Lessons learned in the passive design of social housing representative of the Mediterranean vernacular architecture
Serrano Lanzarote, Begoñaa; Ortega Madrigal, Leticiab; Ramírez Pareja, Lucíab and Soto Francés, Laurab
aIRP, UniversitatPolitècnica de València, Spain, bIVE, Valencia Institute of Building, Spain.
Abstract:
More than half of the urban peak load of energy consumption is used to satisfy air-conditioning demands alone. The pressure placed on energy resources to satisfy the future requirements of the built environment will be huge, unless more effective measures can be introduced. Most of the political and economic efforts are currently focused on how to build according to passive design principles and using XXI Century building technologies, but eventually it’s forgotten that vernacular architecture design strategies constitute a big knowledge background.
This paper demonstrates via a vernacular social housing study case of Valencia, built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, how this type of Mediterranean vernacular architecture achieves most of the requirements of the passive design principles. We do it by applying to the study case the six main principles developed by the Passive Design Guide for the Built Environment (2014, Valencian Institute of Building): general building Design (DIS), Improved thermal envelope (MET), Solar heating (CS), Solar protection, Natural ventilation (V) and Air treatment (TA). The validity of the constructive resources used in valencian vernacular constructions shows that they can be as valid or better than those provided by other construction solutions employed today.
Keywords:Social housing; vernacular architecture; passive strategies.