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    Design Tips For The Hot Humid Climate

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    akshayjanu
    This document provides design tips for homes in hot, humid climates. It recommends features like cross ventilation through opposite windows and long, narrow floor plans to maximize air flow. Other tips include using light, reflective materials; elevating the home; installing ceiling fans and shutters; and orienting the home along an east-west axis for shade. Outdoor living areas are also suggested to take advantage of any breeze while sheltering from rain.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    Design Tips For The Hot Humid Climate

    Uploaded by

    akshayjanu
    75 views3 pages
    This document provides design tips for homes in hot, humid climates. It recommends features like cross ventilation through opposite windows and long, narrow floor plans to maximize air flow. Other tips include using light, reflective materials; elevating the home; installing ceiling fans and shutters; and orienting the home along an east-west axis for shade. Outdoor living areas are also suggested to take advantage of any breeze while sheltering from rain.

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    Design tips for the hot humid climate

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    This document provides design tips for homes in hot, humid climates. It recommends features like cross ventilation through opposite windows and long, narrow floor plans to maximize air flow. Other tips include using light, reflective materials; elevating the home; installing ceiling fans and shutters; and orienting the home along an east-west axis for shade. Outdoor living areas are also suggested to take advantage of any breeze while sheltering from rain.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    75 views3 pages

    Design Tips For The Hot Humid Climate

    Uploaded by

    akshayjanu
    This document provides design tips for homes in hot, humid climates. It recommends features like cross ventilation through opposite windows and long, narrow floor plans to maximize air flow. Other tips include using light, reflective materials; elevating the home; installing ceiling fans and shutters; and orienting the home along an east-west axis for shade. Outdoor living areas are also suggested to take advantage of any breeze while sheltering from rain.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Design tips for the hot humid climate

    Because the humidity is high, air movement is crucial, to help perspiration to evaporate.

    We need: -

     Windows opposite each other to allow cross-ventilation;


     Long, narrow floor-plan in sleeping zone, to maximise through ventilation in bedrooms;
     Open-plan living areas with high ceilings, to maximise air movement and reduce radiant
    heat to occupants (see our example house plan

     Choose window type for good airflow eg, louvres rather than awning/hopper windows;
     Elevate house to catch the breezes (in areas prone to tropical cyclones, there is a trade-off -
    construction cost increases);
     Extra ventilation from ceiling fans, rotary vents and wind traps will be a bonus;

     Boundary fences should not block airflow (a low cyclone-wire fence is preferable to a high
    brick wall;
     Make sure that your garden layout hasn't blocked the summer breezes;
     In a new subdivision, the spacing of buildings should be carefully considered to avoid
    obstruction of the wind;
     Air movement means that mosquitoes and sandflies will be less likely to linger around the
    house - they prefer still air.

    Because the night-to-day temperature swing is rather small:


     materials with heat-storage capacity such as bricks and concrete are of little benefit,
    particularly for bedrooms - a lighter house construction (timber, fibro) will cool quicker at
    night;

    Because the climate is warm all year, building heat gain should be minimised by:

     orienting the long axis of the house east-west (if you cannot orient for cross-ventilation, see
    our Darwin case study). The long north- and south-facing walls can easily be shaded by the
    eaves;
     keeping windows on east and west walls to a minimum;
     shading the walls and windows - use shutters, verandahs, canopies and/or eaves and fixed
    overhangs;
     using pale colours for walls and roof, to reflect the heat of the sun;
     reflective foil insulation is good, because it reflects incoming sunshine, but bulk insulation
    is not desirable, because it prevents the house cooling down at night;
     ventilation of the roof space, to reduce heat build-up there: the increased heat loss in the
    cooler season is not important;
     metal roofs which cool rapidly at night. Daytime heat gain can be minimised by using
    sheeting with a reflective coating on its underside.

    Because of the warm climate:

     outdoor living areas( verandahs or under an elevated house ) will be particularly useful.
    Shelter from the rain is needed in summer; shade is also desirable.

    If you decide to air-condition some or part of your house:

     the air-conditioned part of your house needs bulk insulation;


     drafts should be blocked in this section;
     double-glazed windows may also be cost-effective

    Return to Comfortable, Low-energy Houses

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