Adaptive Urban Social Housing: Developing a Prototype for Different Climates of Chile

This research investigates the problems caused by the combination of a thermally inefficient housing stock and the use polluting fuels for space-heating. Findings from field studies conducted around Santiago evidenced that despite the intensive use of fuels, low income households are unable to heat their homes to an adequate level of warmth, being exposed to air pollution, cold homes and fuel poverty. Parametric thermal simulations were carried out to develop a prototype and test whether acceptable thermal comfort conditions could be provided without the aid of mechanical space heating or cooling across different climates of Chile.