Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
The need to build affordable homes in Namibia has led to the widespread uptake of socalled Low-Cost Housing (LCH). LCH uses standardized building plans, of which thisstudy evaluates a two-room 34m² standalone dwelling, regarding its thermal comfort.
Namibia’s climate can be described as arid-hot, with high daily fluctuations as well as largedifferences between seasons. This challenges the thermal comfort of Nambian housing,due to the construction methods, building materials used and the lack of insulation.However, thermal comfort is not commonly considered since there are no set thresholdsof indoor thermal comfort for the Namibian context.
The current LCH design fails to meet basic thermal comfort requirements. Low-cost, notech design strategies are proposed for the construction or retrofit-phase evaluated usingthe building energy performance simulation software IDA Indoor Climate and Energy(IDA ICE).The proposed interventions include increased building height, layout orientation, cavitywalls, adjusted window sizing and opening schedules, shading solutions, improvedinfiltration and roof modifications.
The study concludes that roof modifications significantly enhance indoor comfort inwinter and summer, increasing high thermal comfort hours by 39 % in the living room and73 % in the bedroom compared to the base case.
After analysing individual simulations, a combined strategy is developed to optimizethermal comfort. Adding low-cost insulation, a roof layer and cavity walls on the east andwest façades greatly improved comfort, increasing annual high-thermal-comfort hours by67 % in the living room and 82 % in the bedroom versus the base scenario.
2025.