Arid Climate Charette Innovation

For this new project I began by looking at animals and plants that live in the desert and how they keep themselves cool.

I began by looking at famous chapels around the world that were small in scale and created a spiritual experience that I was interested in achieving.

These include ...

White Chapel by Jun Aoki and associates

Conrad Wedding Chapel

The two chapels above have a small footprint and a shape similar to the one that I was interested in achieving. They also incorporated water elements. I am interested in incorporating a water element on the interior of my design to introduce evaporative cooling, which is suitable for this particular climate.

Chapel of Porcincula the Miraculous- Daniel Bonilla Arquitectos

I really want to achieve the the above in my deign, but with steel louvers perhaps?...

I was interested in the Jackrabit and how their big ears keep them cool. But lost interest quickly!

So then I took a look at the Cacti. Where its shape shades it and enhances its heat radiation.

The cacti is able to provide a shade for its other surfaces because of its ribbed shaped configuration. The vertical cooling ribs and the spicks produce rising and falling air currents, cooling it as well as improving its heat radiation.

Also, the top of the cacti has a reduced surface area, so that it can reduce the amount of heat that it gains when the sun is directly overhead.

So... Here is a ROUGH sketch of my design.

Besides creating a building that could have a set of "ribs" that could shade other parts of the building I am also interested incorporating the wind from the Mojave desert to cool my building and the surfaces of my building. I found that on average the prevailing wind comes from the south. And I have been trying to incorporate this into my design and see how I can use it to my advantage.

Well thats it for now. I am starting to figure out the dimensions required for the chapel and then I will begin to build my model.