Thermal Landscaping of Mud Brick Buildings: Creating Comfort in all Seasons

This talk was given at the Earth Building Association Australia Conference 2017. Learn more at https://www.ebaa.asn.au/.

Global Climates are producing increasingly extreme weather. This paper outlines how and why mud brick buildings can enhance comfort in different climates, and how to ensure that the use of high mass mud construction does not cause thermal problems over a day or year. A new design approach is proposed involving the design of carefully landscaped indoor micro-climates that take account of seasonal and extreme weather. Modern buildings are often poorly designed for climate with dire impacts including extreme overheating indoors and very high heating and cooling bills. Well targeted use of mud brick in buildings can alleviate these problems.

Susan Roaf, Emeritus Professor at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh and MD of Ecohouse Initiative Ltd.
Sue is an award winning author, architect, solar energy pioneer and was an Oxford City Councillor for seven years. Her research covers windcatchers and nomadic architecture in Iran, Mesopotamian archaeology, photovoltaics, low carbon, resilient and sustainable design, materials and thermal comfort. Sue’s Oxford Ecohouse, resulted in the best-selling book Ecohouse: A Design Guide. Her other books include Adapting Buildings and Cites for Climate Change, and Benchmarks for Sustainable Buildings and she is working on How to design Comfortable Building. She worked with the Scottish Government on Climate Adaptation. Recent awards include 2013 Top 6 - UK ‘First Women’ Awards as a ‘Visionary’ in the Built Environment.