptable temperatures and higher comfort zone than the recommendation in moderate climate countries. This gives the possibility to use natural ventilation as a tool to provide occupants preference and comfort zone in office buildings, considering a short time experience.

The Nutrition Centre with 836 m2 surface, was finalised on the 30th of July 1999. It is situated in the department of El Peten, municipal of Dolores in Guatemala, 70km from the ancient ruins of Mayas de Tikal. The autochthonous architecture is being replaced with advance and modern materials that may not resolve, but increase, the bad conditions of comfort in the habitat. Constructed with autochthonous materials and local labour, it is part of an integral help program, attendance and formation for an autochthonous population.

The residences that Muslims built in the Iberian Peninsula respond to a similar architectural type. They are commonly distributed around a central elongated courtyard, in whose north wing a tower is normally attached. The spatial sequence established between the tower and the patio improves the environmental conditions of the complex through the combination of some specific cooling strategies. This article includes a typological analysis of this configuration, a study of its environmental aspects, as well as the computer simulations undertaken to evaluate the hypothesis.

This paper describes a thermal comfort survey of people living in courtyard housing. The study took place in the Iranian city of Ilam, which experiences a hot, dry climate. The survey compared the thermal comfort conditions of people outside using the courtyard housing, and was conducting during the hot summer season. Over 570 subjects responded to thermal comfort questionnaires. At the same time physical measurements were taken of such parameters as dry bulb air temperature, relative humidity and air velocity.

This paper examines the conditions of a relatively large courtyard (45 by 10 meters), enclosed by a one-story building, located in the Negev Lowlands. The region is characterised by hot, dry summer days, and wide temperature and relative humidity fluctuations. The courtyard was monitored under extreme conditions typical of the hot spells, common during transition periods, during which even night minima are sometimes well above the comfort zone.

This paper presents the design of an urban, low-cost and progressive enlargement house following sustainable, bio-climatic and energy conservation criteria in a tropical and humid climate. This building design is based on results of experimental and numerical research on passive cooling systems and heat gain control mechanisms carried out by the authors. This house is intended to be a bio-climatic response to the housing need for low-income social groups. The individual integral comfort and his relation with the environment are the most important concern.

An environmental prototype, single family dwelling has been constructed on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The project was an attempt to produce a house that represents the best practice in the environmental design of a new house. A holistic environmental assessment is being undertaken on the house, post-construction. This paper presents the methodology underlying that assessment. The aim of the assessment is to produce data that will represent a high level of environmental performance in the house design.

The use of superinsulation is normally associated with climates that are colder and less temperate than that of Auckland, New Zealand. However, if life-cycle energy analysis is undertaken, which incorporates operating and embodied energies and the energy of replacement parts over the life of the building, it can be shown that superinsulation of standard New Zealand lightweight construction more than halves the life-cycle energy of a typical house.

The paper traces the paradigm changes for house design in warm-humid climates, from the preference for traditional elevated, lightweight, ventilated buildings, through the advocacy for heavy construction, to the present conclusion that both can be equally good. The extension of selection criteria is suggested, to include psychological factors, which seem to favour the lightweight, cross-ventilated buildings. The success of these depends on the cooling effect of air movement, hence an attempt is made to quantify this effect.