Thermal Delight in Architecture by Lisa Heschong

Thermal Delight in Architecture by Lisa Heschong

Our thermal environment is as rich in cultural associations as our visual, acoustic, olfactory, and tactile environments. This book explores the potential for using thermal qualities as an expressive element in building design. Until quite recently, building technology and design has favored high-energy-consuming mechanical methods of neutralizing the thermal environment. It has not responded to the various ways that people use, remember, and care about the thermal environment and how they associate their thermal sense with their other senses. The hearth fire, the sauna, the Roman and Japanese baths, and the Islamic garden are discussed as archetypes of thermal delight about which rituals have developed--reinforcing bonds of affection and ceremony forged in the thermal experience. Not only is thermal symbolism now obsolete but the modern emphasis on central heating systems and air conditioning and hermetically sealed buildings has actually damaged our thermal coping and sensing mechanisms. This book for the solar age could help change all that and open up for us a new dimension of architectural experience. As the cost of energy continues to skyrocket, alternatives to the use of mechanical force must be developed to meet our thermal needs. A major alternative is the use of passive solar energy, and the book will provide those interested in solar design with a reservoir of ideas.

For more than two decades, Lisa Heschong, a registered architect and principal of the Heschong Mahone Group (HMG) consulting firm in Sacramento, California, conducted significant research on building energy performance, daylighting, and human factors. She is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and the Architectural Research Centers Consortium awarded her the Haecker Prize for Architectural Research in 2012. She graduated from MIT with a Master's in Architecture and a Bachelor's in Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and now lives in Santa Cruz, California.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262580397
ISBN 10	026258039X
Title	Thermal Delight in Architecture
Author	Lisa Heschong
Series	Thermal Delight In Architecture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	1979-12-05
Number of pages	78
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.