PREPARED BY:

NEELESH KANT
MAVISH ANJUM
MADIHA KHAN
NAVNEET AGARWAL

M.ARCH. (LANDSCAPE) II SEM

BBDU, LUCKNOW

Micro Climate
CLIMATIC CONTROLS IN TRADITIONAL BUILDING FORMS. VEGETATION AND WATER BODIES AS
MODIFIERS OF CLIMATE. CLIMATIC IMPACT OF NATURAL ELEMENTS, LANDFORMS, VEGETATION,
WIND, TEMPERATURE, SOLAR RADIATION CONTROL ETC. WIND BREAKS, SHELTER BELTS AND SITE
PLANNING PROCESSES IN MODIFYING THE CLIMATIC CONDITION AT SITE AND CITY LEVEL.
MICROCLIMATE AND PROBLEMS OF ITS MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AND RURAL SURROUNDINGS.
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Microclimate

 Any local deviation from the climate of a

larger area, whatever the scale may be.
 Immediate local climatic conditions such
as temperature, humidity, solar radiation,
wind, etc.
 Climate of a small area which is different
from the larger area around it.
 It can be of a space as small as the
protected inner courtyard of a building
and as large as a city which have different
climatic conditions of the larger area
around.
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Scale of microclimate

 To a botanist, Microclimate can be of a single plant leaf, with its

temperature and moisture conditions, its population of insects and
micro organisms, on the scale of a few centimetres.
 To an urban geographer, micro climate may mean the climate of a
whole town.
 SITE CLIMATE: Climate of the area available and is to be used for the
given purpose, both in horizontal extent and in height.
 The task of the designer is to take advantage of the favourable and
mitigate the adverse characteristics of the site and its climatic
features
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Microclimate control through

landscaping techniques
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Sol-Air Temperature Control

 The use of ventilated shading

provided by trees, shrubs
and climbers reduces
1. solar radiation reaching
ground and wall surfaces
2. reduction of air, ground and
surface temperature
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Air Temperature Control

 Ventilated shading
 Evapotranspiration
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Humidity Control

 Increases relative humidity while reducing air temperature

 Water evaporating from the surfaces
 Water evaporating from the leaves
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Control of Air Velocity and Wind Speed

 Plants are used to

 induces air movement under and around trees
 increase the velocity of stagnant and slow-moving air
 reduce wind speed
 filter dust
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Control of Wind Direction

 Fences, walls, hedges and trees

can be combined to form an
obstruction that will deflect the
wind above the building.
 Trees make channel air flow
towards living space.
 Larger groups of trees can also be
used to channel the wind in a
particular direction.
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Pollution control

 Plants absorb carbon

dioxide & other pollutants
from automobiles.
 Buffer zones planted with
trees are used for
separating industrial areas
from residential areas.
 The tree belts help reduce
the dust content of air.
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Glare Control

 Direct glare can be

prevented by using trees
to block off the relevant
portions of the sky
 Indirect glare can be
prevented by planting
flowers, shrubs and grass
on surfaces that would
normally reflect light into
the building
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Landscape Elements for

Microclimate Control
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Hard landscaping elements

A) Steps and paving

 The choice of the surface finishing,
material and construction of steps and
paving
B) Walls and fences
 Walls are used to deflect the wind, and
they can be used to channel the wind.
 Fences thus allow some wind to flow
through them, even when they have
climbers.
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Hard landscaping elements

C) Slopes and barriers

 direct airflow

D) Stones and boulders

 direct airflow and provide shade
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Hard landscaping elements

C) Slopes and barriers

 direct airflow

D) Stones and boulders

 direct airflow and provide shade
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Soft landscaping elements

A) trees and shrubs

 Provision of shade
 Control of relative humidity
 Air movement.
 Attainment of thermal comfort
 Ventilation

B) lawns and flowerbeds

 Reduce ground temperature
 Prevent glare
 Air freshness and fragrance.
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Soft landscaping elements

C) Pools and ponds

 Humidification
 Evaporative cooling

D) Mulches
 Retain moisture
 Reduce surface and air
temperatures
 Absorb heat
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FACTORS AFFECTING LOCAL CLIMATE

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Local factors

 Factors affecting the local deviation are:

• Topography: Slope, orientation, exposure, elevation, hills or valleys

at or near the ground.
• Ground surface: (Whether natural or man‐made): affect in terms of
reflectance, permeability and the soil temperature as these affect
the vegetation and this in turn affects the climate. (woods, shrubs,
grass, paving, water, etc.).
• Three dimensional objects: such as trees, tree belts, fences, walls
and buildings as these may influence air movement, cast a shadow,
etc.
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Rain shadow effect

 Mountains
commonly results
in high rainfall in
windward side
and low rainfall in
rain shadow of
leeward side.
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Air temperature

 The air temperature near the ground is dependent on heat gained/lost by the
earth surface.
 heat exchange varies with day/night, season, time of the year, latitude and cloud
cover.
 During the day, with the heating of the earth surface, the air nearest to the
ground(within 2 metres) gains most temperature. At night, the direction of heat flow
is reversed.

