People spend 90% of their lives in buildings, which act as a protective ‘third skin’ from the elements, but climates are becoming more extreme and so the design of places we live and work in must be radically overhauled to keep people at safe temperatures indoors.
Many homes and workplaces are not designed to withstand the extreme weather fluctuations we will increasingly experience in a hotter future.
The good news is that a new generation of architects and engineers are now creating the climate-ready buildings that can keep occupants thermally safe and comfortable even during heatwaves and cold storms. Many of the designers are transferring lessons from warmer climates to educate ‘Western architects’ on designing for future climates.
These arguments are explored in new book, Adaptive Thermal Comfort: At the Extremes .
In the twentieth century, the authors explain, the Western world exported a very narrow definition of ‘thermal comfort’ in building design, which saw lightweight, glass-walled air-conditioned buildings proliferate around the world, in which windows do not open. Not only are these highly energy-intensive to run and will only become more so as climates become more extreme, but many also are super-polluters, major drivers of climate change.
“In reality, many modern buildings, and particularly homes, are already failing in various ways. During extreme weather events, they overheat. During power outages, some buildings do not even remain habitable”, the authors of Adaptive Thermal Comfort explain.
“Even many in the middle classes in developed economies are finding it increasingly hard to afford the energy needed to keep their homes thermally safe, let alone comfortable, even before the onset of the evermore extreme weather events we will all face in the future.”
Some common issues in building design include overheating risks in single-sided flats with poor ventilation, and any buildings in dense cities that retain high temperatures day and night in hot weather.
Most modern homes have large open-plan spaces and big glass walls without curtains or shades. These designs make it easy for heat to escape or enter quickly, causing the rooms to quickly get too hot or too cold, which can negatively affect the health and comfort of the people living there.
“The way we currently measure and design buildings for the climate is not working. It is leading us to a dead-end generation of unadaptable and thermally dangerous buildings that require so much energy to remain habitable, that only the very wealthiest will be able to afford to occupy them,” the authors warn.
Buildings – and especially homes – in the future, they suggest, will need to be able to maintain comfortable temperatures almost independently from the electricity grid for as much of the year as possible in local climates. When energy is needed, it can often be sourced locally as free, clean energy like from sun, wind and ground-sourcing.
The authors – Susan Roaf, Fergus Nicol and Michael Humphreys – explain that we are at a crossroads: “One direction points to continuing to design buildings that are shut off from the climate around them in order to be conditioned by efficient machines. The other direction points to the seemingly revolutionary idea that we urgently need to reconnect indoor climates to those outside them to create buildings in which people are enabled to use local, natural, renewable energy from sun, wind and planting to stay comfortable indoors for as much of the year as possible, free of cost to themselves and with minimal impacts on the planet.”
Adaptive Thermal Comfort: At the Extremes points out that humanity has always managed to adapt to its surroundings across a huge variety of climates, made habitable in locally evolved buildings. They argue that we now need to relearn from the wisdom of traditional builders around the world who design for already extreme climates.
Lessons are offered in the book from traditional yurts in Mongolia to the Māori philosophy on human wellbeing. Examples are cited from Sweden about how the power of community keeps people alive, and from innovative architects in South East Asia designing comfortable homes conditioned largely from local and natural resources.
Author Susan Roaf, who is Emeritus Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot Watt University, explains: “ We need radical new thinking. We need completely new thinking that enables buildings to run on local energy, using natural ventilation, solar gain in winter, and time cooling in summer, so profoundly reducing energy use in, and carbon emissions from buildings. More efficient machines are not the solution.
“What's really exciting is the new generation of pioneering architects who design beautiful, comfortable, naturally-ventilated buildings that keep people cool.
“It's time we in the North start listening to others. It’s time for architects in South East Asia, for instance, who are creating wonderful buildings, to export their wisdom back to teach the West how to design responsible climate-friendly homes and workplaces.
“This is the message: we need hybrid or mixed-mode buildings that can be run for as much of the year as possible on local, free, natural energy, and only heated or cooled when necessary.”
Roaf and her co-authors explain that living safely through extreme weather cannot be divorced from other social challenges. A U.S. study showed that people die in cities during heatwaves when a fear of crime prevents them from opening windows. In Sweden they found that older people meeting in a community hall feel physiologically and psychologically more comfortable than alone in their own homes at the same low temperature.
“Being alone at home, isolated and perhaps depressed, leads to illness. The power of the community to provide people with social comfort makes a physiological difference. Comfort, therefore, isn’t just nice to have. It saves lives,” Roaf explains.
The authors conclude with a call to action: “Global and local climates are becoming rapidly more extreme. Humanity must now prepare for different future climates. The issues of how decision-makers and designers can keep people and populations affordably and reliably thermally comfortable, safe and alive in those climates is become one of the hottest political topics for governments globally in our rapidly heating world.”