Portuguese vernacular architecture: the contribution of vernacular materials and design approaches for sustainable construction

Abstract

Vernacular architecture is characterized by a type of formal expression, which has been developed in response to a number of factors -geographic, climatic and economic -characterizing the local area or region. Despite the fact that Portugal is a small country, there are many different architectural approaches and a range of techniques have been employed in different regions to mitigate the effects of climate. These vernacular approaches have the potential for further development and could be adapted in response to contemporary needs. In this paper, a range of different passive solar techniques used in Portuguese vernacular architecture to provide comfort is presented. The specific focus is on the effectiveness of passive cooling strategies (namely, high thermal inertia, use of light colours and courtyards), and the findings of a case study in which the thermal performance during the summer of a vernacular residential building located in the south of Portugal are presented.

Contribution of Portuguese Vernacular Building Strategies to Indoor Thermal Comfort and Occupants’ Perception

“…These studies have shown that vernacular buildings can achieve acceptable comfort standards throughout much of the year by passive means alone [5,6,[17][18][19]. In some cases, indoor air temperatures remained almost constant with no need for air conditioning, except during winter season [5,6,[17][18][19]. The results presented in these studies support the arguments that passive strategies can be feasible for contemporary buildings and that they could contribute towards reducing buildings' energy demands for heating and cooling.…”

“…Although they were conducted in different parts of the world, they have reported similar conclusions. These studies have shown that vernacular buildings can achieve acceptable comfort standards throughout much of the year by passive means alone [5,6,[17][18][19]. In some cases, indoor air temperatures remained almost constant with no need for air conditioning, except during winter season [5,6,[17][18][19].…”

“…Thus, through generations across the world, diverse vernacular building techniques and forms have been developed and improved in order to better respond to different climate constraints and, consequently, to provide better thermal comfort conditions [1,2]. In the absence of advanced technological solutions to achieve comfort conditions, vernacular buildings were built using low-tech passive strategies that take advantage of available endogenous resources and other criteria such as: insolation; orientation; geometry; form; and materials, among others [3][4][5]. The relevance of vernacular features is still valid today being now the basis of sustainable building design [6].…”

Vernacular earthen architecture and its restoration in the region of La Manchuela in Albacete (Spain)

“…The combination of all these strategies is a great asset to achieve indoor thermal comfort during summer season only by passive means, as demonstrated in recent studies (Fernandes, Pimenta, et al 2015;Fernandes, Mateus, et al 2015).…”

“…To suit these climatic conditions, the strategies developed are in general more focused on passive cooling (Fernandes et al 2016;Fernandes, Mateus, et al 2015;Dabaieh & Eybye 2016;Fathy 1986), such as: i) minimising the size and number of windows and doors facing the outdoor environment, to reduce solar gains; ii) proper orientation of openings, normally facing north for summer cool breeze and south for direct sun needed for winter cold days. The window to wall ratio ranges from 1:20 to 1:25 iii) high thermal inertia building systems (rammedearth walls, adobe, and vaulted ceilings); iv) the use of light colours for the building envelope, mainly whitewashed surfaces, to reflect the incident solar radiation (Oliveira & Galhano 1992;Koch-Nielsen 2002); iv) ventilation openings to promote overnight cooling and remove diurnal thermal loads.…”