Cohousing-L Mailing List: Breezeways & Windcatchers - way to cool buildings in hot dry climate without electricity

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 8, 2022, at 6:54 PM, Becca-Person Brackett <ecbrackett [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:

> These chimney like towers, combined with air intake through the earthhave
> been used in Iran and other places as part of their traditional
> architecture.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

I don’t have experience with windcatchers but the same principles probably 
account for the success of “breezeways." We have a piazza enclosed on three 
sides by the 3-4 story building and on the fourth side by the enclosed fire 
stairs. There are openings in various places — it isn’t sealed by any means. 
But one of the openings is a covered breezeway about 20-30 ft long, 12 ft wide. 

The table in the sun in front of the breezeway is always cooler than the table 
next to it in the shade. The breeze from the breezeway seems to be constant — 
stronger sometimes than others but very nice almost always.

In the southwest, water is used to create cooling by evaporation. I miss that 
living in DC where the humidity has the opposite effect. I remember in the late 
1940s driving across Oklahoma when my grandmother hung a bag of water and ice 
hung on the front of the radiator. The air coming into the car was deliciously 
cooled as the speed of the car brought the air into the car. 

Sharon
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Sharon Villines, Washington DC

"The story of history is the story of increasing organization."