Imagine Wouldn't that calm your body and soul?

living in a house, That's the beauty of

nature-centric life,
quite contrary to the one we dwell in right now.
With trees in the open spaces inside and surrounding the house.
A gentle breeze touches the skin, filling up the space with air and
energy, the sound of birds chirping and the sight of squirrels
pacing up the trees while the children playing in the mud getting
their clothes dirty. A soft drizzle makes the children scatter for
shelter and the sweet fragrance of wet mud percolates the house.

A place where your family can sit and enjoy an evening chai and
unwind as all the stresses of the daily bustle fade away, enjoying a
typical evening in bliss.

If not this, then how else do we picture our well-

being in a space?

So let’s ask ourselves;

What is an ideal space?

Let’s answer it together because we all are
familiar with it.
We are familiar with this nature- Buildings in the past were
centric lifestyle since a long time
now, right from our traditional
defined by their location,
ways of building houses or climate and culture. And
any living space. Verandas, that is how it should be!
courtyards and aangans used
to be part of our built spaces But is it?
where the people gathered and
spent time. Spaces that would let
natural elements in.

Without restricting it to any

particular geographical location
throughout the globe we have
developed a few methods and
techniques to invite nature and its
benefits. Imagine all the soulful
moments it would bring in!

Well, we adapted to these spaces for different reasons, inviting

and living in nature and as a response to the climatic conditions.

As we look at these visuals, we are drawn in nostalgia

to the memories spent in such spaces and prehaps
wish to experience them at least once. Spaces like
these allow the air entering the house to cool down
and the fenestrations allow filtered sunlight to light
up the space.
Along with the visual pleasure, it also connects the
inside with the outside and aligns the modern lifestyle
with nature. This in turn has collateral benefits such
as well-being in the space.
Before discussing the ways of cooling our Definitely, the migration of
spaces in buildings, it is important to certain birds and animals for
suitable ecological conditions for
feeding and raising their young
ones is a good example.

Understand how our body Life, right from aquatic cells Evolutionarily, as man moved
North, he had to develop
to huge mammals, has been
reacts to heat and the adapting itself to the changes
happening in its environment.
different types of shelters to
remain comfortable throughout

natural perspiration Similar to all mammals, we

the changing seasons.

that keeps us are relatively fragile beings,

therefore, avoiding exposure to
As a byproduct, the building
environment similar to the
primordial caves acts as a filter
cool. The irony is that we pay
heat, cold, rain, or wind is one of
our primary needs. between the inside and the
trainers and coach to outside and gradually becomes
But as we progressed our more sophisticated.
make us sweat.
One thing we know is that physiological and psychological
tendencies to adapt reduced It witnessed inviting nature
our bodies react differently
to different seasons.Natural
Meanwhile the air- making us more and more fragile inside of the living spaces to bring
it closer to the ideal lifestyle to
perspiration, conditioned space cut eventually to the state we are in
today. practice.
Sweating is a fantastic down this metabolism
process that releases toxins and resulting in poor body
keeps us healthy and fit. functioning.
 As urbanization took off, The vision behind making a house
gradually making all built spaces or a nest goes beyond making
look similar, maintaining a walls and a roof.
stark distance from nature. There is a good deal of thought
These spaces unknowingly affect put into it as one forms an
the our overall lifestyle. emotional connection in the
Thoughts? From disconnection with the
process of the building, designing
a space for creating stories and
people, we share the space with memories. What we feel that
and with the outside to heavy use houses in a typical urban context
of mechanical cooling and paying lack is the connection with nature
bills to change thermal comfort. and beyond.

It is needless to say that modern

buildings are designed like
matchboxes with mechanical
ventilation.

Our idea behind this book is to look into the holistic

practice of making a house and share some of the
traditional concepts that everyone knew once, practices
that are slowly being lost, putting us and the environment
at stake.
 Natural ventilation is rather simple! So, what’s the idea behind
thermal comfort?

