Improving the Thermal Comfort of ferrocement Classrooms by Involving the Community in the Use of Alternative Construction Technology

Abstract

This study was planned to realize two objectives: one, to determine how to use bioclimatic strategies to solve the thermal problems in classrooms constructed of ferrocement in one school in the community in Sta. María Roalo, Oaxaca, México. The other was a social objective that dealt with the involvement of students, teachers and parents as a mechanism to help them develop through workshop activities skills needed to improve the conditions in the school. A physical diagnosis was carried out on the environmental conditions in the classrooms during different observations and with measurements taken during the 2010 summer season. The observations of the students and teachers on the comfort levels in the classrooms were collected by questionnaire. Their perceptions of what needed to be done to improve both the aesthetics and the thermal conditions in the classrooms were collected from the students and teachers in informal meetings and other questionnaires. The study established a method of bioclimatic analysis that can be used to form a basis for designing strategies to improve the environment and the comfort level of the classrooms. The study proposes a participatory methodology in which students and other users of the classrooms work together in workshops to develop the capacity to use construction techniques appropriate for the conditions found in the classrooms.