Application of Bioclimatic Design Tools for Thermal Comfort in Housing in Salta Province

Abstract

The bioclimatic design analyzes and studies the climatic factors, the contextual conditions and the  available resources of the site where an architecture project is located.
The Province of Salta is crossed by all the bioclimatic zones according to the classifi cation of the IRAM Norms of thermal conditioning for Argentina. The provincial territory registers high levels of solar radiation throughout its geography. This represents a great opportunity to explore ways to take advantage of these natural conditions to contribute, from the design point of view, to reducing energy consumption and improving people’s habitat conditions.
This work comprehensively analyzes several residential buildings located in diff erent climatic zones of the Province of Salta where materials and construction technologies from the region have been used. On the other hand, it shows how passive heating systems are implemented taking advantage of thermal gains and how natural ventilation is incorporated into their design.
Three case studies were analyzed with a defined methodology: evaluation of solar radiation conditions and annual temperature data, through free access online digital applications. Survey of buildings in order to study and graphically synthesize the construction details and the integrated devices that allow defi ning, in each case, the passive solar heating systems adopted: direct gain systems and heat storage walls.
The result of this study proposes to visualize and compare data that show some design strategies capable of providing simple solutions to the comfort needs of the users of the analyzed housing models.

Semi-structured surveys have been carried out with the users of the surveyed and analyzed dwellings in order to know their perception of the comfort conditions provided by the construction and technological systems adopted in each case.