Thermal comfort is a person’s perception or how

they feel related to the temperature or air quality in a
space.

Spaces should be designed

around natural elements like the
Human bodies, and those of
wind, sun and water other mammals, are essentially
thermal engines that generate
and dissipate energy, and we
have different ways of regulating
our constant heat exchange with
Our buildings contribute 40% of So far in our work, we realized
the environment.
energy consumption and that natural cooling solutions The objective of our metabolism
emissions. Over the last four may not prove to be 100% is to regulate our body
years, we have been researching efficient for our needs. temperature with minimal
how improvising traditional The objective is NOT to make our effort. So, we need to be able to
concepts of shading, ventilation, buildings 100% free of control the physical environment It is a state of physical ease
orientation and materials can mechanical cooling but to reduce surrounding us. and well-being in a given
help reduce our carbon footprint upto 40-50% using the following environment
and electrical loads. In this strategies. We all have memories of
Therefore, striving to reduce
responding to some spaces
book, we will be focusing on the energy demand of buildings,
1. Using 100% passive with uncomfortable thermal
thermal comfort alone and while providing comfort and
strategies conditions such as a classroom,
how we can open our spaces well-being, is more important
2. A hybrid system where certain office, or other spaces, which
to connect with nature. While • was so hot and stuffy The factors affecting
parts of the buildings are air-
we can discuss volumes about • hard to concentrate, and ‘comfortability’ are categorised
conditioned and the rest are
traditional buildings and Indian • even induce sleep. as follows:
designed for good passive
architecture, here we will discuss Or maybe it was a station or
ventilation a terminal space that was too 1. Environmental factors; Air
the four basic concepts of
3. Time slots- Using Air breezy and cold. temperature, humidity, air
sustainable design
conditioners only for certain velocity, radiant temperature
hours/seasons. These are both examples of bad 2. Personal factors; Metabolic
- Shading, Ventilation,
Orientation and Materials. thermal comfort. rate, clothing insulation
a quick question,
which out of
these options

would you
stand under?
Did you choose option 3: under a tree? Now to answer that, trees cool
Have you wondered the surrounding air by
Why are trees so cool? 4 methods:
quite literally

1) BLOCKING SUNLIGHT
(shading) The performance of shading
devices is specified by two
FUN FACT: angles: the horizontal and the
vertical shadow angle. These are
Horizontal shading device
1. Tree canopies can intercept both measured from a line
up to 90% of the sun’s heat. perpendicular to the elevation
Whereas open ground, roads, and and indicate the limit, beyond
buildings absorb the sun’s heat which the sun would be excluded,
that falls on them and reflects but within which the sun would
very little of it. That is why you reach the point considered.
can barely step on concrete.
barefoot. Shading devices shield windows
2. A single tree can absorb as and other glazed areas from
much carbon annually as a car direct sunlight to reduce glare
makes while driving 42000 and excessive solar heat gain in Vertical shading device
kilometres! warm weather.

Egg-crate shading device

Jaali
2) VENTILATION
As the sun beats down on the metallic roof, heating
up the interiors of the bus just because there is
no insulation inside. Also since Indian buses are
traditionally congested, it means it gets suffocating
(Trees facilitate the movement of air after a certain point of time. But when the bus finally
from cooler to hotter areas or wind starts moving and picks up speed, the heat slowly
which ventilates the surroundings ) dissipates.

