Overview

The fundamental function of buildings today is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the 20th Century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines, run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings requires a new approach. This timely book provides just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, our minds and our buildings, and their systems, to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the Principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in Practice. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as that very 'product', using machines and outdated comfort models which produce more energy and provide less comfort. A growing international consensus now calls for low energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide their occupants with many opportunities to change their environments to suit their needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that can inform and guide such building designs. It should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management -- for all who have a role in producing 21st Century adaptive, low carbon, comfortable buildings.

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9780415691598

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In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer, the challenge of designing buildings requires a new approach. This is the first in a trilogy that aims to explain how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions - Building Design

Author Information

Fergus Nicol has led a number of important research projects on comfort which have influenced thinking internationally. He has authored numerous journal articles and other publications including guidance on comfort and overheating. Fergus convenes the Network for Comfort and Energy use in Buildings and organises their regular international Windsor Conferences. Michael Humphreys is known for his pioneering work on the adaptive approach to comfort. He has been Head of Human Factors at the Building Research Establishment, and a Research Professor at Oxford Brookes University. His current interests are the structure and modelling of human adaptive behaviour, the interactions between aspects of the environment, and their expression in standards. Sue Roaf conducted her PhD on comfort and the windcatchers of Yazd, and after a decade working with Nicol and Humphreys at the Oxford Thermal Comfort Unit she moved to Scotland to become Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot Watt University in 2007. She is a teacher, researcher, designer, author and editor of 13 books including Ecohouse: A Design Guide and Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change.

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