Increases in global temperatures this century have caused at least one temperature dependent trad... more Increases in global temperatures this century have caused at least one temperature dependent traditional technology, the ice-house, to cross the thermal threshold dictating its viability in Britain. Study of the windcatchers of the Middle East shows that further increases in regional temperature may render not only types of windcatcher non-viable in some areas, but also traditional dwellings as shelter in some areas. This in turn suggests that limits of settlement in the Middle East would be affected. Such problems and changes should be anticipated and passive solutions sought now.
ABSTRACT At the threshold of a new century, and faced with the potentially devastating impacts of... more ABSTRACT At the threshold of a new century, and faced with the potentially devastating impacts of climate change and the end of the ‘fossil fuel age’, questions are increasingly being asked on ‘what types of buildings will be most resilient in the face of such challenges’.1 Instinctively, many people’s response is that traditional vernacular prototypes are best adapted to the different climates they occupy and therefore are better suited to provide sustainable prototypes for a future without cheap energy, far more so than energy expensive high-tech building types. But is this right? Here we question this response, in a search for genuinely resilient building types that will safely house people in the changing circumstances of the twenty-first century. Historical, traditional and vernacular housing prototypes have been considered as inherently adapted to the constraints of the natural environment. A reliance on such deterministic assumptions has often led to misinterpretation of facts, wrong conclusions regarding appropriate technologies and design solutions in general, and in particular those relevant to low-cost housing for developing countries. This chapter analyzes a number of generic types of housing common around the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and assesses their actual performance vis-à-vis different low-tech upgrade and retrofit strategies. A number of methods and techniques were employed, including monitoring, modelling, numerical analysis, simulation and infra-red thermography. Investigations included different building technologies and materials, morphologies and details, under different arid conditions typical of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean climatic regions, with a view to exploring methods of optimising the performance of vernacular prototypes to provide resilient buildings for the twenty-first century.
Increases in global temperatures this century have caused at least one temperature dependent trad... more Increases in global temperatures this century have caused at least one temperature dependent traditional technology, the ice-house, to cross the thermal threshold dictating its viability in Britain. Study of the windcatchers of the Middle East shows that further increases in regional temperature may render not only types of windcatcher non-viable in some areas, but also traditional dwellings as shelter in some areas. This in turn suggests that limits of settlement in the Middle East would be affected. Such problems and changes should be anticipated and passive solutions sought now.
ABSTRACT At the threshold of a new century, and faced with the potentially devastating impacts of... more ABSTRACT At the threshold of a new century, and faced with the potentially devastating impacts of climate change and the end of the ‘fossil fuel age’, questions are increasingly being asked on ‘what types of buildings will be most resilient in the face of such challenges’.1 Instinctively, many people’s response is that traditional vernacular prototypes are best adapted to the different climates they occupy and therefore are better suited to provide sustainable prototypes for a future without cheap energy, far more so than energy expensive high-tech building types. But is this right? Here we question this response, in a search for genuinely resilient building types that will safely house people in the changing circumstances of the twenty-first century. Historical, traditional and vernacular housing prototypes have been considered as inherently adapted to the constraints of the natural environment. A reliance on such deterministic assumptions has often led to misinterpretation of facts, wrong conclusions regarding appropriate technologies and design solutions in general, and in particular those relevant to low-cost housing for developing countries. This chapter analyzes a number of generic types of housing common around the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and assesses their actual performance vis-à-vis different low-tech upgrade and retrofit strategies. A number of methods and techniques were employed, including monitoring, modelling, numerical analysis, simulation and infra-red thermography. Investigations included different building technologies and materials, morphologies and details, under different arid conditions typical of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean climatic regions, with a view to exploring methods of optimising the performance of vernacular prototypes to provide resilient buildings for the twenty-first century.
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Papers by Susan Roaf