Let’s take an example of a non-

with the windows opened up, a
Ever wondered why it
air-conditioned bus. Have you
happens?
cross-breeze builds up,
noticed that during hot summer
days, when we have just gotten
and we don’t feel
into the bus, we feel as if we are hot and sweaty
trapped inside a heated oven? This happens due to the
evaporation of sweat from the anymore.
surface of the skin as it comes
that's the magic of
But, as it starts to be move, we
breathe a sigh of relief. in contact with air of higher
As the bus stops at any point velocity, leaving behind a cool
during the journey one starts to
feel sweaty and uncomfortable
sensation for the skin. Thus,
making us feel comfortable for a
ventilation!
due to the summer heat. while even on a hot sunny day. There are types of ventilation Evaporative cooling is a
and they are categorized as; passive cooling technique in
which outdoor air is cooled by
• Supply of fresh air evaporating water before it is
• Convective cooling introduced into the building.
• Stack effect (provision for Its physical principle lies in the
ventilation) fact that the heat of air is used to
• Physiological cooling evaporate water, thus cooling the
• Cross ventilation air, which in turn cools the living
• Evaporative cooling space in the building.
However passive evaporative
cooling can also be indirect.
The roof can be cooled with a
pond, wetted pads or spray, and
the ceiling transformed into a
cooling element that cools the
space below by
convection and radiation without
raising the indoor humidity.
3) ORIENTATION As we all know just how
important it is to get a good seat
while travelling in a hot climate,
it is also important for us to
understand the significance of
the orientation of any component.

The orientation itself can add a

lot of difference in the aspect of
thermal comfort.As one travels
by bus, they should intend to
find themselves a suitable seat
where the sun can be dodged on
a hot sunny day in order to be
more relaxed and comfortable.

The key to selecting the perfect

bus seat is to understand
orientation.

One should aim for the seat

opposite to the direction of sun
movement with respect to the
direction in which the bus is
travelling for the purpose of
comfort.

The way a tree is oriented with

respect to the direction of the sun is
directly related to the efficiency of
shading as the canopy absorbs the
sunlight.
4) MATERIAL;
TRANSPIRATION COOLING

The skin of the leaves and the soil around

the tree witness loss of water through
transpiration and evaporation, making
us feel cooler around the tree this is called
‘Evapotranspiration’.

Now in trees, a similar process takes

place in order for them to grow. The
leaves lose water absorbed by their
roots during the day. As a result, the
space under a tree’s canopy is much
cooler than in the surrounding areas; When you sweat on a hot day and sit in a moving vehicle after that
called, you feel cooler even if it is hot outside.
That is because of a process called evaporation.
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
 There lie 4 major factors that YE PED NAI KATEGA!
govern the cooling techniques
in a designed manner;
• Shading Did you know that trees have
• Ventilation always been an important part
of Indian traditions? In fact,
• Orientation
it is believed that trees are
• Materials
living beings with feelings and
each tree has an individual
personality. Trees not only cool
this world but also provide us
with food and
medicines.

So why ever would one even think

of cutting down trees? Huh?
The cooling strategies broadly Being a large country with
depend on the climatic conditions a large population, India
one lives in. So let's briefly discuss presents endless varieties of
the Indian Climatic zones and our physical features and cultural
natural modes of adaptation. patterns.

the topography of india can be subdivided

into 6 climatic regions;
hot and dry, warm-humid, composite,
temperate, and cold.
Cold and cloudy (hilly areas)

Cold and cloudy (hilly areas) Warm and Humid Regions Hot and Dry Regions (Deserts)
(Coastal Areas)

