Thermal Delight in Architecture Outline

Preface

 The book operates under the hypothesis that the thermal function of a building could be
used as an element of design
o Thermal qualities
 Warm, cool, humid, airy, radiant, cozy
 Influence how we feel about a space
 Thermal qualities are often neglected
o A/C unit in the back of a building, very plain and mechanical
 How do the thermal qualities of a building affect peoples’ experience of it?
o Fireplace is an example of thermal use
 Now replaced by a heating unit
 Used to be the center of family life; turned a house into a home
 Islamic garden
o Cool oasis in the center of an Islamic home
 There are two archetypes in thermal architecture
o Hearth
 Dry warmth in cold world
o Oasis
 Preserve of coolness and moisture in a desert wilderness

Necessity

 Life exists within a small range of temperatures

o Even smaller range in which organisms can compete
 There are various ways that organisms respond to this (temperature control)
o Oceans have fairly stable thermal environments
 Fish and other oceanic cold-blooded creatures function well as their
bodies don’t change temperature much (a couple of degrees max)
o The land has drastic temperature shifts, land organisms must adapt and develop
thermal strategies that allows for fluctuation
o Not be there when it gets hot/cold
 Simple life forms (bacteria, yeast) stop metabolizing in inhospitable
temps
 Live only in favorable seasons, leave eggs behind in unfavorable
o Be deciduous/hibernate
 Plants drop their leaves, reduce metabolic activity
 Animals hibernate
 Metabolic rate of animals is related to heat
 Hotter ->high metabolism
 o Animals can move around (choose most favorable location)
 Migration between climate zones
 Move within micro climates (shade vs no shade)
 Cold blooded creatures use this for temp regulation
o Cold blooded animals
 Use muscle activity to regulate body temp
 Lizards do pushups on a hot rock to heat up
 Will retreat into small crevice and lie still to cool down
o Warm blooded animals
 Takes advantage of heat naturally generated by metabolism
 Changes in muscle tone generate heat
 Mammals can control the rate of heat flow away from their bodies
 Blood circulation
o Humans
 Humans have lost the thick fur coats, losing thermal control capabilities
 Bodies function well in hot, humid climates
 Clothing reflects the climate
 Arabs have white robes that reflect away heat
 Eskimos have fur parkas that keep in body heat
 Human migration
 British in India moved to hill stations in hotter months
 Summer cottages
 Trips to Bahamas in the colder months
 Nests/Buildings/Microclimates
o Organisms attempt to find the best microclimate
 Deep hole in the ground with fur shedding
o Anasazi Indians
 Built cliff dwellings
 Locations were shaded in the summer by overhanging ledge (solar
shading)
 Fully exposed to the sun in the winter
 Thermal mass of earth kept them warm in the winter
o Buildings are ways to modify a landscape into preferable microclimates
 A simple hut creates six microclimates
 South-warmed by sunny wall
 North-usually shady
 East- morning sun and protection from prevailing breeze
 West- warmed in afternoon but struck often by wind
 Inside and roof
 People can select microclimate best suited to their needs
o Tunisia
 2 story house with central courtyard and colonnades along all sides
 In the summer, the colonnades create shade (solar shading)
  Family spends day on first floor (low thermal mass)
 Spends night on roof, lower heat
 Reversed in the winter
 Spend days on roof to catch winter sun
 Spend night on upper floor; walls retained heat; catch heat rising
from below
 Materials suited to climates
o Desert
 High heat capacity to absorb solar radiation, dissipate at night
 Clay and stone
o Hot, humid tropics
 Buildings with reduced thermal mass
 Light materials-bamboo and reeds
 No re-radiation
 Ventilation minimum
 Large roofs-shade and rain protection
 Eskimo Igloo
o Protection from winter wind
o Contains Large volume in small structure
o Draped in fur and skin to prevent cold radiation
o Eskimo uses fire to heat up enclosure
 Fire
o Fire has a certain civilizing quality
o First used for other things (food and smoke) rather than heat source
o Most primitive dwellings were small round shelter around a fire
 Fire required oxygen; sucked in cool air
 Primitive people still had to rely on heavy coats for heat
o Middle ages-chimney was invented
 Needs to be made of fireproof materials
 Stone and brick re-radiates heat into the home
 Homes in northern Europe had fireplace/chimney systems
o Ben Franklin
 Created a fireplace in metal box
 Regulate rate of combustion
 Radiated much more heat into the room
 Franklin stove was mass produced
o Transition from radiant to convective heating
 Fire can heat house indirectly by heating the air
 Air can be circulated around home
 Franklin stove  furnace
o People realized that homes needed to be airtight in order for heat to stay in
 Electric motors circulated air through home through vents
  A/C
o Hot dry climates used fountains, plants, clay pots with water to stay cool
 Evaporation doesn’t cool humid climates though
 Inhospitable until A/C
o Willis Carrier
 Developed way to both dehumidify and cool air
 Passing humid air through spray of cold water
o Cold air cannot hold as much humidity as warm air
o Air forced to lose excess humidity
o Coldness of spray  how much humidity lost
 Reheat air to comfortable temperature
 What is a truly optimal thermal climate?
o People are sensitive to subtle temperature changes
o Comfort zones are different for people in different regions
 British is 58-70
 US is 69-80
o Variation amongst people of different ages, sex, acclimatization
o American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and A/C Engineers still release
standards for thermal comfort
 Heschong’s opinion is that one cannot paint all thermal requirements
under such a large brush
 No objective comfort
 Astronaut food may meet nutritional requirements but not as
tasty as chef prepared
o Heating follows the same way. Has potential for variation
and sensuality. Do away with temperature neutral world

