Lessons from the hotter south
What can Mediterranean homes teach Barnes and Mortlake about coping with heatwaves - Story 124
This topic is now living rent-free in my head. I look up and can see that boiler.
The more I read and watch about air pumps, heat resilience and retrofitting, the more one line from Rowan Moore in The Observer lingers:
.. how can a country that has built its home to protect against cold and damp more than heat, adapt them to a climate in which serial heatwaves are becoming normal?
It is a deceptively simple question. Yet it goes to the heart of the challenge ahead.
In Richmond borough, private housing is the single largest source of carbon emissions, producing nearly twice as much as the next biggest sector, transport. Our homes are also the least adapted to the climate now barrelling towards us.
Richmond council say the borough will become,
.. Hotter, wetter with more frequent and extreme weather events expected over the coming decades.
Notes & thoughts
Moore’s reflections on Mediterranean towns offer a reminder that adaptation is not just about technology but also about design. Reading this list, some lessons may be difficult to import wholesale, but others are surprisingly attainable,
homes tend to be built with thick stone walls
they have shutters (to block out sunlight in the hottest hours)
they boast high ceilings (that allow hot air to rise)
streets are often narrow and shady
wallls are painted white to reflect rather that absorb sunshine
with awnings and overhanging creating further shadow.
Even here in Barnes and Mortlake, I’ve noticed households adopting the simplest of practices, the one I first picked up living in Australia. Close your windows and curtains in the heat of the day. Re-op them at night when the air finally cools.