HOT AND DRY

CLIMATE

Deserts are areas where the rainfall is too low to sustain

any vegetation at all, or only very scanty scrub.

The rainfall in desert areas is less than 250 mm or 10
inches per year, and some years may experience no
rainfall at all.
The hot deserts are situated in the subtropical climate
zone where there is unbroken sunshine for the whole
year due to the stable descending air and high
pressure.
Such areas include the Sahara, Saudi Arabia, large
parts of Iran and Iraq, northwest India, California, South
Africa and much of Australia.
Here, maximum temperatures of 40 to 45C are
common, although during colder periods of the year,
night-time temperatures can drop to freezing or below
due to the exceptional radiation loss under the clear
skies.

WALLS
Wind Mud Or mud brick is the most common

building material used to make the thick walls of

the hot arid zone buildings. These walls were
often 400 to 800mm in thickness.
The mud mixtures often included earth , soil ,dry
vegetation, and stone aggregate.
In the puddled form technique, earth material is
placed in a form with water and layered upon
itself to form a laminated wall.
The addition n of rocks and boulders provides
strength and reinforcement.

ROOFS
Roof is flat in nature and constructed with

compacted mud and lime mortar finish on the top.

Material used for the construction of roof is R.C.C
slab. But the slab is made in slopping form. The
inclination is given to the roof considering sun path
diagram so that maximum reflection of solar
radiation takes place.
The holes are provided in the first floor slab to pass
lighter air from ground floor to first floor and from
first floor to dormer window, which is provided in
the roof slab. Thus circulation of air occurs in the
building.

BUILDING ORIENTATION
The main objective in deciding upon a given

orientation in hot-dry climate regions is to minimize

the impact of the sun on the building in summer .
Pattern of solar radiation on different walls results
in a clear preference for north-south orientation of
the main facades, and especially of the windows.
Such orientation enables easy and in expensive
shading of the southern window in summer.
The heating effect of solar radiation impinging on
walls can further be minimized by choosing
reflective colors of the walls.

COURTYARD
Principle of the courtyard
Due to the incident solar radiation in the courtyard,
the air in the courtyard becomes warmer and rises
up. To replace it, cool air from the ground level flows
through the openings of the room, thus producing
the air flow.
During the night, the process is reversed. The cooled
surface air of the roof sinks down to the court and
this cooled air enters the living spaces through the
low level openings and leaves through higher level
openings.
This system can work effectively in hot and dry
climates, where day time ventilation is undesirable,
as it brings heat inside and at night the air

The best way is to keep the courtyard

shaded and only partially open to sky.

OPEN SPACES AND BUILT FORM

Open spaces have to be seen in conjunction with the built

form. Together they can allow for free air movement and
increased heat loss or gain.
Open spaces in any complex are inevitable. The question is
how should they be and how much should there be?
After all, any built mass modifies the microclimate. An open
area, especially a large one allows more of the natural
climate of the place to prevail .
Open spaces gain heat during the day. If the ground is hard
and building surfaces are dark in color, then much of
radiation is reflected and absorbed by the surrounding
buildings.
If however, the ground is soft and green, then less heat is
reflected.

WATER BODIES
Water absorbs relatively large amount of radiation.

They also allow evaporative cooling.

As a result, during day time area around water bodies
are generally cooler.
At night, however, water bodies release relatively large
amount of heat to the surroundings.
In hot-dry climates, water bodies can be used both for
evaporative cooling as well as minimizing heat gain.
Taking into account wind pattern and vegetation, cool
breeze can be made to enter into the house.
Similarly a roof pond minimizes heat gain through the
roof .

boroujerdi ha house courtyard with water body.

STREET WIDTH AND ORIENTATION

The amount of direct radiation received on the street

(and to some extent the lower floors) is determined

by the street width.
The orientation affects the time of the day when the
radiation is received.
Modulating the street width and orientation can very
effectively minimize or maximize heat gain.
Street width to building height ratio also affects the
daylight received.
In hot-dry climates, the prime need is to minimize
heat gain. This could be achieved by cutting off the
sun.

 Small street width to building height ratio ensures

narrow streets and thereby shading.

In particular, streets running north-south should be
narrow. This would enable mutual shading from
morning and evening sun .
However, this aspect can be considered
advantageously only when planning and designing
new residential colonies.

LANDSCAPE
A desert is a region where only special forms of

life can exist because there is a shortage of

moisture.
Deserts are not always hot. The great Gobi desert
in the middle of Asia is bitterly cold in winter
times.

a. Mountain and basin deserts

b. Hamada deserts, which consist of plateau
c.
d.
e.
.

landforms
Regs, which consist of rock pavements
Ergs, which are formed by sand seas
Intermontane Basins
Nearly all desert surfaces are plains where eolian
deflationremoval of fine-grained material by the
windhas exposed loose gravels consisting
predominantly of pebbles but with occasional
cobbles.
The remaining surfaces of arid lands are composed
of exposed bedrock outcrops, desert soils, and
fluvial deposits including alluvial soils, playas,
desert lakes, and oases.

