Archello Awards 2026 · Enter your projects before 30 September 2026
Archello Awards 2026 · Enter your projects before 30 September 2026

Passive cooling

An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about passive cooling

Project • By KOGISARCHITECTUREResidential Landscape

Brick Roof Residence

Set in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, the Brick Roof Residence by KOGISARCHITECTURE is an innovative residential project designed to achieve thermal comfort without relying on artificial air conditioning. Nithiyan Nithiyan Nithiyan Nithiyan Reinterpreting the traditional Madras terrace, the design features an experimental sloped roof crafted from salvaged country fire bricks, mud mortar, and breathable oxide finishes. In synergy with a high-level air tunnel and a central linear light court, the structure generates a continuous stack effect to push hot air out and draw cool breezes in. Nithiyan Nithiyan Nithiyan Nithiyan Nithiyan With honest local materials, passive thermodynamics, and open spatial planni... More

Project • By INSADA Integrated Design TeamPrivate Houses

Savasa

Commissioned in 2018, INSADA Integrated Design Team was appointed to develop the architecture and interior design for Savasa, a compact residential development in Cikarang, West Java, in collaboration with Japanese developer Panahome. The project sought to demonstrate how thoughtful planning, sustainable design strategies, and efficient construction methods could elevate the quality of compact housing for modern Indonesian families. Savasa comprises two residential typologies. The first occupies a 6 × 11 meter plot with a total built area of 62 square meters over two storeys, while the second sits on a 7 × 12 meter plot with 72 square meters of built area. Despite their modest footprints, both homes were designed to provide gen... More

Project • By Studio AM+pPrivate Houses

The Louvred House

Set within the dense, tree-lined streets of Chennai, The Louvered House is a five-bedroom residence designed as a calm, contemporary retreat for three generations of a family. Responding to the city’s hot-humid climate and vibrant urban fabric, the G+1 home negotiates its surroundings by turning inward, while its architectural expression outwardly balances solidity, rhythm, and lightness. Studio Para Studio Para Studio Para Studio Para The architecture is defined by clean horizontal lines, deep overhangs, and a restrained palette of stone, concrete, and timber. Facing west, the primary façade alternates between solid planes and vertical wooden fins, creating a rhythmic play of light and shadow while ensurin... More

Project • By Vir.Mueller ArchitectsPrimary Schools

Healthy Planet School

The intensity of megacity urbanity, where air pollution and environmental degradation are pre-conditions for design, presents a particular challenge for the creation of secure environments for education. Conceptualized as a “cocoon”, this project for a pre-school and kindergarten – aspires to be a luminous safe haven for young children, as they engage with early years learning.  Organised as a set of organic ‘cells’ of curved brick walls punctuated by circular porthole windows, the learning spaces weave a tactile ring around a courtyard.  Lined with slats of birch plywood – a soft counterpoint to the brick, the courtyard assumes primacy as the focal space within - draped in a tent and illuminate... More

NewsNews • 3 Jun 2024

Multigenerational family home in Rajasthan by Sanjay Puri Architects embraces regional vernacular and natural ventilation

Located in the arid desert region of Nokha in Rajasthan, India, “Narsighar” house is a majestic sandstone edifice whose construction embraces centuries-old regional vernacular and planning principles. Designed by Mumbai-based Sanjay Puri Architects, the house makes use of traditional and natural ventilation techniques, including: courtyards to aid passive cooling, thick stone walls to strive against the exceptional heat, and stone jali screens to provide ventilation while dappling the interior with sunlight. Vinay Panjwani Vinay Panjwani Designed to fulfill the client’s wish to accommodate four generations of family members, this impressive residential dwelling (with a gross floor area of approxi... More

NewsNews • 25 May 2023

Mixtura completes the uniquely contextual convent of the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany in Brazil

Designed by Mixtura, a practice of young architects from Italy, the new convent of the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany is now complete. The 5,300 square meter project includes large spaces for prayer, hospitality, and areas for residents from the surrounding local community of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, to meet. Cesare Querci The design concept comes from an extensive participatory design process between the architects and the community. The resulting complex features primarily low-tech buildings where locally derived wood textures inform the structure and the cladding. The classic typology of the convent, which is oriented around a single closed cloister, is reinterpreted here by multiplying the number of cloisters. In tota... More

NewsNews • 14 Jan 2022

Sculptural Stormwater Facility by gh3* architects in Toronto tells a compelling story of urban water treatment

Treating urban run-off from Toronto’s new West Don Lands and Quayside neighbourhood developments, the Stormwater Facility (SWF) by gh3* architects houses state-of-the-art water treatment systems while architecturally adding to Toronto’s list of historic infrastructure works.  Adrian Ozimek The monolithic, cast-in-situ concrete building both compliments and acts as a striking counterpoint to the infrastructural and aesthetic complexity of its surroundings which include railways to the north, the ramps and roadways of Lake Shore Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway to the south, and the industrial Port Lands across the Keating Channel.  Adrian Ozimek Carefully positioned openings in the façade provide a g... More