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Long before electricity, wind catchers of Persia kept residents cool (theworld.org)
25 points by rmason on Sept 16, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments


I remember a summer vacation when we visited the Padmanabhapuram Palace - https://www.padmanabhapurampalace.org/ . It was a very hot day. But as soon as we entered the palace the cool atmosphere made us feel comfortable. Despite there being no electric fan or air conditioning, and not much noticeable breeze inside, the temperature was noticeably cooler. The elders in the family pointed out to us kids that it was because of the architecture and material used in building the palace. The memory and the ingenuity of it all stuck with me as a kid as I didn't understand how a building could be cool without fan or ac.


What a beautiful building complex, thanks for sharing. Would love to visit someday.


...Long before this article was written we used windcatchers to direct a breeze in thru the hatches on sailboats.

https://www.westmarine.com/west-marine-down-the-hatch-ventil...


http://www.iedu.com/Solar/Panels/

If you are interested in passive heating and cooling, this is one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever come across


This reminds me a lot of the windtraps in Dune. I'm sure Frank Herbert took inspiration for them, as he did with many aspects of the culture and technology of Arrakis, from the lives of real desert peoples, but it's really cool to see a real life version of something you read about in a Sci-Fi novel.


They also had ice cream in their “fridges”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhchāl




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