W hat does it take to design a building? There’s creating spaces that are efficient and pleasing, and bringing in beauty with colours, lighting and aesthetics. Structural engineering that makes buildings stand and not topple over. Plumbing and electricity.
Ventilating the building to make sure people are comfortable irrespective of the weather. While there is an ‘art’ side to architecture, there is also a ‘science’ side to it. Concepts from Physics In Physics, you may have come across concepts like thermal conductivity, energy and acoustics.
All these play a role in building science. We shouldn’t feel too hot or too cold inside a building. The noise we make shouldn’t bounce off the walls and echo uncomfortably.
We should have natural light, but not be blinded by glare. Keeping in mind climate change, the building shouldn’t consume too much energy and natural resources. Building science deals with all these factors and architects and experts try to control how much heat enters the building, how to capture wind, how to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint, and make buildings work better.
Take the example of heat. A building’s temperature can be controlled mechanically with ACs, fans or heaters, or ‘passively’ through its design. This is based on Science: how quickly does heat pass through the walls? Do they absorb or reflect heat? Your grandma may tell you not to wear black in the blazing summer but to choose light, airy cottons because dark colo.
