India's lattice buildings cool without air con

Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by pembrook on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @07:05AM (#32993751)

In the example you give, there’s no way of knowing if it’s been properly designed for Indian climate per given budget constraints.

There appears to be windows on only 2 sides of the building, 1 of which is far enough inset to create significant shade.

Depending on what direction the building faces, this could in fact be optimal design for staying cool while still having windows.

Now, of course, the best design for staying cool would be an underground cave carved out of rock with no windows—-but is that really how we want to live?

There is no scalable home design that works without AC when temperatures regularly get to 100-120F with high humidity.

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by nisegami on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @08:13AM (#32994365)

>Now, of course, the best design for staying cool would be an underground cave carved out of rock with no windows—-but is that really how we want to live?

Adding light and some ventilation is a lot less energy intensive than cooling

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by SanjayMehta on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @09:44AM (#32995142)

Caves can get unbearably hot and humid here too.

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by nisegami on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @10:24AM (#32995589)

Then you need to dig deeper

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by Animatronio on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @10:41AM (#32995863)

Not too deep because you know what's there. I don't mean the balrog, rather infrastructure for water, sewage, etc. Granted that might not be the case on private property, and in India, but still. Where I live people sometimes cut underground power cables, water or nat gas.

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by pas on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @02:50AM (#33004951)

not too deep though https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_gradient

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Re:India's lattice buildings cool without air con by wongarsu on Tuesday September 27, 2022 @08:03AM (#32994266)

I think this facade [1] demonstrates a better way to maximize shade, along with windows that are normal-sized instead of floor-to-ceiling. It doesn't look "modern", but it's a lot more practical

1: https://ychef.files.bbci.co.uk/1600x900/p0cyz4dz.webp (yes, it's from the article)

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