COLD ANS SUNNY CLIMATE

1. ORIENTATION  Building should be located on the south slop of hill or mountain for better access to solar
radiation
 Expose to cold winds can be minimalised by locating the buildings on leeward side
 The house • built in 2levels.
 The lower floor is reserved for animals and storage of fodder and the upper level is used as
habitable spaces. • The upper level has a single room and there is an oven in the corner
which is multipurpose in function.
2. FORM AND PLANNING  Building must be compact with small surface to volume ratio to reduce heat loss.
 Larger houses are based on courtyard while smaller ones don’t have the courtyard. The
Ground Floor is usually a dwarf storey not meant for human habitation.
 The upper floor is used for living purposes usually consists of prayer room, store, toilet and a
relatively large room combining the functions of drawing, kitchen and bedroom.
 Most of the houses are built at two levels. The ground level is reserved for animals, wood and
fodder storage for winters whereas the upper level has the habitable spaces.
 The upper floor is exposed to sunlight keeping it warm during day and heat is retained during
the night by employing mentioned indigenous techniques. In almost all cases terrace is used
for family gatherings during day and also for drying various articles
 In most houses, there is a single large room with an oven in the corner which is used for
cooling as well as heating the interior spaces.
 Larger houses are based on courtyard while smaller ones don’t have the courtyard.
3. BUILT FORM  Buildings are located on slopes of the mountains rather than the plains or valley in order to
increase the time duration of sun.
 Also they are close to water bodies and fertile land.
 2-3 sides are shared with other houses to reduce heat loss.
 The vertical stacking of the buildings on the slope of the hill resulted in a large concave urban
surface composed of individual houses catching the Sun-rays.
 As the Sun-rays were the natural and critical resource for the
 The privilege of Sun-light was thus available to each individual house due to this stepped
terracing.
 The houses share the walls mostly on two-three sides to prevent heat loss due to exposed
façade.
 This pattern of urban settlement is dissimilar to cities of hot-climate where buildings are laid
down so as to provide mutual shading.

4. STREET TYPE  The street pattern allows maximum solar penetration.

 The important streets are aligned in the North-South direction allowing the sun to shine
  street pattern is allowing maximum solar penetration, although the street pattern appears to
be irregular in the first appearance. The important streets are laid in north-south axis while
the intersecting streets are aligned at 45 degrees to that of cardinal directions; avoiding any
East-West orientation
5. EXTERNAL SPACE 
 The building should be glazed in such a manner that minimum wind enters the building.
6. VENTILATION  Small openings in low numbers are used to prevent the thermal exchange between outside
and inside of the building in these regions. If the windows are large, it’s necessary to apply a
shade.
7. ROOM ARRANGEMENT  Bedroom will be on south west of the building.
 Kitchen will be on south east of the house
 Bathroom will be on the north west of the house.
 Dining will be on the south
 All other rooms are usually 3 to 4 m in sizes perhaps due to the limitations of the building
materials and also helping in maintaining a warm comfort inside. Larger spaces tend to
become cooler quickly. The windows in the other rooms that do not get sunlight are much
smaller in size to retain heat within.
8. FOUNDATIONS, BASEMENTS AND FLOORS  Raised stone plinths
 Foundation will be stepped and depth depending upon hard strata
 Foundations of the wall of a house. a - layer of stones, b - bank of earth in three
 layers, c - the rest of the ditch filled with earth, d - stone foundations flanked by two earth
filled ditches. The foundations are narrower than the bank of earth. e - wall of the building.

9. WALLS  The walls should be insulated
 The south facing walls (exposed to solar radiation) could be of thermal capacity (such as
trombe wall) to store day tome heat for later use.
 Timber panelled wall will be used instead of brick or stone masonry.
 Thick wall will be used with sound insulation.
 The houses are made entirely of mud, sometimes reinforced with horizontally placed timber
members. The walls are either made of sun dried bricks or rammed earth. Initially, the walls
are mud plaster while flooring is either in mud or wood.
 Walls are built upon foundations raising above the ground level. The top of the foundation
should not be wider than the bottom of the wall to avoid any structural damage in case of
earthquakes. Walls are generally thick at the bottom and taper gradually as they rise.
 Outer walls are insulated by a jacket wall outside the main structure wall.
10. WINDOWS  Maximum window area on southern side to facilitate heat gain
 No openings on north side (to reduce heat loss)
 Windows will have wooden pane.
  The main living room is usually fitted with a characteristic large window facing the Sun.
 In the cases where the building is diagonally oriented with south the main large window is
installed as a corner window, catching the sun-light from both the directions.
 This window is kept closed most of the times and never opened during winters in order to
trap the solar radiation as an indigenous greenhouse mechanism.
 In some cases this window has been provided with double glazing to enhance the insulating
properties
11. SHADING TECHNIQUES  Shadings rarely provided

12. ROOFS  Flat roofs (generally little rain, snow can be removed easily)
 Floors and roofs are made of mud treaded on wooden boards.
 Many of the houses are flat-roofed with an upper storey. Being unnecessary to waterproof,
since it scarcely ever rains.
 Sufficiently sloped roof with sunlight enables sun radiation to enter in to the building.
 The centre of the facade is open, tibari-like, with the roof supported on two free-standing
and two engaged wooden pillars. The roof of the lower floor, reached by an external ladder,
forms its terrace.
 The ceiling height is low to provide the required insulation in all the areas.
 During the day time, the natural heat collected is retained by the insulation. The wood waste
produced during the construction is filled in the ceiling to stop the heat loss through the roof.
 The roof of the main hall is usually used to store dry grass, straw, sticks etc
13. COULOUR AND TEXTURE  The external surfaces of the walls should be dark in colour so that day absorb heat from the
sun.
 Mud plastered walls.
14. CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES  Increase of solar heat gain
 By direct gain through thermal storage walls exposed to the sun -Glazed windows on east,
west, south sides. Increase of internal heat gain
 By utilizing heat produced by smokeless stove
 By utilization of warmth developed by livestock Decrease of heat loss
 by high thermal insulation of roof and walls
 By high compound wall providing shelter from wind Humidity control by,
absorption/desorption of unburnt brick walls.
 Balance of temperature fluctuation by massive wall construction.
 Trombe wall
 Cavity wall
 Sunspace and solarium with day-lighting strategies.
15. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS  For plinth and floor: stone masonry with mud mortar or cement mortar finish
  For walls: unburnt bricks masonry with mud mortar and cow dung finish
 For ceiling and roof: wooden planks and twigs with a layer of dry grass, covered with mud.
 Mud bricks are composite chiefly of clay, silt and sand. Due to high sand contents, the surface
water absorption of the brick reduces. Presence of clay and silt helps to bind the brick.

16. LANDSCAPE  Trees used as wind barrier.