Courtyard Building's Morphology Impact on Thermal and Luminous Environments in Hot and Arid Region

Abstract

This paper investigates in indoor thermal and luminous environments of the existing courtyard buildings in an arid area, in order to identify daylighting strategies and thermal comfort conditions in this type of building. As Biskra town is situated in the hot and dry region of Algeria and facing a hot and intense radiation, drives us to seek a balance between thermal and luminous environments. During summer and winter seasons, monitoring campaigns have been conducted to collect temperatures and illuminance levels data using a digital monitoring instrument “LM/FI 20”; these on-site measurements intend to assess courtyard impact on it adjacent spaces under clear sky conditions. A Special attention based on courtyard building's architecture of different morphologies and periods such as: traditional, colonial, post-colonial and contemporary samples. The selection of relevant samples morphologies can reveal many strategies on climate adaptation under local conditions. The important findings are related to the high potential for natural lighting and thermal control that courtyard building offer, and later, discovered the relationship between the morphological indicators and the qualities of thermal and luminous environments of adjacent spaces, in addition, courtyard remains more effective in controlling, regulating and homogenizing the luminous environment. The trilogy areas surround a courtyard building (Indoor spaces/outdoor/courtyard) are interacting in systemic ways to enhance building's thermal and luminous performances and solve the dilemma between daylighting and protecting the building from hot sunlight in arid areas.