If self-sufficient architecture is self-providing and autonomous, the project ’14 Degrees of Separation’ aims to research the following question: Can elasticity stretch the climate?
In hot and humid climates, ventilation strategies are responsible for significant proportions of energy consumption. Set in such extreme environments, the project aims at designing a new way of achieving self-sufficient thermal regulation and thus, a new way of living.
Situated beyond the established zone of comfort, the site is located in a coastal region with dramatic cliffs along the seashore, where the high sun exposure determines dry-bulb temperatures of 30-35ºC and relative humidity of 70% during the day and 20% during the night.
However, there are natural mechanisms that can improve the climate. When air temperature decreases below the dew point temperature, the humidity in the air condenses into water, lowering the humidity. When water evaporates with heat and wind, the endothermic process lowers the temperature of the air.
