NATURAL

COOLING IN
ARCHITECTURE
PASSIVE COOLING
What is passive cooling?
Passive cooling is where the building design and materials are used to control temperature in hot weather
without mechanical systems. Optimizing a building’s layout, materials, openings, and orientation enhances
environmental comfort and reduces energy consumption. When widely adopted, these strategies make
buildings more eco-friendly. There are 2 basic components to passive cooling: cooling the building, and cooling
people.

Cooling buildings is about:

• reducing heat gain (for example, by installing insulation and shading windows, walls and roofs)
• increasing heat loss and access to cooling sources (for example, by using earth coupling and encouraging air
movement).

Cooling people is about:

• physiological comfort (the physical factors necessary for comfort; for example, encouraging breezes to
evaporate perspiration and increase body cooling)
• psychological comfort (psychological factors that affect our perception of comfort, for example, levels of
acclimatization and air movement, radiation and conduction).
Why is passive cooling important?
Passive cooling is the least expensive means of cooling a home, especially in environmental terms. There are
many ways you can design or modify your home to achieve comfort through passive cooling.

Passive cooling is becoming more important as our climate changes. Climate change will see our average
temperatures increase, and extreme events such as heatwaves occur more often. With careful design for
passive cooling, we can keep our homes comfortable and reduce energy costs.

Achieving passive cooling

With passive cooling, building envelopes are designed to minimize daytime heat gain, maximize night-time heat
loss, and encourage cool breeze access when available. Considerations include:

• designing the floor plan and building form to respond to local climate and site
• zoning living and sleeping areas appropriately for climate
• locating any air-conditioned rooms in thermally protected areas (ie highly insulated, shaded and well sealed)
• maximizing convective ventilation with high-level windows and ceiling or roof space vents
• designing ceilings and positioning furniture for optimum efficiency of fans, cool breezes and convective
ventilation
Passive Cooling strategies
There are many different passive cooling strategies that can be used, depending on the climate and the type of
building. Some common strategies include:

Shading

Shading of glazing is a critical element in passive cooling. Glazing is the main source of
heat gain (through direct radiation and conduction), and of cooling (through cross
ventilation; night purging)

Choosing windows with good thermal performance (for example, double glazing) will
reduce the heat gain caused by sun hitting the window. But preventing sun from hitting
the window in the first place will have a much larger effect.

In most climates:
• use horizontal (for example, correctly sized eaves) or adjustable shading on north-facing
windows to block high-angle summer sun and allow in winter sun.
• use deep overhanging shading, or vertical shading if close to the window, for east- and
west-facing glass.
Convection
Cooling by convection is based on the principle that warm air rises and cool air falls. Passive strategies like
natural ventilation, chimney effect, stack effect, and cross ventilation replace warm air with fresh air to cool the
building. These strategies utilize openings like clerestory windows, roof ventilators, wind scoops, wind towers,
and windcatchers. Windcatchers are particularly effective in capturing outdoor cool breezes and venting indoor
warm air. Stack ventilation relies on the buoyancy of warm air to escape through high-level outlets, drawing in
cooler air from shaded external areas.

Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation is the movement of air through a building or other structure without the use of mechanical
fans or other devices. It is a passive system that relies on the natural forces of wind and temperature to create
airflow.
Chimney Effect
A solar chimney is a system that utilizes the sun’s heat to cool a building by utilizing the stack effect. It works by
warming a column of air through solar heat gain, which then rises and pulls in fresh outside air into the
building. This system is also known as thermal chimneys, thermosiphons, or thermosyphons.
Thermal chimneys can be combined with cooling methods like evaporative cooling. It also can be used for
heating, similar to a Trombe wall. If the top exterior vents are closed, the heated air stays inside, and if high
interior vents are opened, it can provide convective air heating in occupied spaces.
Stack Effect
Stack ventilation relies on the increased buoyancy of warm air relative to the higher density of cooler air. The
lighter warm air rises and if allowed, will escape the building through high-level outlets (windows or vents),
drawing in lower-level cool night air or cooler daytime air from openings in shaded external areas (typically on
the south side).
Stack ventilation can increase cross-ventilation and overcome many of the limitations of
unreliable cooling breezes. Even when there is no breeze, convection allows heat to leave
a building via controllable openings such as high clerestory windows, roof ventilators or
vented ridges.
Windcatcher
A windcatcher is a chimney-like structure made of clay, wood, or bricks, constructed on the rooftop of houses,
mosques, or storage rooms to harness the cool breeze and direct it downwards towards the interior space. The
way these towers work is by directing cool wind that is circulating at higher levels downwards through vertical
openings with oblique sides (also known as directional openings) by leaving only the shaft opposite of the
incoming wind open. Once the cool air enters the space, the warm air circulating inside the interior space is
pushed out through openings created on the opposite side of the windcatcher. In areas without cool breeze,
windcatchers act as chimneys and push warm air upwards and out through the openings of the tower,
regulating the interior environment of the home.
Earth coupling

• Direct coupling or earth sheltering occurs when a building uses earth as a buffer for the walls.
The earth acts as a heat sink and can effectively mitigate temperature extremes. Earth sheltering
improves the performance of building envelopes by reducing heat losses and also reduces heat
gains by limiting infiltration.
• Indirect coupling means that a building is coupled with the earth by means of earth ducts. An
earth duct is a buried tube that acts as avenue for supply air to travel through before entering
the building. The supply air is cooled by conductive heat transfer between the tubes and
surrounding soil. Therefore, earth ducts will not perform well as a source of cooling unless the
soil temperature is lower than the desired room air temperature. Earth ducts typically require
long tubes to cool the supply air to an appropriate temperature before entering the building. A
fan is required to draw the air from the earth duct into the building.
Greening
Outdoor vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and plants offer numerous benefits including reducing
noise pollution, moderating air temperature and humidity, enhancing biodiversity, and improving
the aesthetic appeal of spaces. Vegetation also absorbs solar radiation, provides shade, and releases
moisture into the air through transpiration. Incorporating elements like courtyards gardens, green
roofs, green walls, and bio walls in architectural designs can contribute to cooling spaces in arid and
semi-arid climates.
Pros And Cons Of Passive Cooling Systems
Pros:
• They are One of the best solutions to achieve sustainability in architecture.
• They can help to reduce energy costs. Passive cooling systems do not require electricity to
operate, so they can save money on energy bills.
• Passive cooling systems can help to improve indoor air quality. By using natural ventilation and
shading
• Passive cooling systems can help to reduce the amount of pollutants in the air.
• Passive cooling systems can help to reduce noise levels. By using sound-absorbing materials and
insulation
• Passive cooling systems can help to create a more peaceful and quiet environment.
Cons:
• Passive cooling systems may not be effective in all climates. In very hot or humid climates,
passive cooling systems may not be able to provide enough cooling to keep a building
comfortable.
• passive cooling systems may require more maintenance than active cooling systems.
• They may need to be cleaned and repaired more often, and they may not be as durable as active
cooling systems.
• They may not be suitable for all types of buildings. They are most effective in buildings with large
windows and open floor plans.
• Passive cooling systems can be very effective in reducing energy costs, improving indoor air
quality, and increasing comfort.
THANK YOU