Usually experiences snowfall, It is hot all year round, a rainy Experience extreme temperatures
high levels of humidity and season with stuffy weather, cloud over the year.
rainfall throughout the year. cover and almost daily rains. Temperature: 4-33° C
Temperature: 0-15° C Temperature: 28-32° C Building Materials: Clay, mud,
stones, grasses leaves, bamboo
Building Materials: Wood, Basalt and wood. Warm and Humid Regions
Building Materials: Rocks, stones,
(Coastal Areas)
mud mortar, wood. stone, brick, mud, laterite,
Thick walls and large window granite, lime mortar,bamboo, Thick walls and Smaller wall
openings. Compact Houses with clay roofing, coconut palm leaves openings. Sandstone and marble
thicker walls are preferred to Sloped roofs with overhangs are also popularly used to create
retain heat. Have two stories, cater to prolonged months of chhajjas, jalis and Jharokhas.
with the livestock living on the monsoon. Some commonly Most forts have ingenious
ground floor. Often a verandah identified features of local water structures designed for
runs along the side. The roof is architecture here are verandahs, harvesting andstorage, including
pitched to deal with the monsoons wooden frame structures, high stepwells, elaborate reservoirs
and the house may sit on a raised basalt stone plinths, and thick and channels. Courtyards are
platform, plinths or bamboo brick infill walls. Baffle walls a prevailing feature in these
poles to cope with floods. were used to acquire the desired traditional houses. Hot and Dry Regions
flow of wind. (Deserts)
Let’s understand how they work As we see in traditional buffer spaces.
together as a design cooling houses throughout india, so 2. Avoidance of direct
technique in a liveable space how do we implement these external solar radiation
resulting in what we term heat gain. Avoidance could
Passive cooling techniques at home/ office
be applied by using shading
‘passive cooling’ solutions are available space? windows and glazed areas,
As we apply sunscreen or sun-
for all climate types as using landscape, and
coats to avoid heat gain in our
designing self-shading
We understood the distinction the solutions differ for body, it works on the same idea
forms.
between these 4 elements that each climate. to avoid heat gain in a space/
3. Removal of gained heat
make us feel cool under a tree building.
from the interior or
and the climatic zones in India. • avoid as much heat gains as
exterior sources. This
possible,
action is required to remove
The basic idea is to • to slow the heating process
portions of undesirable heat
• to remove the uncontrollably
optimize the amount of gained heat, or
performed by using wind
The way you design a building towers, earth tunnels, and
heat and wind moving affects thermal comfort. • to store cold air or elements,
windows to support
through the building to Using design elements we can the following four passive
ventilation requirements.
cooling actions can be taken:
achieve the desired reduce the heat gain and increase
1. Storing cold mass or air
4. Slowing heat transfer from
the heat loss by natural means, the external climate through
indoor climate. this is the passive way of doing it. within a building envelope
the building envelope. This
As we have already discussed is defined as cooling down
action is conducted by using
them. the air before entering the
techniques like efficient
interior spaces through
Passive cooling can be achieved insulation and double-
courtyards, basements, and
through many design solutions glazing window units.
like shading, cross ventilation,
courtyards, design and
placement of windows, etc.

• A hot and dry region has

small openings with jaalis to
avoid the entrance of direct
sunlight. They also have
courtyards and ventilators to
allow hot air to move out of
houses.
• Quite contrary to it, houses
in Leh have thick walls for
insulation. The houses there
have bigger openings to allow
we have had a sense of passive cooling for a
long time now. so much that it is a good part
of the structure even after so many ages. Jaali

The small holes increase the velocity of air as it

passes through them, similar to the function of a
funnel, enhancing even the mild breeze outside
and allowing for deeper penetration.

The air also cools down while moving through the

small apertures which function as an air
conditioner compressor.

Thus comfort of the occupants is increased

Controlled light enters the interior space as light
enters in and the sun's glare is cut out

