Thermal Control and Retention (Desert Climate)

So since my last post, i've been looking at evaporative cooling in desert climates and for my desert building I plan to look at the Pearl Academy of Fashion in Jaipur designed by Morphogenesis. The building is located in the hot desert climate of Rajasthan. ( the Great Indian desert)

























Evaporative cooling is a passive cooling technique often used in desert climates. The entire building is raised above the ground and a large sunken pool acts as a natural thermal sink reducing temperature in the building by water bodies through evaporative cooling.

This pool/sink which is thermally banked on all sides serves as a large student recreation and exhibition zone and forms the anchor for the entire project. During the night when the desert temperature drops this floor slowly dissipates the heat to the surroundings keeping the area thermally comfortable.

The building also has a double outer skin that sits 4 feet away from the building and reduces the direct heat gain through fenestrations. There are drip channels that run along the inner face of the double skin allowing for passive downdraft evaporative cooling, thus reducing the incident wind temperature.


The natural system I will be relating this to is sweat glands in mammals. The process of sweating aids thermoregulation in mammals as evaporation of sweat from the skin surface has a cooling effect due to the latent heat of evaporation of water. Animals with few sweat glands, such as dogs, accomplish similar temperature regulation results by panting, which evaporates water from the moist lining of the oral cavity.
Update again soon........