Heating with Wolves, Cooling with Cacti

This book describes the detailed process behind the development of a comprehensive thermo-bio-architectural framework (the ThBA). This framework systematically connects the thermal performance requirements of a building to relevant solutions found in the natural world. This is the first time that architecture has been connected to biology in this manner. The book provides an in-depth understanding of thermoregulatory strategies in animals and plants and links these to equivalent solutions in architectural design. The inclusion of this fundamental knowledge, along with the systematic process of accessing it, should open up new avenues for the generation of energy efficient and sustainable buildings.

Negin Imani is a lecturer in Architectural and Building Science at Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand, with a PhD (2020) in Architecture from Victoria University of Wellington. Since 2013, she has been engaged in teaching and supervising research conducted by graduate and postgraduate students. Her research is focused on sustainable architecture and biomimetic energy efficient building design. For the last six years she has been working as a researcher in the Centre for Building Performance Research at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand from where she obtained her PhD.

Brenda Vale is a professorial research fellow in the School of Architecture at Victoria University of Wellington. She has extended her life-time interest in low energy and autonomous buildings to also embrace the environmental impact of those that live in them. This interest has led to a number of recent books focused on reducing the impact of buildings and the built environment, some of which, like this current one, have been written with former students.