When I saw the inside of the palace at the Agra fort, i was shown the large windows up by the celing, they were made at a slant , i was told that it was to improve circulation, as the hot air rose, it would exit from the window and pull the cool air through the doorways.
I noticed those in the Alhambra and elsewhere, and the flowing water did seem to cause the air to circulate nicely.
I believe the place you’re talking about is the Amber Palace, or Amber Fort, near Agra, India. I wish I could remember the tour better, because the place is full of neat little additions and inventions a la Monticello. The ones that are relavant here are the window thing that BurnMeUp mentioned, and a room with pipes of cool water running through the floor, walls, and ceiling. I think that room may have had a fan, too, that was powered by the aforementioned cool water running across a small paddlewheel-type device. The whole thing was pretty impressive.
Amber Fort is near Jaipur – some distance west of Agra
Yes, you’re right. That part of my trip to Asia is a little jumbled in my mind.
Thanks
In the Philippines, the native house is elevated off the ground, and the floors, which are typically slatted bamboo have openings, which allow air to pass through (as well as dirt and food scraps). Wall panels are also fairly loosely woven, which allows additional air movement, and windows are large thatched panels that can be elevated in order to open them. Most of them usually have a porch on one side.
The houses built during Spanish colonization are also built elevated, but this time the base is used as a storage area, and the living quarters on the 2nd storey. They make use of windows that slide open and run from near floor to near ceiling. The air conditioning feature are small grilles called “ventanillas” (meaning “little windows”), which are located in the casement under the big windows (these can be closed off with sliding wooden panels behind them). Above the windows the wooden panels are cut and pierced. So, these houses have a constant flow of air.
In the old days of Sacramento, they went to great lenghts to stay cool during the 100+ degree summers. They did the usual high ceilings/strategic windows/deep porches thing. Then they built their homes with identical floorplans on the top and bottom. In the summer they stayed on the lower floor where it was cooler, and in the winter they stayed on top to stay warm and avoid the floods. They also planted as many trees as possible- to this day you can call the electric company and they will plant a tree in your yard for free. Sacramento is considered the most heavily tree-ed city except for maybe Paris.
Good point. My 1910 house also seems to have been built with this idea in mind. The top floor has windows which allow the sunlight to come in. Bottom floor has a deep porch to prevent same. The top floor, because of the solar heat coming through the windows and the warm air rising through the house, stays quite warm in the winter. The bottom floor is nice and cool in the summer.
I was the manager of a 380,000 sq ft plant, and in the summer the chillers could not keep the place cool. This resulted in shop employees using every excuse imaginable to spend as much time as possible in the office…… not so good for productivity.
As part of the package for a new roof the supplier installed a roof sprinkler system and that was the end of the bitching and complaining about how hot it was.
The president of the roofing company told me that the same concept was used by the ancient Romans. Does a reasonable man require any more proof than that