
Eastgate Centre, Harare - zeristor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastgate_Centre,_Harare
======
csomar
I was in Cairo a few years ago and in the old Islamic city there was a couple
of big mosques. This dates back to the Islamic era (around 1359). Standing in
the venue that separate the two mosques. Here is the location:
[https://goo.gl/maps/ibwqwb33PcUJvm1K7](https://goo.gl/maps/ibwqwb33PcUJvm1K7)

It was in the Summer and Cairo was boiling hot. But interestingly the venue
was pretty cool. There was two factors: The mosques shadowed each other in a
way that you don't get exposed in the sun. Another factor, there was a cool
air flow coming from somewhere(?). My guess would be that the two buildings
where engineered to both protect from the sun and generate the airflow.

You can sit in the venue all day long and not be annoyed with the hot weather.
The buildings themselves where pretty cool inside.

I think the question is: Why are we so inefficient today? It's not about looks
either: We are building even uglier buildings. The building I'm living in
right now is buzzing with air-conditioning units. It's wasteful and it's also
an inferior solution (headaches, dry air, only inside is cool, etc...)

~~~
knolax
Most advanced passive cooling in traditional buildings I see seem to be in the
Middle East and I don't recall every seeing any passive cooling in traditional
Western architecture. The loss of passive cooling is probably a consequence of
the homogenization of architectural styles we've experiencing for the past
several centuries.

~~~
jpgleeson
The ancient romans had implivium,
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impluvium](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impluvium),
to do the same sort of job. The water in the pool would cool the surrounding
air and air drawn in from the opening in the roof above would circulate it
through the surrounding rooms.

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zeristor
The HN policy of using the title name makes it difficult to appear
interesting.

I posted this prompted by a comment discussing the cooling property of solar
panels:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=20424275](https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=20424275)

~~~
chki
Actually I would say it's the opposite: if there are some upvotes on a post
such as this, I'm very much inclined to find out why an obscure Wikipedia
article has made it to the front page. Some weeks ago someone else actually
described this concept as a form of clickbait.

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wojcikstefan
I wish the Wikipedia article had more information about the drawbacks of such
a solution. The main ones I can think of are cost of design, limited sunlight,
and that it's only a viable option in temperate climates, but I'm sure there's
more.

------
zeristor
This is an interview with the architect:

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIKYjriWgiY](https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIKYjriWgiY)

What comes across is that the client was very keen to do this, is there any
reason why there aren’t many other buildings like this?

Mention is made of Portcullis House, office by the Houses of Parliament. Are
they expensive to design? Just unusual for architects to design?

Shouldn’t this be standard where possible?

~~~
zeristor
There’s a website called Carbon Culture which shows the energy use of a
building, and they have a page for Portcullis House which uses the same
chimney method. Although I doubt cooling in London is as much of an issue as
Harare.

[https://platform.carbonculture.net/places/portcullis-
house/5...](https://platform.carbonculture.net/places/portcullis-house/51/)

Portcullis House Wikipedia entry, though doesn’t seem interested in its energy
use:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portcullis_House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portcullis_House)

~~~
Symbiote
> Although I doubt cooling in London is as much of an issue as Harare.

The climate is similar in both cities.

Harare's average January (summer) daily mean is 21°C, London's (July) is 19°C.

The average highs are 26°C and 24°C. The high-low range, which looks to be
important so the building can cool at night, is 10°C in both.

~~~
lozenge
Harare is 15 degrees south and London is 50 degrees north of the equator. The
sun is much more intense in Harare and occupies less of the day, allowing more
time for the vents to cool the building. That said, this principle can be
applied in London as well.

~~~
finolex1
Does London even need cooling on 99% of days? 25 degrees is the temperatures
air-conditioners are often set to in the tropical country I live in.

~~~
improbable22
If your AC is producing 25-degree air, it'll be quite dry, which London is
not. (But Harare is, I believe.) That said 25 should still be fine, but there
are days which are 30 & humid, which are pretty uncomfortable. Not so many,
but more than 1% I think.

Most buildings there are also designed much more for winter. The windows seal
well but often don't open that wide, and there will be a fire door making sure
you can't get cross-ventilation, etc.

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Buge
>Pearce's practice is in Harare, and he specialises in buildings which are low
cost, low maintenance, and have low environmental impact. His projects try to
make best use of locally available resources, and include Harare International
School Arts Centre, Harare Hindoo Temple and Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital,
Zimbabwe.

This sounds more like the architect's resume than a Wikipedia article.

