The Netherlands is enacting it's national heat plan this week. With temps forecast to be as high as 35˚C in the middle of the week. We need to talk about shade. Specifically, about the way our infrastucture is not designed for the new normal of these high temperatures in the summer.
In the heat of a summers day, by far the best thing a person can do is seek shade. Alas the way we have designed our built infrastructure makes this difficult. Take for example this bus stop in Amsterdam.
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The Glass roof and sides makes the bus shelter light and airy. In the depths of winter, this is great, it stops it turning into a dark dingy space noone wants to use. Alas in the heat of summer, it turns the space into a furnace. The inspiration for this thread came about when I got sunburnt sholders waiting for a bus last summer. Not only does the lack of shade result in being hot and sunburnt, but it also heats up the bench in the bus shelter, a crucial piece of infrastructure for many.
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This isn't a one off design flaw either. It's like the entire public transport infrastructure of the Netherlands hasn't taken into account the idea of providing shade for users. Take the design of Leiden Centraal Station bus station. This is the shelter provided. This one is a double whammy, It's crap in winter, and crap in summer. I don't know what the designers were thinking when they came up with it, but it's entirely unfit for purpose. There's not even a bench to sit on while you wait.
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On my travels in Southern Europe last summer, I thought I'd check out what the locals do there. They have a lot more sun and hot weather than up in the frozen north. They have got to have solved this problem right?
This bus shelter is in Genoa, Italy. The photo sums up the design failure nicely. People having to stand behind the bus shelter because the bus shelter itself offers no actual shade in the shelter itself.
It's quite an impressive design failure.
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But that's Northern Italy, it's not that far south, it can't be that hot there. What if we go further south? Say. Spain.
Well this is a bus shelter in Madrid. A city not known for it's cold grey weather... it's a bloody greenhouse. No shade offered here at all. Just a nice boiling hot place to quietly melt while you wait for your bus...
Another one of those cases where I struggle to understand what on earth the designers were thinking. Why would you build a glass box in a hot country?
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There are ways to design better sun/shade aware structures. That balance passive solar gain in the winter with shade in the summer, but the key to that is taking the situation into account. Being away of sun angle across the year. The way that building designers do with a Brise soleil. But then you can't copy and paste your bus shelter design across the whole city. It drives up cost. It requires thought. Which is a lot ot expect of the local councils...
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Quixoticgeek
Mark Burton
Charlie Stross