Abstract
Climatic responsive strategies represent a systematic approach that meticulously considers climatic and environmental parameters during the architectural design phase, aiming to achieve optimal thermal comfort while minimizing energy consumption. Across the globe, millenary cultures and civilizations have learned to read their local climate to adapt their constructions to the natural habitat, using available resources in the immediate environment, developing unique vernacular architectures in each corner of the world. The current study highlights the pivotal role of climate responsive strategies in the design of vernacular architecture across diverse latitudinal contexts, identifying techniques and methods that can help us today to build more comfortable spaces using local resources, less energy demand, and decreasing the overall carbon footprint of the constructions. This approach leads to sustainable architecture and can be a great tool to rescue local traditions and cultural heritage as a relevant technology on a globalized world. This study reveals a spectrum of passive strategies actively explored and implemented within the realm of vernacular architecture in four distinct cultural and environmental contexts, such as India, Colombia, Sweden, and South Africa. The climatic responsive strategies of vernacular buildings at these locations have been analysed with the help of case study and Mahoney table. The research findings affirm that climate responsive architecture, through the judicious application of passive measures, presents itself as an efficacious strategy to overcome unfavourable climatic conditions.
Keywords: Climate-Responsive Architecture, Passive Strategies, Thermal Comfort, Vernacular Architecture.