MADHAV INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

AND SCIENCE

BUILDING SCIENCE

SESSIONAL

“STUDY OF HERITAGE BUILDING

WITH RESPECT TO COMFORT”

Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

Prof. R.K. Pandit Shalini Gupta

B.Arch, v sem

AR11031

CONTENTS

Introduction The heritage building as a passive and active climate moderator Case study

1. GOHAR MAHAL (BHOPAL)

2. GUJARI MAHAL (GWALIOR)

3. The James Pitot House (early nineteenth century)

4. The Gibson House (1859)

Opportunities to Reinstate the Heritage Building as a Passive and Active Climate Moderator Synthesis Conclusion References

INTRODUCTION The knowledge of architectural designs to create the comfort

conditions in the building may be understand well by analyzing the

concepts used in the old monuments or heritage buildings. These

existing buildings were designed, developed and constructed to use

the natural energy sources or sinks for the particular climatic zone.

India lies in its Buildings as these buildings are the mirror of History of

India. These buildings have been maintained and some restored to

keep the glory India intact as in the past and also provide many lessons

in designing for specific climates. The concept of energy conservation

in buildings is not new but can be seen in our historical monuments.

The knowledge of architectural designs to create the comfort

conditions in the building may be understand well by analyzing the

concepts used in the old monuments or heritage buildings. These

existing buildings were designed, developed and constructed to use

the natural energy sources or sinks for the particular climatic zone.

India lies in its Buildings as these buildings are the mirror of History of

India. These buildings have been maintained and some restored to

keep the glory India intact as in the past and also provide many lessons

in designing for specific climates. The concept of energy conservation

in buildings is not new but can be seen in

our historical monuments.

The Heritage Building as a Passive and Active Climate Moderator

Heritage buildings that predate the development of four-

season climate management systems typically had some

inherent capability to moderate external influences on

interior conditions. In these older structures, the building

itself was the system for ventilation and human comfort. The

hygrothermal performance of these buildings relied on

building materials, thermal mass, moisture buffering,

landscape, siting, overall form, horizontal and vertical

communication among interior spaces, and exterior wall

openings.

A key component of the interior conditioning of older

buildings was occupant operation of building features—such

as doors and windows and their associated devices such as

shutters and shades—which moderated the influence of the

exterior on the interior while capitalizing on favorable

external aspects, such as breezes, for ventilation and comfort.

CASE STUDY

1. GOHAR MAHAL (BHOPAL)

a. Climate of Site- Bhopal is a city in central India, a hilly but hot area, located on the Malwa plateau.

23.27° N, 77.4° E .Altitude is 499m above sea level. The summers are hot and dry

and the temperatures soar as high as 40o-48oC. Winters are moderately cold with

temperature not going below 8oC. It rains moderately during the rainy season.

b. Building description- The Gohar Mahal was built in 1818, is a three-story building with an uninsulated

full basement. A two-storey wing at the rear was added later. Major renovations

were carried out in 1922. The total floor area is about 650 m2 (not including the

basement). The first- and second-story exterior walls are loadbearing solid brick

walls (1000-330 mm thick), the third story is enclosed by a wood-frame mansard

roof with the sides covered with slate tiles. The roof is insulated to approximately

RSI-4.4 (R-25). All walls are finished with lath and plaster on the interior. Windows

are either single-glazed, double-hung wood-frame windows with single-glazed

wood-frame storm windows on the exterior; or leaded, single-glazed metal-

casement windows with single-glazed wood-frame storm windows on the interior.

Location of Gohar Mahal is at the lakeside, the main entrance is south-east facing.

The two courtyards divide the building in three parts in longitudinal direction and

two parts in transverse. The building is constructed on the slope of a hill,hence

there is a road level entry at each floor also one of its part is attached with hill.

Therefore the built up area is less at ground floor than first and second floor. The

main entry is towards the lake side in the eastern corner at ground level.

C. Passive Solar Design of Buildings: The energy efficiency in the buildings can be achieved by studying the macro and

micro climate of the site, applying solar passive and bio climatic design features

and take advantage of natural resources on site. A few common architecture solar

passive design elements are listed below:

• Landscaping

• Water bodies

• Orientation

• Site And Site Conditions

• Open spaces and built form

Assessment of many of our vernacular buildings like Gohar Mahal shows an

understanding of PSD and demonstrates how simple it is to incorporate in modern

building design.

