PPD Demo Question
I understand the first part about the top of hill being windy. But why "building on the south side of the hilltop also avoids the hot afternoon sun on the west side"??
I would think building on the south side the the hilltop will get all sun from morning to afternoon.
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This is from a diagram in the book, Sun Wind and Light, that suggests architects locate buildings on a hilltop in hot humid climates for access to cross ventilation; 3/4 of the way up in mixed (temperate) climates (some cross ventilation breezes in summer but not too much heat-sapping wind in winter); 1/3 of the way up in cold climates for protection from wind; and (counterintuitively) at the bottom of the hill in hot-arid climates because cool air pools in the valleys at night…You are right about the confusing answer explanation: the volunteer who wrote this question seems to not know that being on the top of the hill doesn’t really allow the hill to protect you from the sun and certainly not too much of the west sun, And the question never specifies that the hill is south facing, so that was a goof (but the diagram in the book does)…..worth noting for your practice (NCARB volunteers don’t seem to know this) that (1) cool air in hot arid climates air only pools at the bottom of the valley on still nights with no breeze, and only then in steep narrow valleys, and (2) both the wind and shade issues and opportunities are complicated once you add trees to the hill…and the volunteer test writers did get right that, like so much of that book, and passive heating and cooling all over these exams, this rule only applies to very small buildings like single family houses (and only then to houses whose occupants, in perpetuity, will open the windows when most people rely on air conditioning),
Michael Ermann, Amber Book creator
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