Climate Responsive Design

Climate Responsive Design provides a unique source for students and practising architects requiring guidance on climatic design. Covering theory and application it provides examples of innovative and best practice in 'responsive architecture' through case studies. The book also covers the broader topic of technology as a generator in design which will be of interest to all those involved in design and building. The book focuses on tropical climate but some of the theory can be applied to other climates; the difference in application is clearly delineated.

Climate Responsive Design provides a unique source for students and practising architects requiring guidance on climatic design. Covering theory and application it provides examples of innovative and best practice in 'responsive architecture' through case studies. The book also covers the broader topic of technology as a generator in design which will be of interest to all those involved in design and building. The book focuses on tropical climate but some of the theory can be applied to other climates; the difference in application is clearly delineated.

This PhD-thesisidentifies the knowledge that is needed in the early stages of the design process and showshow to transfer and transform that knowledge to the field of the architect in orderfor them to successfully implement the principles of climate-responsive design."

The book comprehensively investigates the relationship between critical urban form and fabric parameters and urban microclimate in the high-rise urban environment that prevails in Asian megacities such as Shanghai. It helps readers gain a deeper understanding of climate-responsive urban design strategies and tactics for effectively mitigating the negative impacts of deteriorating urban thermal environments on pedestrian thermal comfort, outdoor air quality and building energy consumption. It also reviews the latest advances in urban climate research, with a focus on the challenges in terms of outdoor space comfort, health, and livability posed by the high-rise and high-density development in emerging Asian megacities, and proposes an integrated framework in response to the pressing need for microclimate research. It then presents a series of studies on high-rise residential and non-residential urban neighborhoods and districts based on instrumented field study, validated numerical simulation, and spatial analysis using a GIS platform. The book includes extensive, valuable experimental data presented in a clear and concise manner. The thermal atlas methodology based on empirical modeling and spatial analysis described is a useful climate-responsive design tool for both urban designer and architects. As such, the book is of particular interest to researchers, professionals, and graduate students in the fields of urban planning and design, building science and urban climatology.

The book presents governance with a particular focus on the social and spatial aspects of climate responsiveness and reads the practice of governance across different scales. It conceptualizes a framework of scale composed of three main categories including (i) scientific knowledge, (ii) plans and policies, and (iii) authorities of action. This framework presents ‘practice’ as the social context in which these three can interplay adaptively. Within this framework, the book presents case studies from Turkey, Italy, Ecuador, Chile and the UK, that reach meaningful planning and design solutions at national, city, and neighbourhood scales in the face of climate change. It offers implementation clues that are transferable to ever-increasing climate action around the globe. The book will be of interest to both professionals and scholars involved in urban design, urban planning and architecture, especially those in the field of climate responsive urbanism. It will also be a valuable resource for non-governmental organizations and social enterprises dealing with sustainability and climate change policies.

How climate influenced the design strategies of modernist architects Modern Architecture and Climate explores how leading architects of the twentieth century incorporated climate-mediating strategies into their designs, and shows how regional approaches to climate adaptability were essential to the development of modern architecture. Focusing on the period surrounding World War II—before fossil-fuel powered air-conditioning became widely available—Daniel Barber brings to light a vibrant and dynamic architectural discussion involving design, materials, and shading systems as means of interior climate control. He looks at projects by well-known architects such as Richard Neutra, Le Corbusier, Lúcio Costa, Mies van der Rohe, and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and the work of climate-focused architects such as MMM Roberto, Olgyay and Olgyay, and Cliff May. Drawing on the editorial projects of James Marston Fitch, Elizabeth Gordon, and others, he demonstrates how images and diagrams produced by architects helped conceptualize climate knowledge, alongside the work of meteorologists, physicists, engineers, and social scientists. Barber describes how this novel type of environmental media catalyzed new ways of thinking about climate and architectural design. Extensively illustrated with archival material, Modern Architecture and Climate provides global perspectives on modern architecture and its evolving relationship with a changing climate, showcasing designs from Latin America, Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Africa. This timely and important book reconciles the cultural dynamism of architecture with the material realities of ever-increasing carbon emissions from the mechanical cooling systems of buildings and offers a historical foundation for today’s zero-carbon design.

In Keeping The Lights On, Walt Patterson starts from a simple premise: that we are making a mess of energy, and this is endangering the planet. Using accessible, everyday language Patterson describes how we could do much better, outlining a different way