Evaluating the climate-responsive design strategies of vernacular buildings in Konearirajapuram village, Nagappattinam, India

Purpose Vernacular architecture is an architectural style of buildings that were constructed by artisanal builders who lacked formal qualifications, used local materials and had a deep understanding of local climatic needs. This approach addressed climatic, energy, materials and construction issues in a low-cost way. Building interiors were often made comfortable by using passive internal climate regulation methods, which could be key to resolving some of the current issues of the modern world. Design/methodology/approach Tamil Nadu is a land full of local architecture, with Konearirajapuram settlement a thriving specimen of its vernacular architecture, as one of the original Vathima villages (planned Brahmin villages). Here the authors present an appraisal of this settlement's native architecture with its various passive design elements. A questionnaire survey was also conducted among local residents, living in both vernacular and contemporary residential buildings, to understand the quality of indoor environmental comfort in the different building types (single courtyard, multiple courtyards and multiple story houses with courtyards). Findings The results of this study show that energy-efficient bioclimatic design strategies of traditional buildings can be analyzed with the help of climatic data and analysis tools such as Mahoney tables and Olgyay's bioclimatic chart. The study shows that vernacular design techniques and principles conserve more energy than modern buildings. The findings suggest that practical solutions for improving contemporary residential developments can be found in traditional architectural approaches and that these approaches should be incorporated in new developments to achieve energy efficiency and a sustainable future. Research limitations/implications A detailed survey and the user preferences are plotted in detail in this paper; similarly, Mahoney table and its requirements are analyzed with respect to context; and the results are elaborated and justified. Originality/value This study analyzes an entire settlement of Konearirajapuram with 300 units of vernacular residences high in comfort even at extreme climates. Assessment is carried in both qualitative case and quantitative case. Even though there are no previous studies analyzed to identify the effectiveness of the artisanal builders of bioclimatic architecture. Hence, this study brings out the solution for current energy problems from the traditional settings, because the traditional buildings requires no active systems for indoor comfort except a fan, which is negligible in terms of energy use.