ARCHITECTURAL DIVERSITY THROUGH CLIMATE RESPONSIVE DESIGN.

During the past ten years, students in the third year of the School of Architecture of the New Jersey Institute of Technology have been asked to address both the most technical and philosophical aspects of climate responsive architectural design. They have considered energy consumption, visual and thermal comfort, and ventilation in the context of various architectural studio design projects. Through the use of a microcomputer program, students engage in repetitive cycles of thermal analysis and architectural design. Most importantly, the computer is beginning to permit and encourage experimentation, testing of solutions and preconceptions, as well as refining individual design approaches to reduce overall energy consumption and increase thermal and visual comfort.