Montero Burgos, María Jesús

Introduction: This research will determine if a native American shelter (wigwam) can create comfort and if while doing so can provide healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) levels as defined by current standards. Concurrent to this research a technique to digitally model the outcomes of comfort created within the shelter was developed. Methods: A fullsize example of a wigwam was built and data from inside and outside the wigwam monitored for comparison. Data collected both inside and outside was temperature and relative humidity of the air, collected inside the wigwam were CO2, VOC, and PM2.5 levels. The wigwam allowed us to compare the accuracy of a digital model created in Design Builder. The Design Builder model was made to the specific size, materials, and location of the actual wigwam. This allowed an accurate comparison of temperature and relative humidity levels. Design-Builder accurately recreated the attributes of the full-size wigwam. Results and Discussion: It was found that comfort can be achieved to modern standards in this native shelter; as temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall exposure can all be controlled to acceptable levels. Indoor air quality is always at an acceptable level when a fire isn’t active. When an open fire is introduced, the particulates and VOC released into the interior of the wigwam are at dangerous levels. A woodstove with flue pipe allowed for comfort to be maintained at healthier air quality levels but did not reach acceptable levels for particulate matter.

Esta investigación nació con el objetivo de comprender los cambios que vivió la arquitectura doméstica a lo largo del proceso de sedentarización que tuvo lugar durante la prehistoria. En concreto, el objetivo principal consiste en entender las consecuencias que ese recorrido tuvo a nivel energético. Así, se tomaron como casos de estudio ocho viviendas de las construidas por los nativos norteamericanos. Cada uno de los ocho modelos analizados corresponde a una forma de vida diferente, abarcando de este modo desde el nomadismo hasta el sedentarismo, pasando por las opciones intermedias. Para poder valorar la eficiencia de estas construcciones se diseñó un nuevo parámetro, al que se denominó “energía equivalente”, o Δh. Este factor ha sido estudiado mediante el análisis de correspondencia canónica. Mediante este método se han podido reflejar los vínculos entre las condiciones climáticas de las zonas en las que se construían estas viviendas y sus características morfológicas y técnicas. La evolución descrita abre una última posibilidad, al permitir vincular esos cambios en el consumo energético a las alteraciones morfológicas y, a su vez, éstas a los cambios culturales que se pueden leer en los diseños arquitectónicos de las viviendas analizadas.

The Haida plank house is one of the most important models built by the native American Indians. Built on the southwest coast of Canada, it adapts the tradition of the ancient pit houses to the requirements of the humid and cold climate characteristic of the Haida Gwaii Islands. This construction is composed by two main pieces: the central pit covered by a wooden envelope. Both protect its dwellers and their hearths. The ventilation system is based on two solutions: the gaps between the wall planks and a smoke hole that can be opened or closed in the roof at will. The aim of the present research is to analyze the way these two elements arrange the indoor airflow in order to ensure the comfortability of the house. Four cases have been proposed, according to four different dimensions for the gaps: 1, 2, 3 and 4 cm. Each case has been doubled in order to determine how the state of the smoke hole affected the corresponding results. This way, it has been concluded that if the gaps’ width becomes higher than 4 cm, the airflow velocity comfort level would be exceeded. It is been possible to observe how the state of the smoke hole influences the way the air moves around the dwelling.

According to the research developed by André Leroi-Gourhan in 1964, entitled “Gesture and speech”, the evolution of human beings during Prehistory was linked to the search for work e ciency. As time passed, man designed increasingly complex tools whose production implied a decreasing amount of energy. The aim of the present research was to determine if this evolution, which occurred in parallel to the sedentary process, also a ected architecture, specifically if it can be detected on traditional dwellings, particularly in those built by the Native American Indians during the pre-Columbian period. Due to their great diversity, since both nomad and sedentary models can be found among them, and to the available information about their morphology and technical characteristics, these models o er a unique opportunity to study the consequences of this process for architecture. In order to achieve it, an alternative parameter that can be determined for any type of building was designed. It allows us to establish the amount of energy an envelope is equal to. The results obtained suggest that the e ciency of the dwellings decreased as this process went forward, but this pattern changed in its last step, when agriculture appeared and permanent settlements started to be built. Besides, statistical graphs were used in order to show graphically the relationship between it, the climate, the morphology of the dwellings and their technical characteristics.