Climate Responsive Architecture studio aimed at sensitizing students towards climate by understanding comfort zones within a building in its given climatic context and investigating ways to create architecture that emerges out of Passive Solar principals.
Beginning with teaching, understanding and discussing basics of climate through, sun and its movement, prevailing winds and humidity, and, the principles of heat transfer, lighting and ventilation- both natural and heat driven air movement, it went onto understanding and establishing a comfort zone for different climates.
So as to explore a wider gamut of climate responsive architectural strategies, sites were taken in three different climate zones; Cold and Dry, Hot and Humid and Composite Extreme.
Students evolved passive architectural features, details and appropriate use of efficient materials to formulate strategies for the relevant climate. The design program ensured buildings with both, day and night usage so as to explore corresponding strategies.
Finally, to validate these heating, lighting and ventilation achievements in efficiently designed spaces and building envelopes, the design was run through lighting and thermal simulation software Sefaira.
While the studio promoted taking hints from vernacular knowledge, it focused more on exploring architecture based on scientific attitude and available technology.
