Climate Responsive Design

Designing with climate means shaping buildings that work with their environment—maximizing comfort while minimizing energy use. This approach reduces emissions, boosts resilience, and aligns architecture with a changing world. Climate responsive design isn’t just a philosophy, it’s a performance strategy rooted in physics, geography, and occupant comfort.

Climate Responsive Design adapts buildings to their specific environmental context, using passive systems to reduce reliance on mechanical heating, cooling, and lighting. It’s not just about sustainability—it’s about smarter, site-aware design that aligns architecture with physics, comfort, and long-term performance.

Climate Analysis | Ventilation Strategy

Climate + Micro-Climate Analysis Tools

Climate Studio (Rhino):

https://www.solemma.com/climatestudio

UCLA Climate Consultant:

https://www.sbse.org/resources/climate-consultant

Autodesk Forma:

https://app.autodeskforma.com/app-home

SketchUp Pre-Design:

https://predesign.sketchup.com

NIST Natural Ventilation Suitability Calculator:

https://pages.nist.gov/CONTAM-apps/software/CSTWebprogram.htm

CBE Berkeley Comfort Calculation:

https://comfort.cbe.berkeley.edu/

Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) Comfort Calculations

https://www.utci.org/

Weather Data Resources

Current & Recent Average Climate Data

https://climate.onebuilding.org/WMO_Region_4_North_and_Central_America/USA_United_States_of_America/index.html

Future Weather Data (Oak Ridge National Lab)

https://zenodo.org/records/10814978

Weather Spark (weather data visualizations)

https://weatherspark.com/

Future Urban Climate (UMD):

https://www.umces.edu/futureurbanclimates