Lecture 4

By hina Afzal
 The cold region
Conditions: 6. Scrub forest cover
1. Extreme winter cold. 7. Short winter days
2. Deep snow 8. Long winters
3. Strong winds 9. Alternating freeze and
4. High wind chill thaw(defrost)
factor( is the perceived 10. Rapid spring melt.
decrease in air temperature
felt by the body on exposed
skin due to the flow of air.)
5. Deep frost
Scrub forest cover Deep frost
 Community
• Orientation to warming sun.
• Provision of snowplowing and snow storage.
• Utilization of all protective ground forms and
covers as windscreens and soil stabilizers.
• Align traffic-ways for crosswinds & build long-
linear building clusters with the short side
facing the wind.
• Reduce floor area to minimize costly
excavation and frost proof construction.
Winds
• Build clusters of community facilities and
dwellings and add protected skyways to
connect buildings(to reduce travel time).
• Preserve vegetation & ground covers which
act as natural wind screens.
• Avoidance of low ground and flood planes.
 site
• Create enclosed sun courts and maximize daylight
orientation with windows away from strong winds.
• Use short access ways, Group entries, and use raised
and covered walks and platforms
• Use Post & Beam & platform construction to avoid
extensive excavation and foundations
• Well-insulated structures, with limited glass areas,
maximum sun exposure, minimum wind exposure &
protected entries
• Steep roof pitch to protect from snow loads & deep
overhangs and exaggerated storm drainage gradients
to facilitate rapid runoff.
 Post and beam Platform construction

Deep Overhangs
 PASSIVE DESIGN
• Passive design is design that does not require
mechanical heating or cooling.
• Buildings that are passively designed take
advantage of natural energy flows to maintain
thermal comfort.
• When sunlight strikes a building, the building
materials can reflect, transmit, or absorb the
solar radiation.
Winter orientation
Passive heating
• Two primary elements of passive
solar heating are –
• South facing glass
• Thermal mass to absorb, store, and
distribute heat There are three
approaches to passive systems
1. direct gain
2. indirect gain (A Trombe wall is
a passive solar building
design where a wall is built on the
winter sun side of a building with
a glass external layer and a high
heat capacity internal layer
separated by a layer of air.)
3. Isolated gain.
Passive Cooling
Passive solar cooling can reduce
or even eliminate the need for air
conditioning in homes:
• Cross Ventilation
• Wing Walls
• Thermal Chimney (A solar
chimney uses the sun's heat to
provide cooling, using the
stack effect. Solar heat gain,
warms a column of air, which
then rises, pulling new outside
air through the building.)
Trombe wall Wing wall
 Shimla- cold climatic region
The Shimla climate during the winter is very chilling where the temperature
swings between a maximum of 8°C to a minimum of 0°C and may even dip
down below that level too. It extends from December to February. The
climate of Shimla in winter is highly dominated by the cold winds from the
Himalayas. Snowfall takes place.
CASE STUDIES :HIMURJA BUILDING ,SHIMLA MLA HOSTEL, SHIMLA: Located
at Shimla at an altitude of about 2000metres above mean sea level in the
middle Himalayas.
The sharp sloping site provides a classical situation in a hilly urban context for
a building within a large commercial complex that thus suits against the
mountain for the lower three floors and inevitably has a deep plan.
Heating and day lighting have been considered while designing. Use of
certain energy-efficient and renewable energy (generated from natural
resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat)devices
has also been suggested to increase the overall efficiency of the building. The
whole complex comprises four blocks. The blocks are regular RCC-framed
structures with brick in-fill walls. The blocks are oriented south.
HIMURJA BUILDING
 Roof insulation
• Roof insulation helped to preserve temperatures inside
the building and prevented heat loss from the top floor.
• Rockwool insulation was provided above false ceiling.
• Sunspace : The existing balcony can be made into a
sunspace resulting in increased heating especially
during the winter months. This suggestion could not be
incorporated in blocks 1 and 2 because of prior
structural limitations, but has been introduced in
blocks 3 and 4.
• Reduction in north glazing(the action of installing
windows): Since solar heat gain through north facing
windows is negligible, glazing on the north increases
heat loss to the ambient. This is rectified by reducing
the amount of glazing in the north, and providing
double glazing in the essential windows.
• timber frames : timber have a lower conductivity than
steel it is advisable to use them for joinery to reduce
conductive heat loss to the outside. Steel would aid
heat transfer and would work against attempts to
retain heat inside the building.
• Remote heating of north bedroom: This idea was
proposed to trap heat on the south wall and transport
it to the north bedrooms. Small Trombe walls below
and on the sides of the kitchen window trap the heat
which is conveyed through a duct to the northern
bedrooms. A small fan can be used to assist air
movement. Better weather proofing