TROPICAL

UPLAND
CLIMATE
INDEX
CHARACTERISTICS OF TROPICAL UPLAND CLIMATE
PHYSIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES
FORM AND PLANNING
EXTERNAL SPACES
ROOFING,OPENING AND WALLS
SURFACE TREATMENT
TRADITIONAL SHELTER
CHARACTERISTICS
OF TROPICAL
UPLAND
CLIMATE
▪LOCATION:
Mountainous regions and plateaux more
than 900 to 1200 m above sea level experience such
climates , between the two 20 deg C isotherms.
Examples: Mexican city
▪AIR TEMPERATURE:
Day time mean
max -24 to 30 deg C
Night time mean
min-10 to 13 deg C

At some locations it may

fall below 4 deg C and ground
frost is not uncommon.
▪HUMIDITY:
45 TO 99%
Vapour pressure - 800 TO 1600 N/m^2
▪PRECIPITATION:
Variable, but rarely less than
1000 mm . Rain often falls in heavy concentrated
showers, reaching an intensity of 80 mm per hour.
▪SKY CONDITIONS:
Normally clear or partly cloudy.
During monsoon-sky overcast , cloud
▪SOLAR RADIATION:
Strong and direct during clear
periods. UV rays radiation is stronger at higher
altitutes . It becomes diffuse as cloud cover
increases.
▪WIND VELOCITIES:
Variable, predominantly
north-east and south-easterlies . Wind velocity
rarely exceeds 15 m/s
VEGETATION:
Green , although not very
luxuriant and it may wither in the dry season.
Soil may be damp in the rains but dries
quickly.
▪SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Heavy dew at night.Strog
radiation loss at night during the dry season, which
may lead to the formation of radiation fog.Thunder
storms with a fair proportion of electric
discharges-air to ground. Hail may also occur.
PHYSIOLOGICAL
OBJECTIVES
As the air temperature rarely (if ever) exceeds the
upper comfort limit, overheating would only be caused
by solar radiation when it is incident directly on the
body or bAs the air temperature rarely (if ever)
exceeds the upper comfort limit, overheating would
only be caused by solar radiation when it is incident
directly on the body or by heating up the building
fabric.
Excessive glazed areas can be a source of overheating.
Protection against such overheating can be provided by
several means:

1 The provision of adequate shading, both for windows

and for external activity areas
2 by limiting the heat admission of buildings during the
strongest sunshine hours (insulation, thermal inertia and
reflective colouring)
3 if the building is overheated, this can be counteracted
by the provision of adequate ventilation(air changes only
for convective cooling; sensible air movement, i.e.
physiological cooling, is unnecessary)
Cold discomfort can often occur at night, even in the
warm season. People's clothing will be very different
at night to that during the day. The building itself can
ameliorate the cold night conditions by:
A. providing a closed (or closeable) internal
environment
B. storing some of the heat gained from solar
radiation, to re-emit it at night, during the cold period
C.if the above two means fail to achieve thermal
comfort, some small amount of heating may have to be
providedy heating up the building fabrics. E
FORM
AND
PLANNING
The building plan should be reasonably compact, as
this would help in slowing down the response to
changing thermal conditions. It would reduce heat
gain during the day and heat loss during the night.
Windows and openings will have to be protected
from solar radiation. Solar control devices will often
be the most prominent features of the building
▪Orientation of the building and of its major
openings can greatly influence the solar heat gain,
thus it should be carefully considered. North and
south facing vertical walls receive the least amount
of radiation. Of these two less is received by the
one facing away from the Equator, i.e. facing north
on the northern hemisphere and facing south on
the southern half of the globe. East, south-west and
northwest walls will receive about the same
amount of radiation and the west wall will receive
the most.
▪ The chart gives total annual solar heat gains on
vertical walls of different orientations, on a
comparative scale, for Nairobi. Other equatorial
locations would give rather similar diagrams. On
this basis, with an oblong shaped plan, the longer
walls should face north and south, and major
openings should be located in these walls.
Windows facing east would admit the sun
but at a time, when the air temperature is
still quite low.
Windows facing west should be avoided,
whenever
▪
possible, as the solar heat gain
through these would coincide with the
highest air temperatures.
This arrangement would reduce incident
solar radiation and would also minimise
the extent (and cost) of shading devices, as
north and south facing windows can be
shaded by the simplest of means.
EXTERNAL
SPACES
Well-shaded external spaces should be provided,
as:
A. many activities are going on out-of-doors - as
in all warm climates
B. the very strong radiation would create hot
discomfort, even with quite low air temperatures Shade
could be provided by the building itself, by pergolas,
awnings or by vegetation.
▪ In the cooler period of the year sunshine may be welcome in external spaces. Two
possibilities are open to the designer:
▪ 1 to provide some form of adjustable shading device to the external activity area
▪ 2 to provide alternative external spaces for use in the different seasons:
shaded for the hot period and unshaded, wind protected for the cool part of the
year.
The former can be achieved by some form of canvas awning, cantilevered or
supported by a pergola-like frame, or by matting spread on some framing. The cost
of more elaborate devices would in most cases be prohibitive. The latter
arrangement may be wasteful of space, duplicating the out-door area, but where
spaces not at a premium, it may be the easier and more economical solution
▪ . In some situations the same external space may be
shaded or unshaded in different parts of the year, and
luckily this may coincide with shading requirements.
▪ For example, if July to August is the cool period (as in
many tropical upland areas), in an equatorial location the
sun at this time is in the northern sky, thus a space on the
north side of the building will receive solar radiation.
▪ The same space will be overshadowed by the building
itself in the hottest part of the year (December to January)
when the sun is in the southern sky.
ROOFS,
WALLS AND
OPENINGS
Nights are cool and solar radiation can cause overheating of buildings
during the day. For continuously occupied buildings the task is therefore
two-fold:
1 to limit the heat admitted during the strong sunshine hours
2 to store some heat, to be re-emitted during the cool period Both
purposes would be well served by a high thermal capacity structure.

