Passive cooling techniques in medieval Indian stepwells

Abstract

Stepwell is one of the unique medieval groundwater resource structures distributed across most of all the states in India. The main purpose of constructing stepped wells was to get access to the groundwater, but was also used for the storage of food, and as a summer shelter in medieval times. In tropical regions such as India, temperature is a major problem that causes thermal distress. Traditional architectural concepts were incorporated in the medieval Indian structures to achieve thermal comfort. Traditional architecture is optimization of building design to climate, adaptive crafts, and building techniques learnt over time and experience. The objective of this study is to interpret and evaluate the architectural and engineering aspects of stepwells pertaining to passive cooling techniques used in stepwells and the shelters associated with them. This paper reviews technical aspects pertaining to passive cooling in the design of stepwells, which has identified fundamental principles that can adopted for the building of various structures presently.