starchitects at works - adapting to the climate

human architects are taking inspiration from the animal architect - termite the master builder
in adapting to the climate.

the Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central HARARE, ZIMBABWE. the building was designed by architect MICK PEARCE, to be ventilated and cooled entirely by natural means. PEARCE decided to design this shopping centre building based on termite ingenuity: the termite mounds [see picture inset].

due to its altitude, HARARE thus has a temperate climate despite being in the tropics. Its typical daily temperature varies between 10ºC to 14ºC. and this makes a mechanical or passive cooling system a viable alternative to artificial air-conditioning. the Eastgate Centre had been designed and constructed with full of sophistication which use natural cooling system to maintain comfortable thermal value within its interiors.

architect MICK PEARCE found inspiration to design the Eastgate Centre shopping centre from the SOUTHERN AFRICA's mound-building termite. termites keep cool by puncturing the mounds structures with air-exchange tunnels and by layering the floor of the mounds with wet soil. the temperature inside the mound incredibly stabilized at 30.5ºC [87ºF] – [even when temperatures outside continuously varies between 0ºC (32ºF) at night to 40ºC (104ºF) at high noon] – studies showed that this climatic condition in the mounds is necessary to farm multicelled organisms, called fungi, which become food for the termites.

the termite mound’s air-exchange tunnels or flues will normally vent through the top and sides, and the mound itself is perfectly designed to catch the breeze. as the wind blows, hot air from the main chambers below ground is drawn out of the structure, helped by termites opening or blocking tunnels to control air flow.

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