A time- lag of 8 hours is advisable, as this would bring the maximum

indoor heat emission to 20.00 to 21.00 hours, when it is most needed,
before the occupants go to bed. (A 200 mm concrete slab, with screed and
felt or a 150 mm concrete slab with an insulating screed would give this
performance.)
▪The roof is by far the most important, as it receives
the greatest amount of radiation. East, and
especially the west walls should also be massive.
North and south walls will not receive much
radiation and they may be of a lightweight
construction, In buildings occupied during the day
but not at night, only the first of the two above tasks
must be fulfilled. In this case a lower thermal
capacity may be quite sufficient.
 A time-lag of 5 hours would bring the maximum
heat gain to 17.00 or 18.00 hours, which is normally
past the.working hours. A lightweight wall is also
possible, especially in multistorey buildings,
provided it is well insulated and the windows are
shaded
▪ As the air temperature rarely (if ever) reaches the upper comfort limit, there is no
need for physiological cooling by air movement, and no need for cross-ventilation, as
long as the problem of solar control is adequately solved.
▪ Where solar overheating does occur, cross-ventilation may provide relief, but most
of the time, it would contribute to a feeling of cold discomfort. It is essential to provide
for the adequate closing of openings, windows and doors.
▪ As, on the other hand, there is no need to capture winds and cooling breezes and, on
the other hand, there are no strong winds to be avoided, the wind direction need not
be considered in deciding the orientation of openings.
▪ Solar heat gain will be the only factor governing the orientation of windows, as
described in form and planning (and possibly some non-climatic factors, such as
aspect and prospect).
▪ The size of openings will be governed by considerations other than thermal. From
the point of view of solar heat gain the lesser the openings, the easier the control. For
ventilation and daylighting, in most cases, a window of some 20% of the elevational
area will be quite adequate.
SURFACE
TREATMENT
Reflective surfaces would be
useful in reducing the heat
load. White or bright metallic
surfaces would be most
advantageous for buildings
occupied only during
day-time.
▪ In cases of continuous
occupancy, it may be
desirable to admit solar heat
into the fabric - to store it for
the night. Therefore a darker,
more absorbent surface finish
may be more suitable. This
should be used only with
buildings of high thermal
capacity. Where such heat
storage is not possible, if for
some reason a lightweight
construction is used, the
surfaces must be light and
reflective.
▪Roof surfaces (especially of flat roofs)
deserve particular attention, as
horizontal surfaces receive a far greater
amount of solar radiation than any
vertical surface..
▪A massive roof slab of
ATLEAST 8 HOURS
TIME LAG can
become the most
important heat
regulator. A black
bituminous or asphalt
finish can serve a
useful purpose in
absorbing much of
the solar heat during
the day to be released
after sunset
▪ With lightweight roofs (with timber or metal decking)
however good the insulation, the use of absorbent surfaces
must be avoided. If bituminous felt is used for roofing, the top
layer should be faced with aluminium foil. Alternatively,
white marble chips can be used as a finish on bituminous or
asphalt roofs. This is quite effective in reducing the
absorption whilst new, but when it becomes dirty much of its
reflectance is lost. Some self-cleansing surface would be
preferable.. At high altitudes the ultra-violet component of
solar radiation is much greater than at sea-level.
▪ This radiation can damage some materials and can cause
decomposition of polymers. Only welltested materials should
be used.
TRADITIONAL
SHELTER
▪The traditional rural shelter in these climates is the
round hut, with mud-and-wattle walls and thatched
roofs. The walls consist of vertical poles driven into
the ground in a circle horizontal twigs and branches
threaded in between to form a basket-weave
pattern. The whole is plastered with mud.
Subsequent layers of mud are often built up to a
thickness of 0-25 m, thus providing a substantial
thermal 233 capacity
▪In some areas the mud-and-wattle
construction is carried through the roof,
which will also have a high thermal capacity .
In urban areas where stone is available, one
can see masonry walling and slate roofs.
Roofs may still be thatched or of wood
framework plastered with mud. Openings are
always small.