Landscaping: Landscaping by vegetation is one of the most effective ways of altering micro

climate for better conditions. Trees provide buffer to sun, heat, noise, air pollution.

As Gohar mahal is built towards lake side ,there is a dense vegetation around it.

These trees ,plants and water body near by help the building to keep cool in

summer by evaporation cooling. The building consists of multi-level planning, as

the building is built on a small hill with the different levels gradually increasing in

height towards the north -east direction. Hence Ground cooling by earth berming

keep the inside temperature much down in summer and moderate in winter .the

principle behind this is the earth’s temperature is practically constant after a

depth of 2.5m and remains close to the average annual temperature, thus offering

a vital sink for buildings to dissipate their heat hence the Gohar Mahal part, which

is in contact with earth benefits from huge thermal mass of adjacent ground and is

thus not affected by hot and cold climate, shown below the rear view of Gohar

Mahal. the maximum openings are towards the lake side i.e. .in south west

direction, to get the cool air in and let the hot air out. This makes building much

cool in summer.

Orientation: In solar passive buildings, orientation is a major design consideration, mainly with

regard to solar radiation, daylight and wind. Gohar Mahal in respect to its

orientation is perfect. Main entrance of Gohar Mahal is east facing.The long wall is

at south side and maximum openings are given at wall that is lake side to capture

the prevailing wind in summer. All the main rooms are towards north side with

small openings but attached with large verandahs and courtyards.

location and site conditions: Gohar mahal is located besides Bhopal upper lake. Water has a moderating effect

on the air temperature of the micro climate. It possesses very high thermal storage

capacity much higher than the building materials like Brick, concrete, stone. A

large body of water in the form of lake, river, and fountain has the ability to

moderate the air temperatures in the micro climate.

Water evaporation has a cooling effect in the surroundings. It takes up heat

from the air through evaporation and causes significant cooling especially in hot &

dry climate zone. This is observed in at the site also.

Openings, Semi Openings and Built Form: Openings play main part in solar passive buildings. Main openings are in the form

of courtyards and terraces whereas semi openings are in the form of verandahs in

Gohar Mahal. There are four courtyards; two of them divide the building

longitudinally in three parts and transversely in two parts. The central courtyard of

a typical traditional house was a very common passive solar device and was often

considered the lung of the house. The success of the cooling principle of

courtyards depends on a combination of climate, building shape and wall

materials and varied across the region depending on location, size and affluence.

One of the openings is a garden called as secret garden which is at back side of the

second floor. They are performing following functions:

• The division of buildings into thermal zones with buffer areas such as verandas,

courtyards avoids providing barriers to cross flow ventilation where this is

required; hence using courtyard as a space is to act as a thermal buffer. The

courtyard was the main source of air exchange from inside the built space to the

outer free space.

• In Gohar Mahal more space is around the building, this provide prevalent and

effected crossventilation through a series of openings from the rear/entrance door,

through the central courtyards and out of an opening at the entrance/rear. This

was the 'air funnel' of the house. The entrance lobby acted as a wind funnel

focusing the incident wind into the courtyard that lay on this air funnel, which in

turn ventilated the living areas grouped around it.

• To facilitate the moment of cool air into the house, parapets are built at very low

height and also slopes are towards the courtyard. A water sprinkler was placed in

the courtyards to cool and humidify the incoming air.

• The principle of using central courtyards in Gohar Mahal as a means for keeping

adjacent rooms cool was based on the pressure difference between cool air and

warm air. Cool night time air from high above the courtyard, heavier than warm

air, sank into the courtyard and replaced the slightly warmer air that had

accumulated there during the day and which was unable to escape because the

ambient daytime air temperature above the courtyard was warmer.

• The main function of verandahs found in Gohar Mahal was to prevent the direct

heat and glare of the sun from entering the house. They are all the four sides of

courtyards. This is analysing that all these verandahs are comparatively cool in

summer while hotter in winters.

Ventilation and other openings:

Ventilation is the exchange of air between the inside of a building and the outside.

