I had the pleasure of writing two articles on this subject in issue 142 of the Séquences Bois magazine which focuses on “Building with risk” at the invitation of Anne-Sophie Gouyen.
The first is entitled “The forgotten heritage of thermal control strategies” and concerns the exhibition presented by the Slovenian pavilion during the last Venice Architecture Biennale.
This article briefly presents the cooling strategies that existed in the vernacular and traditional architecture of temperate continental or predominantly cold climates.
He mentions in particular the importance of ceiling height in rural constructions, which was modulated according to the seasons thanks to stretched canvases as false ceilings in certain regions.
The second article is entitled “Living with the heat” and presents an operation to renovate an apartment in Madrid carried out by the agency TAKK Architecture.
The originality of this project is to have dissociated a winter space, which forms a “box” fully insulated with biosourced materials inside the apartment, and a widely ventilated summer space which benefits from the The thermal inertia of the heavy concrete structure is very favorable to summer comfort.
These two articles clearly show that the subject of summer comfort and the adaptation of buildings to high heat can be resolved thanks to passive strategies, which directly concern interior design and control of use.
Overexposure to heat in construction is a major risk and I am happy that this topic has been included in this issue!
Image: Séquences Bois