image for illustration: Victorian houses on Southfield, David Wright via Wikimedia Commons
More than four million homes were built in the UK during the Victorian era and yet, these homes are cooler in summer than many built more recently, explains ‘The Conversation’:
The Conversation writes:
… Here are some fundamental architectural reasons why this is.
1. Shutters
Many Victorian homes featured external wooden shutters… blocking the sun’s heat before it enters the building
2. Canopies and awnings
… have a similar effect to external shutters by blocking the sun’s heat before it enters the building. Canopies and awnings have… other benefits… can be used alongside outward opening windows, so they don’t block ventilation…
3. Sash windows
… Victorians used sliding sash windows which could be operated even with the external shutters closed…
4. Leaky by design
… These types of homes, with open chimneys, suspended timber floors, and uninsulated solid brick walls, are the leakiest and least airtight homes in the British housing stock. This allows more air to enter the building, even when windows are closed, which can cool the home in summer…
5. Solid brick
… an ancient church on a hot day … the real reason for the instant cool feeling is in the huge amounts of thermal mass – the ability of the building to store heat within the building fabric…
What goes wrong?
… Often the way they have been adapted…
Victorian building design has lessons for today…
