Proposed Sustainable Design Alternatives for Low-Income and Middle-Income Housing in a Coastal Area in a Developing Country

Developing nations face increasing economic and environmental challenges and the search for housing design solutions that approach sustainability by meeting thermal comfort, energy efficiency, environmental and low initial cost criteria is underway. This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research project that aimed at designing a low-income house and a middle-income house that perform well from the architectural, thermal comfort, and energy efficiency standpoint while being cost-competitive. Multiple passive cooling strategies were considered and evaluated by energy modeling tools. The thermal and energy performance of the proposed designs were analyzed throughout the design process and the various design iterations. A full budget was prepared for the proposed low-income housing design and first-costs were found to be competitive with conventional housing. The paper discusses the proposed design features, their impact on thermal comfort and energy efficiency and the feasibility of integrating alternative energy systems to the proposed designs.