Passive cooling with local brick

Buildings stay cooler without machines when walls block harsh sun, vent hot air, and pull breezes through shaded gaps. Morphogenesis used that playbook at the Lalit Suri Hospitality School in Faridabad with a brick skin made from local materials. (morphogenesis.org) The school sits in Faridabad, on the edge of India’s National Capital Region, and Morphogenesis says the campus was completed in 2020. Project listings put the built area at about 250,000 square feet and describe a low-rise layout wrapped around courtyards and existing neem trees. (morphogenesis.org) (archdaily.com) Brick does more than finish the facade here. Morphogenesis and project writeups say the exposed brick envelope uses perforations, undulations, overhangs, and a low wall-to-window ratio to shade corridors, cut direct solar gain, and let air move through the building. (archinect.com) (archdaily.com) ArchDaily reported the passive cooling measures reduce ambient temperatures inside the building by as much as 15 degrees, while Archinect and other project pages say the facade filters about 30 percent of outdoor light. Those are the basic mechanics behind the “passive cooling” label: less heat enters, and more hot air escapes. (archdaily.com) (archinect.com) The material choice is also part of the environmental pitch. Morphogenesis and several architecture publications say brick was selected because it is locally produced, familiar in Indian institutional buildings, economical, and relatively low-maintenance over time. (morphogenesis.org) (commercialdesignindia.com) The campus borrows from older Indian building ideas rather than relying only on sealed glass and mechanical cooling. Project descriptions point to jaali-style latticework, jharokha-like overhangs, courtyards, light wells, and stepwells as devices that create shade, daylight, and airflow in a hot climate. (archinect.com) (re-thinkingthefuture.com) The landscaping is doing thermal work too. ArchDaily says the plan preserved a cluster of neem trees along the site’s northern edge, and Archello says the trees provide pockets of shade that help moderate summer temperatures. (archdaily.com) (archello.com) This is not a one-off sculptural facade attached to a small pavilion. The school was designed as a commercial-scale teaching campus for hospitality training, with cafeterias, kitchens, hostels, and open areas that double as training spaces, making the passive strategies part of a larger operating building. (archdaily.com) (morphogenesis.org) Morphogenesis and award listings describe the project as net-zero for energy and water, though that claim appears mainly in project and award materials rather than independent performance audits. What is clearly documented across multiple sources is the school’s use of local brick, shaded openings, preserved tree cover, and low-rise courtyards to cool space before air-conditioning has to do the rest. (theplan.it) (morphogenesis.org)