TEMPERATURE INVERSION
 The phenomenon of decreasing temperature with increase in altitude.
 Cold air tends to settle in the deepest depressions and behaves as a liquid. It does
not flow quite readily like water but like a highly viscous liquid.
 A difference of 7‐8 m in height can cause 5‐6 deg drop in temp.
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Altitude/ Elevation

Elevation Temperature

Jaisalmer 225m 45º C

Mt. Abu 1220m 30º C

This is why hill stations are preferred locations during summer.

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Humidity

 Relative humidity is inversely proportional to temperature.

 During the day, when the lowest layer of air is heated by the ground
surface, RH decreases rapidly. This leads to higher rate of evaporation (If
there is water body, vegetation, etc.) leading to increase in Absolute
Humidity.
 At night, When dew point temperature is reached, fog formation takes
place and if there is no further rapid cooling nor air movement, a deep
layer (40‐50m) of fog develops.
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Precipitation

 When ground level changes by more than 300m, the windward side receives
more rainfall than the regional average.
 In an extreme case, on a large site located on the top of a hill and extending
down to both the slopes, the leeward side receives only 25% of the rain
received by the windward side.
 REASON: hill forces the air mass to rise which cools it down and it is no loner able
to support the moisture carried. This effect can also be caused by towns. The
opposite is also true.

SKY CONDITIONS
 Abrupt change in topography may cause a permanent cloud cover like in the
rock of Gibraltar.
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Convective air flow

 Warm air rises

 Cool air drops

 Recognizing air channels

can help reduce
discomfort or enhance
comfort.
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Solar radiation

• Three ways:
• Transparency of the atmosphere: Cloud formation, air pollution, smog,
smoke, dust, etc. affect the intensity of solar radiation on the horizontal
plane.
• Slope and orientation of the site: Intensity on the actual ground
surface. At mid latitudes, a site sloping towards the pole will receive
much less radiation than the site sloping towards equator. (Effect is
negligible around equator)
• Obstructions like hills, trees, existing buildings which may cast a shadow
on the site. The effect is most pronounced wen the objects like on east
or west of the site.
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Air movement

• Air flowing across any surface is subjected to frictional forces. Wind speed near
the round is less than the speed than higher up and the difference depends
on the smoothness/evenness of the surface.
• On hilly sites, the greatest speeds are experienced at the crest of the hills. The
valleys may experience I wind speed if their direction coincides wit the
direction of the wind flow.
• Large stretches of water can give rise to local coastal breezes. On‐sore
breezes (from water to land) during the day may lower the maximum
temperature by 10 deg Celsius but are likely to increase humidity.
• On shore lake breezes are rarely effective beyond 400m but the sea breezes
are much more effective.
• Wind speed can be reduced after a long horizontal barrier by 50% at a
distance of ten times and by 25% at a distance of 20 times the height.
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Wind movement

• Morning and afternoon “diurnal

winds” are intensified in canyons
and on sloped surfaces and
diverted by hills and ridges
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Water: thermal mass

 Large bodies of
water moderate local
temperatures

A thermal mass that

can act as at thermal
buffer/ heat sink
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Lakes & oceans
80ºF
72ºF
 Warm temperatures
are reduced in
summer
30ºF
35ºF

 Cool temperatures
are raised in winter
10ºF
10ºF
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Large water bodies

 Onshore winds
occur when water
temperature is lower
than adjoining air
temperature over
land.
 Offshore winds are
the reverse process.
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Vegetation

 Vegetation is usually regarded as a

function of climate but in itself it can
influence the local or site climate.
 Forming an intermediate layer between
the earth surface and the atmosphere,
they have a moderating effect on air
temperature, humidity, radiation and air
movement. Trees provide shade and affect the
micro climate of the place.
 increase the surface of contact to a EVAPOTRANSPIRATION:
higher layer by a factor of 4 to 12 times. Trees and shrubbery give off moisture
that increase humidity
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Urban climate

 Man‐made environments create micro climate of their own deviating from

the regional climate. The factors causing deviation:
1. Changed surface qualities: (pavements and buildings) : Increased
absorbance of solar radiation, reduced evaporation.
2. Buildings: Casting a shadow, acting as barriers to winds, channelizing winds,
storing heat in their mass and releasing it at nit.
3. Energy seepage: through walls and ventilation of heated buildings
4. Atmospheric pollution: Presence of solid particles in urban atmosphere may
assist in formation of fog and induce rainfall.
5. Temperature can be 8 deg higher in cities tan the surrounding country side,
humidity can be reduced by 5‐10%, wind velocity can be reduced by half.
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Ground cover

 Impermeable surfaces reduce evaporative

cooling opportunities
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Ground pavers
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Surface color

 Lighter surfaces
reflect radiant heat

 Darker surfaces
absorb radiant heat
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Urban heat island

 Large concentrations of
thermal masses with
darker and/or
impermeable surfaces
create urban heat
islands
Prepared By:
Neelesh Kant
Mavish Anjum
Madiha Khan
Navneet Agarwal

M.Arch. (Landscape) II Sem

BBDU, Lucknow

THANKS!!