Influence of Patio on Indoor Environment in a Chinese Traditional Folk House in Summer

A case study is performed on the influence of the patio on the indoor environment of a traditional folk house group, named Zhangguying village in Hunan province, in the summer of 2007. Measurements include indoor and outdoor air temperature, indoor and outdoor illuminance, indoor and outdoor air speed, and carried out from August 5th to 10th. The results show that the patio, acting as a ”buffer zone”, can reduce the ambient impacts on the indoor thermal environment of rooms because the temperature of the patio is lower than that of the outdoor temperature but higher than that of the rooms. The patio can improve the indoor lighting environment because the illuminance of the patio is lower than that of outdoor and higher than that of the rooms. But the effect is too limited, because the illuminance of the rooms is lower than the national standards. This study shows that the shading design is the primary consideration in this kind of climate. The wind speed of the patio is stable and similar to that of the hall and the stack effect of the patio is not obvious. It shows that the patio is useful for natural ventilation, caused by wind pressure, in summer.