Thermal Delight in Architecture

Thermal Delight in Architecture
Author: Lisa Heschong
Publsiher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1979-12-05
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 026258039X

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Our thermal environment is as rich in cultural associations as our visual, acoustic, olfactory, and tactile environments. This book explores the potential for using thermal qualities as an expressive element in building design. Until quite recently, building technology and design has favored high-energy-consuming mechanical methods of neutralizing the thermal environment. It has not responded to the various ways that people use, remember, and care about the thermal environment and how they associate their thermal sense with their other senses. The hearth fire, the sauna, the Roman and Japanese baths, and the Islamic garden are discussed as archetypes of thermal delight about which rituals have developed—reinforcing bonds of affection and ceremony forged in the thermal experience. Not only is thermal symbolism now obsolete but the modern emphasis on central heating systems and air conditioning and hermetically sealed buildings has actually damaged our thermal coping and sensing mechanisms. This book for the solar age could help change all that and open up for us a new dimension of architectural experience. As the cost of energy continues to skyrocket, alternatives to the use of mechanical force must be developed to meet our thermal needs. A major alternative is the use of passive solar energy, and the book will provide those interested in solar design with a reservoir of ideas.

Visual Delight in Architecture

Visual Delight in Architecture
Author: Lisa Heschong
Publsiher: Routledge
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2021-03-11
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781000378962

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Visual Delight in Architecture examines the many ways that our lives are enriched by the presence of natural daylight and window views within our buildings. It makes a compelling case that daily exposure to the rhythms of daylight is essential to our health and well-being, tied to the very genetic foundations of our physiology and cognitive function. It describes all the subtlety, beauty, and pleasures of well-daylit spaces and attractive window views, and explains how these are woven into the fabric of both our everyday sensory experience and enduring cultural perspectives. All types of environmental designers, along with anyone interested in human health and well- being, will fi nd new insights offered by Visual Delight in Architecture. The book is both accessible and provocative, full of personal stories and persuasive research, helping designers to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific basis of their designs, scientists to better grasp the real-world implications of their work, and everyone to more fully appreciate the role of windows in their lives.

Courtyards

Courtyards
Author: John Reynolds
Publsiher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2002
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0471398845

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"Courtyards presents a survey of courtyards, contemporary design guidelines, and a diverse selection of examples. Readers will acquire a basic understanding of the balance that must exist between garden and building, including practical advice for planting."--BOOK JACKET.

Architecture of the Well Tempered Environment

Architecture of the Well Tempered Environment
Author: Reyner Banham
Publsiher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2022-07-26
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780226825885

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Reyner Banham was a pioneer in arguing that technology, human needs, and environmental concerns must be considered an integral part of architecture. No historian before him had so systematically explored the impact of environmental engineering on the design of buildings and on the minds of architects. In this revision of his classic work, Banham has added considerable new material on the use of energy, particularly solar energy, in human environments. Included in the new material are discussions of Indian pueblos and solar architecture, the Centre Pompidou and other high-tech buildings, and the environmental wisdom of many current architectural vernaculars.

Adaptive Thermal Comfort Principles and Practice

Adaptive Thermal Comfort  Principles and Practice
Author: Fergus Nicol,Michael Humphreys,Susan Roaf
Publsiher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2012-03-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781136336478

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The fundamental function of buildings is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the twentieth century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines and run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings today requires a new approach. This timely book is the first in a trilogy from leaders in the field which will provide just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in practice and to analyze the data gathered. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the ‘product’, designed using simplistic comfort models. The result has contributed to a shift to buildings that use ever more energy. A growing international consensus now calls for low-energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide occupants with many opportunities to make changes to suit their environmental needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that is essential to understand and inform such building designs. This book should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management – for all who have a role in producing, and occupying, twenty-first century adaptive, low-carbon, comfortable buildings.

Thermal Comfort in Hot Dry Climates

Thermal Comfort in Hot Dry Climates
Author: Ahmadreza Foruzanmehr
Publsiher: Routledge
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2017-09-14
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781315527116

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With increases in global temperatures, the risk of overheating is expected to rise around the world. This results in a much higher dependency upon energy-intensive cooling systems and air-conditioners to provide thermal comfort, but how sustainable is this in a world where problems with the production of electricity are predicted? Vernacular houses in hot and dry central Iran have been adapted to the climate through passive cooling techniques, and this book provides a valuable assessment of the thermal performance of such housing. Shedding new light on the ability of traditional housing forms to provide thermal comfort, Thermal Comfort in Hot Dry Climates identifies the main cooling systems and methods in traditional houses in central Iran, and examines how architectural elements such as central courtyards, distinct seasonal rooms, loggias, basements and wind-catchers can contribute to the provision of thermal comfort in vernacular houses.

The Place of Houses

The Place of Houses
Author: Charles Willard Moore,Gerald Allen,Donlyn Lyndon
Publsiher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2000
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0520223578

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Originally published: New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, c1974.

Sustainable Architecture White Papers

Sustainable Architecture White Papers
Author: David E. Brown,Mindy Fox,Mary Rickel Pelletier,Earth Pledge Foundation
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2000
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: UOM:39015051299264

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A remarkable collection of vibrant and diverse readings, Sustainable Architecture White Papers explores the critical link between our built and natural environments. Cutting-edge architecture, design, planning, public works, and education leaders illustrate the value of a new architectural strategy. Sustainable Architecture teaches us that when creative processes are used in conjunction with social, cultural, and environmental systems, architecture can meet the aesthetic and practical requirements of today without compromising the needs of future generations. A sample of the contents reveals a top-notch team of forward-thinkers: William McDonough: "Eco-effectiveness: A New Design Strategy" Croxton Collaborative Architects: "Human-Centered Sustainable Design" Architectural Record: "Taking the Elective Out of Environmental Education" Karl Linn: "Reclaiming the Commons" Pliny Fisk: "Advanced Green Building" James Wines: "The Art of Architecture in the Age of Ecology" Emilio Ambasz: "Green Towns" This beautifully assembled compilation, published by the Earth Pledge Foundation, follows on the success of Sustainable Cuisine White Papers and reflects the organization's mission to promote sustainability, primarily in the areas of architecture and cuisine. Working with architects, builders and designers, and farmers, chefs, and restaurateurs, Earth Pledge creates nonprofit media projects that promote "green living" in these respective areas. With a preface by Paul Hawken, this is a star-studded collection of essays on sustainable architecture that speaks to professionals and nonprofessionals alike. A perfect read for anyone interested in how the architecture and design aesthetic connects with environmental sustainability.