Passive cooling techniques in medieval Indian stepwells

Stepwell is one of the unique medieval groundwater resource structures distributed across most of all the states in India. The main purpose of constructing stepped wells was to get access to the groundwater, but was also used for the storage of food, and as a summer shelter in medieval times. In tro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers of architectural research Vol. 13; no. 6; pp. 1447 - 1460
Main Authors: Parmar, Samirsinh P., Mishra, Debi Prasad
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Nanjing Elsevier B.V 01.12.2024
Higher Education Press
KeAi Publishing Communications Ltd
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd
Subjects:
Architectural design
Architecture
Building design
Cattle
Construction
Cooling
Design optimization
Groundwater
Heat
Historical structures
Medieval period
Medieval stepwell
Moisture content
Passive cooling
Radiation
Stepwell components
Summer
Temperature reduction
Thermal comfort
Tropical environments
Ventilation
Winter
India
Passive cooling
Stepwell components
Medieval stepwell
Temperature reduction
Architectural design
ISSN:2095-2635, 2095-2635
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Stepwell is one of the unique medieval groundwater resource structures distributed across most of all the states in India. The main purpose of constructing stepped wells was to get access to the groundwater, but was also used for the storage of food, and as a summer shelter in medieval times. In tropical regions such as India, temperature is a major problem that causes thermal distress. Traditional architectural concepts were incorporated in the medieval Indian structures to achieve thermal comfort. Traditional architecture is optimization of building design to climate, adaptive crafts, and building techniques learnt over time and experience. The objective of this study is to interpret and evaluate the architectural and engineering aspects of stepwells pertaining to passive cooling techniques used in stepwells and the shelters associated with them. This paper reviews technical aspects pertaining to passive cooling in the design of stepwells, which has identified fundamental principles that can adopted for the building of various structures presently.
Bibliography:Passive cooling
Document revised on :2024-02-27
Document accepted on :2024-03-21
Architectural design
Stepwell components
Medieval stepwell
Temperature reduction
Document received on :2023-11-07
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:2095-2635
2095-2635
DOI:10.1016/j.foar.2024.03.014