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qazpot
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawa_Mahal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawa_Mahal)

Hawa Mahal in India uses venturi effect for cooling.

------
rezendi
I've been to the Eastgate Centre a couple of times and think it's an excellent
building -- aside from its passive cooling, its retail space is quite people-
friendly and attractive. That said, it's probably worth noting that Harare is
not a particularly hot city, courtesy of its altitude (1500m/5000ft.) I wonder
if this would be as effective in a truly oppressively hot place like the Horn
of Africa.

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pazimzadeh
Reminds me of Yakhchāl, the 2500 year old Persian "refrigerator."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l)

------
southerndrift
On a smaller scale, the concept has been used in the Middle East:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher)

If there is wind, you don't even need the fans that are used in the basement
of the Eastgate Centre.

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upofadown
A high efficiency high rise for a much less temperate climate that
incorporates some of the same ideas:

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoba_Hydro_Place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoba_Hydro_Place)

------
JetezLeLogin
This building is a masterpiece and a towering (no pun intended) achievement.
If I were 18 I would make this my career, and today would be the day I would
talk about with journalists 20 years later when they asked where my ideas came
from!

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smohnot
The tower at PNC in Pittsburgh is a new skyscraper that has a similar solar
chimney model and relies on passive aircon for 42% of the year.
[https://www.architectmagazine.com/awards/r-d-awards/award-
th...](https://www.architectmagazine.com/awards/r-d-awards/award-the-tower-at-
pnc-plaza_o)

------
ahh
_They said that no direct sunlight must fall on the external walls at all and
the north façade [direction of summer sun] window-to-wall area must not exceed
25%._

Pass. Natural light (and tons of it!) are a hard requirement for anywhere I
actually want to work. (Besides light and airy spaces being generally
pleasant, I have mild SAD.)

In any case, I'd rather use modern air conditioning, which is stunningly
efficient. It also actually produces temperatures I can live in. They don't
quote actual interior temperatures (or humidities!) but I'll bet their
"acceptable" is 78F+. Anything north of 70 and I am a sweaty mess. (If you're
cold, put on a sweater; I can't exactly strip in the office and you wouldn't
want to sit next to me anyway!)

Complaints about air conditioning are mostly a form of modern self-
flagellation. If you're not suffering, you're not doing enough for Gaia.
Cost/benefit calculations simply don't enter into it (if they did, someone
might point out that eliminating all cooling whatsoever would not even move
the needle on US energy. Consider [https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/4/13/1526860...](https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/4/13/15268604/american-energy-one-diagram) and
[https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=1174&t=1](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=1174&t=1),
from which you can see that cooling is 9% of electricity, which is perhaps 38%
of total energy usage.)

~~~
blunte
So any office you work in must be kept at 70F or below for your comfort, and
your colleagues must wear sweaters?

Could there be a heath and fitness change you could make so the rest of the
world wouldn’t have to suffer in cold offices? Working perpetually cold is
miserable, and extra layers is only a partial solution.

Also, no matter how efficient modern air conditioning is relative to older
systems, it’s still a financial expense that should be measured and minimized
where possible.

~~~
scrollaway
I'm in the same boat as the person you're replying to. I have a really hard
time in temperatures above 23-25C (sometimes slightly higher if it's really
dry) and I _really_ wouldn't want to work in such an environment. I sweat
extremely easily in the heat, even idle, which is deeply uncomfortable.

I'm noting how incredibly rude your reply is; implying that there's a fitness
issue causing the condition (at least in my case, there is not), and implying
that GP wants to impose "their rule" on people who won't like it.

I work at home, FWIW, and my girlfriend doesn't like heat either. It's a good
arrangement. You didn't get the chance to make assumptions about me, but
please don't make assumptions about GP either.

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kikinam
Eastgate centre is one of the most popular houses in the area. I would like to
live in the house similar to Eastgate centre. I know that find a house like
that is practically impossible, however, you can find the house great to live
in online. I just visited <a href="[https://pin.tt/realestate/residential-
sale/">Pin</a>](https://pin.tt/realestate/residential-sale/">Pin</a>) and
found myself a cool house to rent.

------
kikinam
Eastgate centre is one of the most popular houses in the area. I would like to
live in the house similar to Eastgate centre. I know that find a house like
that is practically impossible, however, you can find the house great to live
in online. I just visited [https://pin.tt/realestate/residential-
sale/](https://pin.tt/realestate/residential-sale/) and found myself a cool
house to rent.

