3. Climate responsive Architecture
The term ‘climate responsive architecture’ stands for a type of architecture which is based on climate responses, relating the building envelope with natural elements (wind, sun, rain..) to reach specific goals. Differently from weather, the word ‘climate’ describes how the atmosphere behave over long periods of time; the climate of a city is mainly affected by its location (latitude, altitude) and affects the indoor climate and human thermal comfort. There are multiple ways in which the design of a building can modify the effect of the natural parameters on the building itself: the height of the building, for example, is a primary factor in terms of how wind path is controlled, and the same is valid for solar radiation gains (that mainly affects the building openings orientation). Apart from the location of the city itself, there are other important aspects to be considered in the climatic analysis of a certain project: mountain barriers, presence of water (that moderates the climate) or other land peculiarities, ocean currents and winds. A climate responsive design takes care of all the previously described parameters which have direct influence on indoor thermal comfort and energy consumption in buildings.
3.1 - Bidani house (Faridabad, India)