Environmental Qualities of Traditional Building Design, Architectural Article
Environmental Qualities of Traditional Architecture
Architecture Design Discussion – article by Brian Carter, Buffalo, NY, USA
Sep 18, 2018
Good Environmental Qualities in Traditional Architecture
Personal Comfort and Well Being – The Monthly Report
August was hot. Signaled by images of parched grasslands and flaming forests in places as far apart as California, Greece, Australia and Siberia and of smog shrouded citizens in India and China, increasingly high temperatures also created sweltering cities.
Suffocating conditions in Tokyo claimed more than a hundred lives as temperatures reached 40?C for the first time. Suddenly it seemed that the abstract statistics of climates changing and the earth warming were made increasingly vivid. New v old – shading qualities in a typical Mediterranean streetscape:

Photographs of Granada, Spain, by Luis García Gollonet
And in London sweaty commutes, arctic workspaces created by urgent and radical air conditioning, inappropriate clothing and steamy rooms with windows flung wide open, offered little relief.
Meanwhile holidaymakers, another predictable and obvious sign of August, were on the move. Eager to get away from hot workspaces, homes, schools, shops and shop-floors hoards of travelers chose to stay cool. Seeking out the heavy masonry of monasteries, churches and palaces in Portugal, Galicia and Italy, chilling out to play on Mama Mi...