Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
A green-roofed building in an Indian city designed for a warming climate — a planted terrace and reflective light surfaces above, shaded ventilated facades below, the city skyline beyond under a hot hazy sky.
Unit IISustainable & Resilient Building Design

Climate Change & the Built Environment

Designing for a hotter, harsher climate — comfort, health and materials.

≈ 35 min + studio work

The climate the built environment was designed for is changing, and buildings must now be resilient to a hotter, more extreme world. This unit covers the challenges and opportunities of climate change for design; outdoor thermal comfort and the urban heat island; climate-resilient and low-carbon strategies; how thermal comfort and adaptation work indoors; the impact of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on health and the role of ventilation in indoor air quality (IAQ); and the choice of low-environmental-impact materials. Resilience is the new baseline.

Learning objectives

By the end of this unit, you will be able to — mapped to the course outcomes for Sustainable & Resilient Building Design:

1
CO1 · Understand

Explain the challenges and opportunities climate change brings to the built environment.

2
CO3 · Understand

Describe climate-resilient and low-carbon development strategies and outdoor thermal comfort.

3
CO3 · Understand

Explain thermal comfort and adaptation, and the impact of IEQ and ventilation on health.

4
CO3 · Apply

Select low-environmental-impact building materials.

Resilience, heat island, materials

Designing for a changing climate

The architect must both mitigate (cut emissions) and adapt (withstand shocks); the urban heat island makes cities hotter; and low-impact materials cut the embodied carbon locked in at construction.[1, 6]

Two strategies, one building MITIGATION cut the emissions • efficiency• renewables• low-carbon materials• less energy in use slow the change ADAPTATION withstand the shocks • raised plinths (flood)• passive survivability• robust drainage• resilient materials survive the consequences A sustainable building does BOTH at once.
DiagramTwo climate strategies — mitigation cuts a building's emissions, adaptation designs it to withstand the changed climate

Challenge and opportunity

Climate change confronts the built environment with rising temperatures, more heatwaves, heavier rain and flooding, and stronger storms — buildings must be designed to cope. But it is also an opportunity: the same moves that cut carbon (passive design, efficiency, renewables) also make buildings cheaper to run and more comfortable. The architect's task is both MITIGATION (cut the building's emissions) and ADAPTATION/RESILIENCE (design it to withstand the changed climate).[1]

The urban heat island +3 to +7 °C hotter green suburbdense city centrecountryside Fight it with shade, trees, cool surfaces, water and ventilation — design the outdoor microclimate.
DiagramThe urban heat island — the dense built-up city centre runs several degrees hotter than the green suburbs
Thermal comfort, IEQ, ventilation

Comfort, health and air

Thermal comfort is adaptive in naturally ventilated buildings; IEQ shapes health; and IAQ depends on ventilation — the goal is comfort with low energy and passive survivability.[5, 6, 1]

Embodied vs operational carbon build decades in use → EMBODIED locked in day one OPERATIONAL — accumulates in use Low-impact materials cut embodied carbon — the part you cannot reduce later. Local · low-energy · durable · reusable (timber, bamboo, stabilised earth, fly-ash brick).
DiagramEmbodied carbon is locked in when the building is made, while operational carbon accumulates over its life in use

Static vs adaptive

THERMAL COMFORT is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment, set by air temperature, radiant temperature, humidity, air movement, clothing and activity. The ADAPTIVE model (key for naturally ventilated Indian buildings) recognises that people in such buildings accept a wider, climate-linked comfort band — they adapt by clothing, opening windows and using fans — so comfort is not one fixed temperature. (See the Climatology course for the equations.)[5, 6]

Climate & the built environment in one table

At a glance

AspectOneThe other
Two climate strategiesMitigation: cut emissionsAdaptation/resilience: withstand shocks
Carbon in a buildingOperational: energy in useEmbodied: locked in at construction
Comfort modelStatic: one fixed temperatureAdaptive: a climate-linked band
Fresh airMyth: an afterthoughtReality: health-critical design (IAQ)
Heatwave + power cutAC-dependent: unliveablePassive survivability: stays liveable
Vocabulary

Key terms

Climate resilience

Designing buildings/settlements to survive and recover from climate shocks (heat, flood, storm).

Mitigation vs adaptation

Cutting a building's emissions vs designing it to withstand the changed climate.

Urban heat island

Built-up areas hotter than their surroundings from dark surfaces, lost greenery and waste heat.

Embodied carbon

Carbon emitted to make and build materials — locked in the day the building is built.

Adaptive comfort

The wider, climate-linked comfort band people accept in naturally ventilated buildings.

IEQ

Indoor environmental quality — comfort, air, light, views, acoustics; it shapes health.

IAQ

Indoor air quality — governed by ventilation supplying fresh air.

Passive survivability

Staying safe and habitable without active systems (e.g. in a power cut).

Apply it

Studio task

For a site in your climate zone, list three resilience measures (for the most likely climate shock — heat, flood or storm) and three mitigation measures (to cut the building's carbon). Then pick two low-environmental-impact materials you would use instead of energy-intensive ones, and say why. Finally, describe how your building would stay liveable in a 3-day power cut during a heatwave.

Check your understanding

Self-assessment

1. Designing a building to withstand floods, heat and storms is climate —

2. Embodied carbon differs from operational carbon in that it is —

3. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is most directly governed by —

In a nutshell

Recap

Climate change forces the built environment to be resilient; the architect must both mitigate (cut emissions) and adapt (withstand shocks).
Outdoor comfort and the urban heat island matter as cities warm — design the microclimate, not just the indoors.
Low-environmental-impact materials cut embodied carbon — local, low-energy, durable, reusable; embodied carbon is locked in at construction.
Thermal comfort is adaptive in naturally ventilated buildings; IEQ shapes health and IAQ depends on ventilation.
Aim for comfort and health with low energy and 'passive survivability' — liveable through a heatwave or power cut.
The evidence

References & further reading

  1. [1]Iyengar, K. — Sustainable Architectural Design: An Overview (Routledge, 2015).
  2. [5]Koenigsberger, O.H. et al. — Manual of Tropical Housing and Building, Part I: Climate Design (Orient Longman, 1993).
  3. [6]Lechner, Norbert — Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects (Wiley, 2015).

Further reading

  • K. Iyengar — Sustainable Architectural Design (2015).
  • Koenigsberger et al. — Manual of Tropical Housing and Building (1993).
  • Norbert Lechner — Heating, Cooling, Lighting (2015).

Sources gathered and fact-checked June 2026. Published values vary by source, sample and method — treat as indicative and confirm against the cited standard before structural use.