Tag: designing a cooler home

How can you beat the summer heat through home interior design?

1. Invest in a cupola
2. Cross-ventilation
3. Light-colored walls
4. Kinds of external shade
5. The stack effect
6. Fans. Fans. Fans.

Are you looking for ways to beat the summer heat?

The Philippines is home to an abundance of greenery that promotes the flow of cool air. Some luxury homes in the Philippines that are designed for aesthetic value may have overlooked the option of a naturally ventilated home. This can result in the poor flow of air in the interior of your home which would require you to purchase a number of cooling machines.

To reduce the overall carbon footprint of your luxury home, opt for a more eco-friendly solution to beat the heat. You can choose to invest in deluxe homes for sale with more natural cooling solutions. Here is a list of ways you can design a cooler home.

Invest in a Cupola

A cupola is a small dome-like structure added to the top of a home. Since heat rises, a low ceiling home may end up trapping hot air. Cupolas and high ceilings allow the hot air to rise and exit through windows. This makes room for cold air to enter and fill the house. Cupolas also promote the circulation of air within a home, even with the absence of a breeze outside.

Cross-Ventilation

Cross-ventilation can be improved through a number of ways. One is through the strategic placement of casement windows, louvres, and sliding windows. You could also install tall windows on opposite sides of a room. This provides multiple flow paths for air that comes in from many directions. It can collect and direct the breeze through different parts of the home.

In order to encourage the flow of air, place larger windows on the leeward (low pressure) side of the house and smaller windows on the windward (high pressure) side.

Light-Colored Walls

Visually, dark-colored exterior walls in homes can be pleasing to look at. However, dark colors tend to absorb the sun’s heat. Dark-colored walls also retain the heat it has absorbed for an incredibly long period. Opt for light-colored exterior walls in order to reflect the heat of the sun away.

Another way to help you feel cool in your home is the integration of the Psychology of Color into your interior design. Choose “cool” colors such as blues and greens instead of “warm” colors such as orange and yellow for your furnishing.

External Shade Options

An easy alternative to promoting airflow through your home is giving it protection from the sun’s rays. This is where external shades, both natural and industrial, come in. Examples of natural external shades include strategically placed trees and plants to block the sun’s rays. On the other hand, examples of industrial external shades are eaves, overhangs, and sunshades.

Eaves provide shade to the exterior wall of a home. It is a purposeful extension of rafters to hang over the house. You could also choose to add a filter to your windows and glass doors to filter out intense sunlight.

Roof overhangs can protect doors and windows from the rays of the sun. It can also prevent rain or other sources of water from entering the inside of the house. It acts as a protective barrier on top of the house.

Sunshades are made to limit the rays of direct sunlight that stream through windows. They are made with the sun’s differing positions throughout the day in mind. It also takes into account if your house is facing the north, south, east, or west. This is to determine at what angle sunlight would hit the windows.

The Stack Effect

Natural home ventilation systems use the Stack Effect to circulate the air around the house. The Stack Effect occurs when warm air rises and creates a low-pressure zone at the bottom of your home. This zone draws in cold air through openings found around the house.

Imagine that you are in your kitchen cooking your family dinner. Your pan produces just a bit too much smoke, so you decide to turn what on? The kitchen hood. The hood is an opening that allows the warm air to escape upwards. This is because warm air is lighter, and tends to float up into the highest possible area. This is an example of The Stack Effect.

The same goes for your home. Strategically placing doors, windows, and other openings on the upper portions of your home can greatly reduce the amount of warm air circulating inside.

Fans. Fans. Fans.

If the heat becomes too high to bear and natural ventilation alone cannot handle it, an eco-friendly alternative to air conditioning units are electric fans. Research on fans that do not consume a ton of energy. Install ceiling fans to further expedite the cooling process of your home.

Key Takeaway

There are a number of different ways you can choose to beat the summer heat. To reduce your carbon footprint, opt for more eco-friendly solutions. Consult with a trusted architect to design a house that would value natural ventilation in order to enjoy the cool Philippine breeze.

Another method would be to purchase deluxe homes for sale located in an area full of trees and other kinds of flora. This would greatly help in the circulation of cool air.

Invest in one of these natural cooling strategies for your luxury home in the Philippines.