Designing a house means taking into account so many different factors. The environment is one of the most overarching factors that we have to take into account. The local weather of an area has such a significant impact on how you will design a prospective house. Without taking into account the climate, you risk building a home that is too expensive to maintain or is exposed to major structural damage.
Practicality is one of the most critical aspects of designing a building. Without factoring in the weather and possible changes, you risk exposing the inhabitants to both great loss and great danger. To avoid making any mistakes, let us take a look at all the different aspects of architectural design that is influenced by the climate.
Sun Exposure
Sun exposure is a disadvantage for humans. With the ozone layer depleting, there has been an increase in the amount of harmful radiation we receive. This has made skin cancer one of the most common types of cancer found. The sun is also one of the few free ways to heat up a building. Thus, when designing a building, we must take into account how much sun an area receives and how best we can utilize this.
If there are green areas to be incorporated, then we must also take into account which directions would be best for gardening as well. Finally, sun exposure will also determine how many windows you can put in and what style of architecture will be best for the location the building is in. The exterior appearance of a building contributes to its aesthetic appeal and is an extremely make-or-break part of clients’ expectations.
Heating and Cooling
When designing a house, the heating and cooling systems are one of the most all-encompassing systems that you have to plan. The heating and cooling system is heavily dependent on the design of the house, how many windows it has, the local climate, and the lay of the land. The systems and the building design are quite interlinked.
Efficient building design can save your clients hundreds of dollars every year. You can also use this area to expand on your familiarity with innovative green building technology. This results in increasing your expertise and becoming a frontrunner in this emerging field of architecture. There are many ways you could incorporate green technologies in your building design, but remember to choose stable long-term solutions rather than nascent technologies that might be unstable.
Ventilation
A building’s ventilation has a significant impact on how comfortable it is to use. Buildings that are overly stuffy o even too cold can increase the amount of money it takes to heat it up or cool it down. Heating and cooling systems, however efficient, can be helped using smart ventilation techniques. In very windy areas, you can even think of supplementing the mechanical systems using smartly placed ventilation ports.
You can also use chances for ventilation like large patio doors to modify the aesthetic appeal of the building. When using smart ventilation design, remember that over ventilation is as much of a problem as under-ventilation. You don’t want a space that is so windy that occupants are negatively affected by it. Keep the elevation of the land and the height of the building in mind when pursuing this avenue.
Extreme Weather Events
Extreme weather events like floods, earthquakes, and more have been seen more frequently in the last few decades. This has caused a significant amount of property damage and financial ruin across the country. You can protect your clients from untold damage by using simple climate monitoring techniques to fortify their building against the disastrous effects of climate change.
When you design your building, make sure you research the climate history of the local area. Expand your search and see if there are any advancing climate disasters like flash floods or landslides that are advancing rapidly that you need to protect from. You can do an easy check here to get an idea of what the building you design will be up against in the coming years.
Architecture is one of the first industries that climate change effects. As the world around us changes rapidly, it is more important than ever to have safe and secure buildings to protect us from the fallout. The architectural industry must also look inwards to lead the charge against climate change.
The building trades are large polluters, and we must be more willing to adopt greener technologies to mitigate this damage. Architects must choose greener materials to build with and choose more sustainable waste disposal methods. Over time, these steps will pay out in a cleaner, greener world for our future generations.