A Study of urban dwellings on comfort and spatial quality with special reference to architectural interventions for natural ventilation

Abstract

The rapid development of the twentieth century, which produces human dwellings in every possible corner of vicinity, has a great effect on the environment that it has resulted a substantial deterioration in local climate as well. The buildings are clustered to exploit optimal space and the urban local microclimate is modified by the "structure" of the city mainly. This modified urban microclimate conditions directly affects the indoor comfort conditions. Therefore the rational ventilation and thermal comfort are more important factors, which create livable environment in urban house form. However in a congested urban setting gaining ventilation and thermal comfort are difficult tasks. Therefore going for mechanical methods to achieve this goal is widely in use despite the fact of its possible destructive affect upon the quality of the building in terms of aesthetics and architecture. In addition it affects the physical and psychological conditions of inhabitants while the livability of space is considered as a balance between physical and psychological comfort. The physical comfort is related with thermal factors and psychological factors greatly depend on the spatial qualify of space. When this balance is broken, it will invariably affect the life pattern of inhabitance. Because of these critical concerns houses in urban blocks have to be designed to minimize the damage to its interior spatial qualities, which may be resulted by unnecessary use of technology for thermal comfort. However, harmonized with the architectural language, the technology can also help in making livable environment for dwellers.