Description of the Workshop

Passive design strategies for sustainable architecture aims to create a comfortable indoor environment by taking advantage of the natural forces such as natural ventilation and minimizing direct sun exposure. This leads to a more thermally comfortable indoor environment along with a pleasant and healthier indoor environment. This leads to reduced load on use of electrical energy to enhance indoor thermal performance. But in order to know which strategies must be adopted for various climate, it is important to know the tools which gives us leads to passive strategy at a early design stage. This workshop helps learners to understand the climate of a place and use tools that enable learners/architects/ designers make informed decisions about the suitable Passive Strategy for a Climate Responsive building. Two tools will be used in this workshop and students will work alongside the teacher.

1. Mahoney’s Tables: The Mahoney tables are a set of reference tables used in architecture, used as a guide to climate-appropriate design. The output helps to arrive at Schematic Design recommendations and Design Development recommendations. This is a manual tool and is not software based.

2. Climate Consultant: Climate Consultant is a simple to use, graphic-based computer program that helps architects, and students understand their local climate. Climate Consultant uses annual 8760 hour EPW format climate data that is made available at no cost by the Department of Energy for thousands of weather stations around the world. Climate Consultant translates this raw climate data into dozens of meaningful graphic displays. The goal is to help users create more energy efficient, more sustainable buildings, each of which is uniquely suited to its particular spot on this planet. This is a digital tool and, in this workshop, you will be taught to utilize the tool to the fullest of its possibility to arrive at exact strategies for sustainable architecture for that particular location.