Jaali are ornamental perforated

screens for permitting light and
ventilation in buildings have been
used extensively in India. ‘Jaali’ word
means a net or a fine web. Usually
found in Indian, Indo-Islamic, and
Islamic architecture.
Passive cooling solutions are a part of traditional
knowledge systems for buildings. 3 Hot and humid climate
zone
They bring a permanent solution to maintain indoor
temperature without any day-to-day consumption • The Padmanabhapuram
or cost. palace, Thukale, exhibits
Jaalis and courtyards are used in different wooden latticework, a
combinations all across India in various climatic consequence of the availability
zones to maintain thermal comfort. As we know of timber and allow for the
jaalis are also a good shading device and the escape of hot air transferred
courtyard is used to store cold mass in the building down from the tiled roof. This
envelope. provides good insulation, as
its second roof remains cooler
than the sloping roof above
• Apertures are larger, but
1 Jaalis in composite
cover smaller proportions
climate zone of the wall compared to the
jaalis seen in Rajasthan and
other parts of the country.
• The intricate geometric jaalis
are the trademark of Mughal 4 Mashrabiya of the middle
architecture, which produced east
magnificent shadows inside
the space. • Mashrabiyas is a variation
of jaalis in Egypt and Oman,
which means ‘a place for
drinking’.
2 Jaalis in a hot and • In the earlier phases it was
dry climate used to cool drinking water
placed in clay pots.
• In the hot dry desert of • Winds would pass over the
Rajasthan, the fenestrations porous surface after passing
are taller and narrow, which through the shaded lattice
allows for deeper penetration screen and bring down the
of light and air inside the temperature of water inside
building. by evaporative cooling.
• Floral motifs • Later, these were fitted
with beds inside, where the
occupant could relax and it
suited their privacy notions.
 In Shahjahanabad, the lower
floors are used to spend the hot
days while the nights are spent

Courtyard on the terrace taking advantage

of the radiative cooling.
The rooftops are sprinkled with
water for an evaporative cooling
effect. Whereas during the
winters, the days are spent on the
sunny rooftops and the nights in
the enclosed rooms.

The buildings in Shahjahanabad,

India were designed to allow
the heavy cool air to enter the
building. Large openings are
provided in the courtyard to take
advantage of radiative cooling so
that the cool air is passed through
the interiors.

Evaporative cooling in
courtyards
This evaporative cooling
A courtyard is an open space technique can reduce upto 9.6
surrounded by rooms with degrees celsius of micro climate
openings on the conjoint wall temperature. The use of fountains
between the rooms and the or any other water bodies will help
courtyard space, to allow air, regulate the indoor temperature
exchange daylight and view. within a comfortable zone of not
more than 20 degrees Celsius.
The working mechanism of the
courtyard depends on the cycle Fountains are an
of day and night, which results architectural feature occupying a
in a continuous change of air privileged place in the house
temperature and the difference
plan. It is placed in the middle
in air temperature between the
of the courtyard with the living
inside and outside of the
courtyard. spaces open onto it.
It is not bad that we adapted to modern active
cooling solutions. The use and mechanism differ Wrapping
and so is their impact on the environment.
up ...
Though passive cooling systems Though air conditioners are effective in dry as well
are effective in keeping the areas as humid conditions, they consume high levels of
cooler, most of the systems are to energy for cooling.
be pre-planned and executed for Apart from it, ACs are harmful to our nearby areas
any house. as it raises the general temperature of our
Mechanical cooling or heating surroundings by releasing hot gases. Usage of ACs
to cool down rooms and houses results in a hotter
systems are accordingly used for
environment.
specific needs of the space.
Mechanical cooling refers to any Sustainable cooling methods as discussed in the
method that uses energy to book can be implemented in varying degrees to
actively cool down an area. Fans, achieve a desired outcome. In the process cutting
coolers, and AC units can be down on emissions, expenses and increasing
considered a part of mechanical efficiency.
cooling. It is the need of the hour to shift to a more
sustainable and efficient system.
Fans
Fans are one of the oldest and most commonly used
mechanical cooling solutions. The fan starts
sustainably cooler homes = cooler planet
moving stagnant air in the room, forcing ventilation. cooler planet = cooler homes
It’s called the butterfly effect!
Desert coolers
Desert cooler take in air from the surrounding and
allows it to merge with water content inside.
There is a complete circulation of water inside the
cooler, which makes the incoming air more humid
and cooler due to the evaporation of water.

Air-conditioners
An air conditioner provides cool air at home or
an enclosed space by actually removing heat and
humidity from the indoor air. It returns the cooled
air to the indoor space and transfers the unwanted
heat and humidity outside.