Abstract:
In earlier work, we have developed methods
of describing climate in terms of the interactive
effects of insulation, air temperature,
wind speed, and relative humidity.
By characterizing their effects in terms of
the architectural responses required to produce
thermal comfort, we have been able to
describe a "Modified Comfort Zone," or MCZ,
which greatly exceeds, in frequency of occurrence,
the "Standard Comfort Zone," or SCZ,
as described by Olgyay. We have found that
thermal comfort, in the fourteen North
American climates analyzed, is achievable
without mechanical heating or cooling, from
20-50% of the year, depending on the location.
Further analysis of the way these
architectural responses form daily and seasonal
patterns has enables us to begin a
description of climates in a format directly
usable for architects in the design of buildings
which are dynamically responsive to
climate. This paper investigates ways of
simplifying a climate description, to improve
its direct usefulness, without dampering
the dynamic subtleties.
This paper describes three locations, representing
a variety of climate types, and
shows the usefulness of climate description
in several phases of the design process.