LANDFORMS
Landforms are the mesoscale topographic

features that define a regional landscape. Climate

and plate tectonics ultimately determine the
system of processesplate tectonic motion,
gravity, erosion, and deposition by water, wind ,
and icethat interact in complex feedback loops
to erect and destroy continental landforms.
Sand covers only about 20% of Earth's deserts.
Most of the sand is in sand sheets and sand seas
vast regions of undulating dunes resembling
ocean waves "frozen" in an instant of time.

 In general, there are four forms of deserts.Several

different types of dunes exist.

Barchan dunes are produced by strong winds
blowing across a level surface and are crescentshaped.
Longitudinal or seif dunes are dunes that are parallel
to a strong wind that blows in one general direction.
Transverse dunes run at a right angle to the constant
wind direction.
Star dunes are star-shaped and have several ridges
that spread out around a point.

WATER BODIES
Rain does fall occasionally in deserts, and desert storms

are often violent.

Normally dry stream channels, called arroyos or wadis,
can quickly fill after heavy rains, and flash floods make
these channels dangerous.
Though little rain falls in deserts, deserts receive runoff
from ephemeral, or short-lived, streams fed considerable
quantities of sediment for a day or two.
Although most deserts are in basins with closed or interior
drainage, a few deserts are crossed by 'exotic' rivers that
derive their water from outside the desert. Such rivers
infiltrate soils and evaporate large amounts of water on
their journeys through the deserts, but their volumes are
such that they maintain their continuity.

VEGETATION
The plants of the Desert habitat area have adapted to

its dry, hot extremes by using both physical and

behavioural mechanisms.
Plants that have adapted by altering their physical
structure are called xerophytes.
Xerophytes, such as cacti, usually have special ways of
storing and conserving water.
They often have few or no leaves, which reduces
water loss.

 Phraetophytes are plants that have adapted to

living in the desert by growing very long roots,

allowing them to get their moisture deep within the
earth, at or near the water table.
Perennials (plants which live for years) and annuals
(plants which live one season) also have behavioural
adaptations.
The perennials survive by remaining dormant during
the dry periods and come to life when water is
available.
Annuals germinate after heavy rain and complete
their reproductive cycle quickly.
They bloom for a few weeks in spring. Their seeds
remain dormant in the soil until the next years rain.

CLIMATE
The hot desert climate is found around the tropics of

Capricorn and Cancer, usually on the west side of

continents.
Examples are the Thar desert in Pakistan and the
Atacama desert in Chile.
This climate has hot or very hot temperatures and is
very dry having less than 250mm of precipitation a
year.
The vegetation of hot deserts is very sparse due to
lack of rain.

Some plants have adapted to the conditions by

having long roots to search for moisture, and some

plants like cacti store water.
Most of the dry, hot deserts are found in two belts
around the world, just north and south of the
Equator.
They are caused by high atmospheric pressures that
exist in those areas and prevent rain from falling.
Other deserts, which are found farther away from
the Equator are the result of being in the rain
shadow.
This is the name for an effect that is caused by
mountain barriers that catch rainfall on their
seaward side and leave the interior region dry.

BUILDING CONFIGURATION
In hot-dry climate regions, it is desirable to lower

the rate of temperature rise of the interior

during day time in summer. To achieve this, the
building should preferably be compact. The
surface area of its external envelope should be as
small as possible, to minimize the heat
flow into the building. The ratio of the building
envelopes surface area to its volume or
ratio of floor area to its volume determines the
relative exposure of the building to solar
radiation. The best layout is that of a patio or a
courtyard surrounded by walls and thus
partially isolated from the full impact of the
outdoor air. This conFigureuration is very

CONCLUSION

Following

conclusions are drawn from the study

presented herein with respect to natural cooling of
residential buildings in hot-dry climate:

(i) To minimize energy demand and provide better degree

of natural conditioning, it is essential to give climatic
considerations for designing of residential buildings.

(ii) For a building to function in co-ordination with the

environment, there should be a relation between the
interior and exterior environment, orientation, building
form,materials etc.

(iii) Orientation of the overall built form should be in coordination with the orientation of the sun and
prevailing wind direction.

(iv) Land-scaping is a passive energy saving technique. It controls wind, solar radiation
and temperature extremes of climate.
(v) Rectangular form of the building should be elongated along east-west direction, i.e, the orientation of the
building should be north-south.
(vi) When buffer spaces are provided between exterior and interior spaces, heat from outside dissipates before
entering interiors. Non-habitable rooms such as toilets,
stores and galleries can be provided as heat barriers in the worst orientations on the outer periphery of the
building.
(vii) Heat removal can be affected by natural or induce ventilation, evaporation of water and the use of heat sinks.

(viii) Provision of a central courtyard is preferable

which helps in achieving shaded
spaces, natural light in most of the places and
better circulation of air without
providing much openings on the exteriors surfaces.
However, provision of
courtyard is effective only if it has a plan area and
volume relationship proportional
to built-up area and its volume.
(ix) Thick walls create thermal time-lag, thus
creating comfortable conditions.
(x) As the position of a window goes higher, light
penetration increases with lesser
heat gain.
(xi) Size and location of ventilators be decide

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