Passive Cooling Strategies for the Enhancement of Historical Buildings: A Comparison between Ventilation Chimneys and Courthouses

Abstract

The balancing of protection needs and performance improvement are essential to keep in use valuable buildings. For this reason, it is fundamental to evaluate the effects on the energetic behaviour and conservation issues caused by retrofit measures in historical structures. The research aims at the performance improvement of Architectural Heritage promoting passive cooling strategies through a comparison between ventilation chimneys and historical courthouses. The architect J. R. Gordon (1863-1937) designed seventeen courthouses in Texas, twelve of which are still existing and functioning at this time. Reinterpreting the period’s attention in mechanical systems’ innovations for ventilation, cooling and heating, Gordon’s courthouse buildings exploits natural ventilation as a strategy for achieving buildings’ passive cooling, in the hot and humid climate areas of the Texas state, in a design process that evolved over time to become more technologically sophisticated and climatically efficient. This research investigates the design and construction features and climatic response strategies of Gordon’s different types of court houses, specifically examines and assesses their natural ventilation effects. This study discusses the climate-responsive approach, moving from already established models to the creation of new climate responsive typologies of ventilation chimneys through a process of typological metamorphosis.