Delight

 People have a sense of warmness and coolness

o The sense is not passive like sense of sight (looking at red will not make a person
redder)
 A cold object will make a person cooler
o Reflects directly what is happening to the body
o We get used to the temperature in a climate after a bit
 Nervous system better at noticing changes than steady states
 People like shifts in senses
o Blue is most restful color; however, people wouldn’t want a world full of blue
o There is a steady state thermal environment despite this affinity to variation
 All of our settings are A/C’ed to a certain temperature
 This uniformity is highly unnatural
 o People go to beaches and ski slopes. Like the temp change (going from beach to
cold ocean)

 Proposed “climate bubble” where an entire environment is kept at a certain temp

o Dome like Buckminster Fuller/pneumatic structure
o General Services Admin Building (plans)
 Contained in a bubble, no need for windows or doors or individual
heaters
 Extreme temperature differences
o People like them for two reasons
 Physiological
 Availability of extremes ensures that one can move from one to
the other to maintain a thermal balance
 Safety to enjoy both extremes
 Finnish Saunas
o Finns could go naked into the winter (-50 degrees) after
being in a sauna
 Aesthetic
 Experience of each extreme is made more acute in contrast
o Being inside next to fire is best when there is a winter
storm outside
 Sometimes colors and textures replace thermal experience itself
o Fuzzy, brown, red=warm
o Mint=cold
 Senses work together to create perception
o A painting (purely visual) can draw thermal properties from context clues
 We need to be aware of thermal properties to enjoy them
o Most of the mechanisms are subtle and operate in the subconscious
o Use clues from other senses
 Japanese hang pictures of waterfalls in the summer
 Hang wind chime outside
o Sound of ringing=wind=coolness
 Persian gardens have jasmine and other fragrant flowers
 Fragrance=wind blowing=coolness
 Warmth is associated with other people, lack of tension in muscles
 Places with people remind of warmth
o Victorian parlor=remnants of peoples lives=warmth
 Things that were alive like furs=warmth
 Delight in certain actions
o Splashing in water after hot day
 Creates sense of quick wittedness
o Hot day can be overstimulating
 Shade=peace
 o Persian Garden offers variety of sensory experiences to help perceive coolness in
hot desert
 Fountains, overhanging vines, shaded stone pavilions
 Thermal qualities stimulate each sense
o Fire
 Sight, sound, smell, touch

Affection