Guide to sustainable design in tropical climates

Among the first steps in any new sustainable project is to assess the local climate. What environmental design criteria apply, what bioclimatic strategies will be most relevant, when will the most critical temperatures be reached throughout the year?

As architecture and engineering firms increasingly work in regions far from their offices, professionals will be hired to design sustainable projects in places they are barely familiar with, and simply updating the climate file in the simulation will not be enough to optimize the project. This is the key concept behind the development and publication of CIBSE’s new guide*: “Building for Extreme Environments: Tropical“.

Tropical regions in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific are investing heavily in construction, and designing for an increasingly complex built environment is more important than ever.

Working collaboratively with CIBSE members in tropical regions around the world, it is clear that there are similarities in the challenges we face in striving to create a more sustainable built environment. That is why in developing the guide we have addressed in detail issues such as:

• The differences between climate-controlled and mixed-mode buildings. This impacts their climate responses and a number of important design criteria. Within the criteria of thermal comfort and adaptive models, higher air flow rates may be an important strategy.
• Shading design needs to be compensated for in some cases, due to the high proportion of diffuse radiation from shaded skies and high levels of cloud cover in the rainy season.
• High humidity levels and low dew points increase the production of condensation in heat exchangers.
• Protection of surfaces against this becomes essential; this can be done with reflective surfaces or shading of horizontal surfaces.

The guide, which was published this year, is divided into five chapters:

Introduction: discusses climatic considerations, climate classification and basic facts about tropical regions.

Design information: informs building users about key design criteria.

Design, construction and materials: provides information on how tropical climates impact key design decisions.

Equipment: provides building systems designers with specific information for designing in these climates.

Sustainability: By unifying the principles in all other chapters, it is possible to provide a basis for sustainable and efficient design in these regions.

It has been a great pleasure for me to work with the CIBSE team and all the other volunteers involved in producing this guide over the past few years. We hope it will be an essential reference to support engineers, architects and consultants in our mission to develop low-energy, sustainable buildings that are adapted to their surroundings.

* CIBSE is a UK-based organisation that brings together and represents engineers in the building systems disciplines. The organisation publishes best practice and leads the development of a new built environment in the context of climate change. CIBSE publications are free to members.