In Gohar Mahal traditional ways of ventilation to achieve passive cooling was

adopted, briefly described below:

_ For natural ventilation, the flow of air is caused by the pressure of the wind (cross

ventilation) or by the buoyancy effect of temperature differences between inside

and outside (Stack effect).

_ Almost all the ventilators are inclined i.e. highly elevated at outside and low at

inside.

_ The arch shaped ventilators are highly tapered these are for spot light i.e.

lightning the whole room naturally .

_ Highly elevated small openings keep the room cool.

_ Numbers of jharokhas are also given for free flow of wind.

Sun Shades and chajjas :

Shades play important role for protecting the building from direct sunlight. In

Gohar Mahal shades of flag stone are provided all the four sides of the building.

Generally they are slightly inclined and 900mm wide. They are supported on stone

cornice. They are perfect to gain direct solar radiation in winter and shades in

summer.

d. BUILDING MATERIAL: Choice of building material for the envelope is important to reduce the energy

content of the building, this means selection of building materials which use low

energy in their manufacturing. The choice of building material is also important

to achieve indoor comfort. In Gohar Mahal the building materials used are;

• Bricks

• Stone

• Timber

• Lime

• Sand stone

• Jute fabric

2. GUJARI MAHAL (GWALIOR)

a. Climate of Site- Gwalior is located at 26.22°N 78.18°E in northern Madhya Pradesh 300 km

(186 miles) from Delhi. It has an average elevation of 197 metres. The hill fort, conical

in shape, is built on a solitary hillock. The rock formations in the fort hill and in the

Gwalior hill ranges consist of ochreous sandstone. The fort hill (342 feet (104 m) at the

highest point) has a length of about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and an average width of about

300 yards (270 m). A small river Swarnrekha flows close to the palace.

b. Building description- Gujari Mahal Archaeological Museum is a place where you can find the rare and

atypical antiquities. The most striking and prominent feature of Gujari Mahal is the

precious stones and jewels in the crown. This world familiar Gujari Mahal is

situated in Gwalior and this far-famed archaeological museum being visited by

most tourists. Furthermore, the place has wide collection of unique variety

sculptures fitting in the 1st Century AD. Gujari Mahal was built by Raja Mansingh

Tomar and he dedicated this Mahal to his Gujar Queen Mrignayani. The major

striking spotlight of this museum is the sculpture of Gyraspur Shalabhanjika is

sheltered in the Gujari Mahal.

. C. Passive Solar Design of Buildings: The energy efficiency in the buildings can be achieved by studying the macro and

micro climate of the site, applying solar passive and bio climatic design features

and take advantage of natural resources on site. A few common architecture solar

passive design elements are listed below:

• Landscaping

• Water bodies

• Orientation

• Site And Site Conditions

• Open spaces and built form

Landscaping: Landscaping by vegetation is one of the most effective ways of altering micro

climate for better conditions. Trees provide buffer to sun, heat, noise, air pollution.

As Gohar mahal is built towards lake side ,there is a dense vegetation around it.

These trees ,plants and water body near by help the building to keep cool in

summer by evaporation cooling.

Orientation: In solar passive buildings, orientation is a major design consideration, mainly with

regard to solar radiation, daylight and wind. Gujari Mahal in respect to its

orientation is perfect. Main entrance of Gujari Mahal is north east facing and

second entrance is from south west. The long wall is at south side and openings are

given at centre. location and site conditions: Gujari Mahal is located in Gwalior. The fort has two important parts namely, the

main fort and the Palaces (Gujari Mahal and the Man Mandir palace). The Palaces

were built by Raja Man Singh Tomar. Water has a moderating effect on the air

temperature of the micro climate. It possesses very high thermal storage capacity

much higher than the building materials like Brick, concrete, stone. A large body of

water in the form of lake, river, and fountain has the ability to moderate the air

temperatures in the micro climate.

Openings, Semi Openings and Built Form: Openings play main part in solar passive buildings. Main openings are in the form

of courtyards and terraces. There is one courtyard in centre sounded by rooms.

The central courtyard of a typical traditional house was a very common passive

solar device and was often considered the lung of the house. The success of the

cooling principle of courtyards depends on a combination of climate, building

shape and wall materials and varied across the region depending on location, size

and affluence.

Effected crossventilation through a series of openings from the rear/entrance

door, through the central courtyards and out of an opening at the

entrance/rear. This was the 'air funnel' of the house.

