Permeability in Bioclimatic Modular Facades: Spanish Sheds

Introduction

This article is a continuation of the thesis that the author presented in 2015 with the title “Tobacco industrial architecture in Peninsular Spain: dryers and factories” by E.T.S.A.M. Polytechnical University of Madrid. (Awad, 2015).

This study is based on the analysis of the facades of tobacco drying sheds located in the regions of Cáceres and Toledo, as an example of bioclimatic production architecture.

Using modular and permeable façade designs, it is possible to generate an interior space with specific hygrothermal conditions.

The drying sheds are the places where the tobacco plant is cured, with the air penetrating through the holes on their facades, and the tobacco dries under certain conditions of humidity and temperature.

The design of these patterns based on a module, such as the brick, not only affects the composition, but also determines the permeability characteristics, conditioning the interior space hygrothermally.

Analyzing the conceptual relationship, textures, patterns, and construction methods of the dryers with contemporary architecture, numerous examples can be found in other buildings in which modular patterns are used in the composition of the facades similar to those used in the dryers.

The study analyses the specific climatic conditioning systems of the drying rooms, which can be used as a reference for other constructions.

Therefore, it aims to achieve the adaptation of the construction and formal system to other uses, from a double perspective:

• •

  Architecture for climate adaptation to the environment.

• •

  Architecture as a generator of specific climatic conditions, in the interior.

The conditions generated by the patterns on the facades of the drying sheds are constructively adaptable to other uses.

The utility of these shade-houses is basically: to provide shade, ventilation and an enclosed but permeable space.

The patterns are a useful form of enclosure for spaces where ventilation is required while ensuring a certain degree of safety.

Although it must be considered that the degree of ventilation required depending on the use of the building is different, with 40% being necessary for homes while 15% is enough for a tobacco shed.

The tobacco sheds are a bioclimatic production building.

From this analysis, it can be concluded that modular pattern facades generate very specific climate conditioning systems, which can be used as a resource for other constructions.

Drying sheds’ hygrotermal and environmental conditions are analyzed in this chapter to compare them with the values of human comfort and find suitable relationships and parameters.

All the drying sheds that have been analyzed are constructed with brick. This implies a consideration of “zero degree” for both the construction and the composition of the architectural process. The detailing - entails making all the accumulative processes explicit as the brick walls are left exposed.

This minimal component allows a wide range of options that are never random but based on the logic of the way in which it is combined. The “sincerity” in the exposition of material, displaying them in their very nature and showing how they are really used, is a basic characteristic of industrial architecture, and it is even more expressive in these types of buildings.

The walls of the drying sheds undergo a permeability assessment in order to determine the degree of ventilation and orientation, the lattice pattern used and the overall volume.

This specific conditioning system can serve as a resource for other buildings, and consequently, it could be transferred to other uses within a two-pronged approach:

Drying sheds’ main purposes / aims deal with how to provide shade, ventilation, and a covered space as well as permeability.