Architectural Thoughts

I was struck when I got here by the fact that my room seems to be designed for an air conditioner. Strictly speaking, I can get some airflow going if I open the balcony and bathroom doors, but not much. Suffice it to say, it was not designed with airflow in mind. Not that most buildings in Canada are designed with staying warm in mind either (without a heater). Then I realized that the apartment building that a friend of mine lives in in Havana was designed to be cool without air-conditioning. I remember her daughter's bedroom wall had lots of vents, that sucked in air from an interior 'courtyard' which was really way too small and narrow to be a courtyard ~ it was really just a shaft. But, boy, did the wind ever suck through that thing!

The building had no first floor, just an open (mostly concrete) space with the necessary columns and the two elevator shafts (and stairways). It's quite an odd construction for a 20 or 30 story apartment building, to have the whole thing resting on an 'empty space'. It could have been nice, too, if it hadn't all been concrete. The ground would have gotten some sun in the morning and evening, so there could have been some grass at the ends, shade-loving plants and even a pond.
But I realize now that the design of the whole building was based on traditional housing designs from tropical countries, and this 'empty space' was meant to provide shade (as well as air for the air shafts).

Traditional housing design across much of south-east Asia is on stilts. Having the house on stilts creates a shady area underneath the house to do work outside of the sun (as well as protecting from flooding). 'Upstairs' the house is built in such a way that the air easily flows through. I learned to love houses like this when I lived in Indonesia. The house I lived in had a metal roof, which created a holy cacophony when it rained and caused one to melt from the heat when it didn't. The house across the road wasn't on stilts, but it did have a grass roof and oh ~ the calm, cool, coolness of that house! There were also houses on stilts in that village, which were absolutely wonderful.

So ~ my friends in Cuba might wish they had air-conditioning, but to be honest ~ myself ~ if I lived in a better designed room I would forego the aircon. Sometimes when I open the door it's like a hurricane ripping through here, so I know this room could be very comfortable if it had been designed with that in mind. In the event of a blackout, you know who's going to be laughing in breezy comfort (the Cubans) and who's not (me!)