h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello, I just want to say I enjoyed reading this article very much! I did not know much about the different styles of houses the native Americans used. I personally would love to live in a house covered in soil and living plants.

Thank you!

There are also modern houses which are covered with soil and plants. The soil is in fact very good for insulation and having a grass/plants roof is better for the micro-climate around a building than having an ordinary roof. If all or most buildings in a larger settlement have roofs like that I think it even has a siginficant influence.

The last ceremonial medicine roundhouse in the Coachella Valley (southern California), used by the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla Indians, was burned as part of the funeral rites when their last practicing medicine man died back in the 1930s.

The structure was very similar to thatch roundhouses used the world round, with the difference that they were shingled with the fronds of the native Washingtonia Filifera fan palm, about a yard across, rather than with bundles of grass.

That's very interesting!

Yes, fascinating. I've been interesting in early settler houses, such as dog trots that provided natural ventilation and was almost but not entirely (un) like air conditioning. I always wondered where they got the idea and did wonder if they came from indigenous designs, although I can't see anything similar in the ones shown here. I see you've done an entry on 19th Century American architecture. Have you done anything on the earlier stuff?

Ah, I've looked through your back catalogue and see that you have, although I can't see anything on the simpler stuff.

hi

That's the one on the simpler stuff: A87786904

In 'simple' architecture around the world many ways of catching cool breezes or cooling the air can be found. It's not something only one culture has invented. The history of architecture around the world teaches us that the same things are often invented simultanously and independently in different places. Which of course does not mean that it's impossible that one culture learns it from a different culture.

Hello TdQ,

I did see that entry - as I said I looked at your back catalogue. It was my impression that A87786904 had more upmarket stuff than the very simple homestead type houses I was thinking of.

You obviously have a much better knowledge of architectural history than I have and I suspect that there was a much greater variety of housing styles than you actually showed. I also agree that different cultures come up with similar inventions independently.

I was interested in traditional methods of problem solving, similar to the cold houses that used to be built in Africa, which served as refrigerators, before there was access to electricity and the Koolgardie fridges in Australia.

'In 'simple' architecture around the world many ways of catching cool breezes or cooling the air can be found.' Might you be persuaded to do an entry about heritage/traditional architecture, unless you've already done one (in which case, would you signpost me to it)?

I plan to write many Entries, but it takes much time and I also like to write about other topics. These Entries take a lot of time, so I'm not sure how many I will be able to write and in which time.

I can give you a two more examples of how to cool buuildings:

some African nomads build black tents ( http://www.schwarzzelt.at/images/2002_schwarzzelt.jpg ) and while on first sight black doesn't seem to be a good color for cooling they in fact work quite well. Because of the black color the air a short distance below the cloth gets really hot which seems to create a kind of suction effect

in Arabian countries traditional houses often have 'wind towers', which also are a natural air condition. They basically work like chimneys and create a suction effect so the wind 'flows' through the houses and into the wind tower ( http://goumbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wind-tower.jpg )

I hope that helps you. Maybe I can think of more examples later, I'm a bit sleepy already today.

Thanks TdQ,

I hadn't come across either of these methods before - very interesting - thank you!! The second one looks as though it uses similar principles to the rocket stove, which is a super efficient method of cooking using a small quantity of wood. And, yes - I would be interested in more examples as and when you can think of them.

Yes, as you say, entries take time. It's been a while since I completed one, although I've got the excuse of not having been around for some time. I shall look forward to your entries.<smiley?

As I said, it works quite similar to a chimney, yes. This method is also not unknown in contemporary architecture.

Oh, there's another interesting thing I discovered recently during research for an Entry I currently rescue from the Flea Market:
A pre-Inka culture which lived at the southern shores of lake Titikaka in South America about 1500 years ago managed to increase the amount of their crops significantly by using a new method of farming. They built their fields as small, irregular 'islands' and flooded the area around them with water they brought through very long channels from the lake. This water does not only bring important moisture to an otherwise rather dry environment but also collected warmth during the day which it emitted during the cold nights, this way the corn and whatever else they grew was protected from the cold and grew better.
Not an example of architecture but I still was quite excited by it. Some university made an experiment of building such fields and they had very good results with increasing the amount of crops.

Water is in fact a very good way to keep the same temperature inside of a house. Some contemporary houses have a large water tank which uses this effect of collecting and emitting heat.

It is interesting that you mention houses with natural cooling.

Back in 1982, about the time of the Conch Republic A87788632, I visited a home that was built in 1891 by a yacht designer. Many of the visitors asked when air conditioning had been added to the home, as the room temperature was much cooler than the outside air. The answer was that all the cooling was original and involved vents and ducts between the floors that allowed the breeze from the bay to enter the home http://www.floridastateparks.org/thebarnacle/

Logs are also a great insulator, I will not bore about how I know - but it's in one of my Entries

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