The principle of using central courtyards in Gohar Mahal as a means for keeping

adjacent rooms cool was based on the pressure difference between cool air and

warm air and cool night.

Ventilation and other openings:

Ventilation is the exchange of air between the inside of a building and the outside.

In Gujari Mahal traditional ways of ventilation to achieve passive cooling was

adopted, briefly described below:

_ For natural ventilation, the flow of air is caused by the pressure of the wind (cross

ventilation) or by the buoyancy effect of temperature differences between inside

and outside (Stack effect).

_ Almost all the ventilators are inclined i.e. highly elevated at outside and low at

inside.

_ The arch shaped ventilators are highly tapered these are for spot light i.e.

lightning the whole room naturally .

_ Highly elevated small openings keep the room cool.

_ Numbers of jharokhas are also given for free flow of wind.

3. The James Pitot House (early nineteenth century) The James Pitot House in New Orleans—listed on the National Historic Register—is

currently the subject of a Getty-funded Conservation Planning Grant. It is a

traditional two-story Creole cottage interpreted as a furnished historic house

museum. The house has numerous features to address the hostile New Orleans

climate. Deep galleries protect the interior spaces from sun and driving rain.

The second-floor galleries provided protected exterior living spaces, the

importance of which is evidenced by the presence of architectural trim such as

baseboards and, in some instances, chair rails. Interior spaces are configured for

cross-ventilation through multiple doors and windows that open onto the

protected galleries. The house incorporated seasonal operating features (no longer

extant), such as curtains and shades hung above the gallery railings to provide

privacy and to exclude insects when the galleries were transformed into living

spaces in the hot summer months. The original loose-fit slate roof resisted wind

uplift from tropical storms, and the heated mass of the roof created a nighttime

thermosiphon, exhausting room air into the attic through second-floor ceilings

constructed from gap-spaced painted boards, cooling the rooms below With the

introduction of central air-conditioning into the Pitot House in the late twentieth

century, the building underwent a variety of changes. The ventilating ceiling was

closed off with attic insulation, and the roof was replaced with tight-fitting

composition shingles and roofing felts. The attic is no longer a solar-powered

passive ventilator, and the doors and windows to the galleries must be kept closed

to stabilize the conditioned interiors. Ephemeral and fugitive methods of

managing the interior climate, such as the gallery curtains shown in a delightful

1830 sketch by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, have long disappeared.

The Pitot House. Photo: Penelope S. Watson, Watson and Henry Associates.

Historic American Building Survey drawing of the ventilation of the Pitot House

4. The Gibson House (1859) The Gibson House in Boston, a National Historic Landmark, is interpreted as a

furnished historic house museum. It has not been fitted with central air-

conditioning and retains its original three-story-high ventilation and light shaft.

These architectural features for interior climate management are typical of a

multistory building in an urban context. Since the building has long windowless

sidewalls, buoyancydriven ventilation was essential to augment the limited

window area provided by the narrow front and rear facades. In such cases, light

and ventilation shafts, stair halls, and areaways are critical to movement of air,

thermal energy, and natural light to interior spaces. At the Gibson House, the shaft

is a functionally sophisticated and architecturally refined feature. It distributed

heated air to upper floors in winter and exhausted hot air from all floors in

summer, while distributing much-needed natural light to windowless interior

spaces and the interior stair hall. Building occupants operated the interior window

sash on the ventilation shaft according to need, as indicated by the thermometer

placed by one such window. The shaft now terminates in a vented skylight, which

appears to be a replacement for an earlier, presumably operable version.

The impacts of centralized systems are compounded in older buildings considered

historic by virtue of their architectural, historical, or cultural significance. In historic

buildings, the interior environmental management must also address the

preservation issues posed by the building itself. The dual mandate to preserve

historic building fabric and prevent deterioration or damage to the collections sets

the stage for potentially competing or conflicting objectives.

The Gibson House ventilation and light shaft viewed from the shaft interiorThe Gibson House ventilation and light shaft with thermometer, seen from the bathroom.

