Achieving Thermal Comfort in Classrooms through Hybrid Strategies in Mumbai’s Hot–Humid Climate

Abstract

Classroom spaces in hot and humid climate often become inhabitable and non-welcoming due to excessive concentrated heat, exposure to direct radiation and poor ventilation. In today’s world, cities are becoming denser and climate change is happening at a much faster rate than ever. Ensuring thermal comfort in public spaces becomes important not only for enhancing quality of life and experience but also for promoting social interaction, health and overall mental and physical well-being. Passive methods like natural ventilation, shading, selection of material are all very essential but to achieve complete thermal comfort, an integration of both active and passive means is required. Active means include systems like fans, misting, HVAC. This research aims to improve thermal comfort and achieving comfort where mass is satisfied by the temperature range achieved during the operational hours. This study aims at evaluating how integration of both passive and active methods can create more energy efficient and sustainable environment. This study specifies academic spaces in public spaces as primary area of research. Analyzing case studies across different academic spaces in hot and humid climate will be used to understand building performance as well as user comfort. The research seeks to find practical design solution which respond not to just climatic conditions but also to human behavior and public patterns. The final goal is to set flexible, dynamic guidelines which assist in designing academic spaces that are both sustainable and socially engaging.