Climate and Building Design

Temperate Climate
Hot Dry Climate
Warm Humid Climate
World Meteorological Organisation Headquarters- Design Innovation

Hot, Dry Climate

In this climate, summers are hot and it seldom rains. Winter days may be cool or warm, but the winter nights can be very cold. The air is dry, there is little cloud and sunshine is intense. There is a big temperature difference between day and night.

Design Aims
Protection from the sun and moderation of the big day-to-night temperature change.

• Does it have summer shade?
  Trees, or overshadowing from a nearby building will limit heating.

Your house

• Can your house cope with the intense sunshine typical of this climate?

  Does it have:

  1. Pale surfaces (especially the roof) to reflect the sun?
     
     In this climate, the summer sun is almost overhead, so the main heat-path into your house is through the roof; a pale-coloured roof really makes a difference. If water supply permits, a rooftop garden would minimise heat transmission through the roof, as plants keep themselves cool through transpiration. Because the winter sun is lower in the sky, it shines more on the walls and windows than on the roof, so the loss of winter solar heating via the roof is not great.
     
     
  2. Double roof (if the summer is very hot)?
  3. Reflective foil insulation in the roof and walls?
     This is essential. Use bulk insulation as well, where nights are cold.
  4. Small windows, shaded by eaves, on the north side of the house?
     The hotter the summer, the smaller the windows and the wider the eaves.
  5. Shading for the walls and windows?
     Use shutters, verandahs, canopies and/or eaves and fixed overhangs.
  6. Shading for any south-facing windows, if house is north of 23.5 degrees S?
  7. Vegetation around the house, if water supply permits, to provide shade?

     
     

• Are you taking advantage of this climate‘s low humidity?
  Evaporative coolers work well in the dry atmosphere, and use little energy.
  The natural evaporative cooling effect of plants is specially effective.
  

• Will your house cope with the large day/night temperature swing?
  

  Does it have:

1. Considerable heat-storage capacity (bricks, stone, concrete) in living areas, to keep daytime temperatures down?
2. Bedrooms of lighter construction, so they cool quickly at night ?
   (the trade-off is that they will be cold on winter nights)
3. Through ventilation on summer nights? (check the prevailing wind direction on warm summer nights).
4. Roof-mounted exhaust fans to extract hot air and replace it with cool night air drawn in through open windows?

 

The garden

• Do you have plants around the house, for shade and to filter dust from the air? Water features such as fountains and little garden pools are beneficial, if water supply permits.

Extra tips
Earth-sheltered and underground housing are ideally suited to this climate.
This is the perfect climate for solar power.