Opportunities to Reinstate the Heritage Building

as a Passive and Active Climate Moderator

If interior temperatures are unacceptably high, the heat gains might be

reduced by

managing insolation at window openings or heat gain by the wall

surfaces, rather than by

introduction of mechanical cooling. Depending on the specifics of the

building, this strategy might be implemented through passive and

active measures such as:

shading the building through placement of landscape plantings;

selecting exterior wall and roof colors to reduce radiant heat gain;

operating window shutters or shades to reduce insolation;

increasing natural ventilation.

If interior moisture vapor loads are high, the environmental

management strategy

might be source reduction of moisture vapor and liquid, rather than

mechanical

dehumidification. Depending on the specifics of the building, this

strategy might be implemented through passive and active measures

such as:

intercepting and diverting roof and surface water runoff before they

are absorbed by wall surfaces and building materials;

operating windows and doors to ventilate the building when

exterior atmospheric moisture vapor is lower than interior

atmospheric moisture vapor.

SYNTHESIS To promote environmental and sustainable performance measures for existing

heritage buildings without adversely impacting their cultural heritage significance.

Objectives

To increase awareness of the contribution of heritage conservation to

sustainability,

through:

• developing an understanding of the attributes of heritage buildings

• considering the options available for the improvement of environmental

performance (in particular reducing energy and water consumption) and

evaluating whether these measures are appropriate to heritage buildings

• i dentifying the main issues which need to be addressed in optimising the

performance of heritage buildings. It is recognised that the retention of heritage buildings has environmental

sustainability benefits. Conserving heritage buildings reduces energy usage

associated with demolition, waste disposal and new construction, and promotes

sustainable development by conserving the embodied energy in the existing

buildings.

Life-cycle analyses of building fabric: structure, envelope, interior elements and

systems – and ongoing management and use – need to be considered as part of

the conservation process to achieve optimum energy efficiency outcomes.

Conclusion

From above observations and analysis this is prove that these both buildings are

solar passive and does not require any conventional method for cooling. That is

use of natural energy (sun, wind, etc.) to conserve conventional energy for

achieving thermal comfort refers to comfortable indoor conditions (temperature,

humidity, air movement) is observed and analyzed in these buildings. The result

from above analysis shows that the Gohar Mahal and Gujari Mahal are an

example for making solar passive modern building for climate of Bhopal and

Gwalior.

In the twentieth century, air-conditioning made the prospect of four-season

environmental

control a reality, influencing not only building design but perceptions and

technical definitions

of occupant comfort. We can reduce the potentially adverse impact of our

environmental management strategies if we:

adjust our performance criteria for conservation environments by taking into

account the robust qualities and vulnerabilities of the collections against the

exterior environmental threats specific to the location;

reduce carbon emissions (and operating costs) without necessarily reinvesting

in airconditioning systems by implementing broader criteria for interior

environmental control;

account for, and fully credit, the passive and operable features of the building

that can moderate the environment and afford protection for the contents and

collections, and rely on these features rather than on mechanical systems to the

extent practical;

improve or enhance the inherent environmental performance qualities of the

building envelope;

evaluate new or alternative environmental management strategies in lieu of

fourseason mechanical systems for environmental control.

REFERENCES

1. Givoni B., Performance applicability of passive and low-energy cooling systems.

Energy Build., 17, 177– 199(1991).

2. Martin Godfrey Cook, Energy Efficiency in Old Houses,publisher Crowood ,pg no.

16(2009).

3. Fodil Fadli Ma , Magda Sibley Sustainability Lessons From Traditional Buildings

In North Africa The Public Bathhouses: “Hammāms” ,proceeding of 3rd

International Conference On Smart And Sustainable Built Environments (2009).

4. Saviana Badarneh ,Hussain Al Zoubi ,Dr. Hikmat H. Ali:Energy efficient Design for

thermally comforted dwelling units in hot arid zones: Case of vernacular buildings

in Jordan ARISER 4. (1) 37-39 (2008).

5. Bhopal Weather - Bhopal Climate & Weather, Bhopal Weather Information.htm

10. Bhopal City in Madhya Pradesh India, Bhopal Travel Tour Guide.htm

11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwalior_Fort

12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwalior

13. http://www.mapsofindia.com/gwalior/travel-guide/gujari-mahal.html

14.http://www.mustseeindia.com/Gwalior-Gujari-Mahal-Archaeological-

Museum/attraction/12206