Climate-Sensitive Design / Winter Design

 
Winter offers both challenges and opportunities for northern communities, but is rarely considered in municipal planning, architecture and facility design. Winter is often perceived as a negative force that generates inconvenience and added cost, in part due to cities and buildings planned and constructed as if they were in a southern, warmer location. Winter Design--designing our communities and buildings for the northern climate--is still the exception rather than the rule.

City and town planning, site design, transportation and infrastructure engineering, and architecture can all benefit through the application of "winter cities" design principles that work with nature rather than against it, in order to make winter a positive part of a four-season lifestyle. The goal is to create livability, reduce human discomfort, promote energy efficiency and the economic sustainability of northern places.

U.P. Engineers & Architects is a leader in the effort to encourage government and business to overcome winter's challenges through professional Winter Design principles. In addition to applying multi-seasonal, climatological know-how in our planning and design work, we offer this page with information and links about Winter Design.

Green Roofs and Green Walls:
Potential Energy Savings in the Winter

388KB PDF

By Brad Bass, Ph.D.
Adaptation & Impacts Research Division
Atmospheric Science & Technology Directorate,Science & Technology Branch
Environment Canada at the University of Toronto Center for the Environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Design for Residential

This report  from Finland (in PDF) discusses aspects of climate-sensitive design and the impact on residential projects.