How Design-Build Should Adapt in the Time of Climate Change
Climate change is the greatest threat to the environment in today’s world. It is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Design-build, therefore, needs to be climactic in order to be sustainable. The purpose is to facilitate an increase in the energy efficiency of buildings. Thermal design improves the living and working environment for occupants through ecologically sustainable means. It also seeks to reduce the effect on health that adverse climatic conditions such as rising temperatures bring about. The climatic design has been shown to produce buildings with low energy costs, reduced maintenance, and superior comfort. Design-build taking climate change into consideration is characterized by the following.
Utilizing climatic factors may not require mechanical heating or cooling. Passively designed buildings use the advantage of natural energy flows to maintain thermal comfort. The roof, walls, windows, floors and interiors of an office or home if designed properly, maximize cooling air movement and exclude the sun in summer while trapping and storing the heat from it during other seasons to minimize heat loss to the external environment. Architecture that takes climate into consideration to design energy-efficient spaces will have an eye on the seasons, the sun, the natural shade provided by the local topography, factors like wind, rainfall, humidity and climate data like temperature and weather patterns.
The building layout should primarily consider the most optimal location for the building to be situated. Climate-sensitive factors to be considered here are access to infrastructure, being clear of watersheds, not building within a floodplain and in a habitat with endangered species. Decide the building location after understanding about trees and such geological features to be avoided. Know how water flows across the site. Construction of climate-responsive buildings reduces the amount of energy used to cool and heat the building and uses natural sources as much as possible. When we design and build spaces for resilience, we are also mitigating the changes of social provocation.
