The coastal cities of India, especially the southeastern parts have hot humid climatic conditions with airborne salinity and are thermally uncomfortable to live in today without the use of energy consuming heat and moisture regulation devices such as air conditioners and dehumidifiers. As a person who has lived all her life in a similarly conditioned city, I have always wanted to find and employ better and simpler solutions to avoid the yearlong hot and sweaty days and nights.
During a trip to Konerirajapuram, a rural village in Tamilnadu, India, I was fascinated by how calm and soothing it was to live in a century year old house for two days during the hottest summer I have ever experienced and felt none of its heat effects in the house. And all of these were achieved only by the simple yet technical construction of the house with the use of not even a single appliance!
I started to research more about vernacular methods of the same region which was developed several centuries ago and realized that they have successfully created passively cool and ventilated indoor environments. For the study of this project, I chose the vernacular houses in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu – a town with hot humid conditions and airborne salinity to understand the techniques they use to passively attain thermal comfort conditions in the interiors of its spaces. I aim to understand the concept and propose alternative uses to the iconic windcatcher used in these houses so that it would become a common aspect of every house in today's coastal cities and reduce their reliance on devices for living comfortably.
I started to research more about vernacular methods of the same region which was developed several centuries ago and realized that they have successfully created passively cool and ventilated indoor environments. For the study of this project, I chose the vernacular houses in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu – a town with hot humid conditions and airborne salinity to understand the techniques they use to passively attain thermal comfort conditions in the interiors of its spaces. I aim to understand the concept and propose alternative uses to the iconic windcatcher used in these houses so that it would become a common aspect of every house in today's coastal cities and reduce their reliance on devices for living comfortably.
I started to research more about vernacular methods of the same region which was developed several centuries ago and realized that they have successfully created passively cool and ventilated indoor environments. For the study of this project, I chose the vernacular houses in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu – a town with hot humid conditions and airborne salinity to understand the techniques they use to passively attain thermal comfort conditions in the interiors of its spaces. I aim to understand the concept and propose alternative uses to the iconic windcatcher used in these houses so that it would become a common aspect of every house in today's coastal cities and reduce their reliance on devices for living comfortably.
Which roof form works best to reduce heat within the interiors of the space?