Due to extreme climate change events, achieving indoor thermal comfort has become a significant challenge in remote desert areas; particularly with the increasing number of energy shortages in these areas. This study uses participatory action research methodology by means of an occupant centred approach for the design and construction of a Trombe wall system, suitable for passive heating and cooling in hot arid climates. The Trombe wall is used as a low-tech retrofitting passive solution to provide deprived communities in off-grid desert areas with a better indoor climate. The paper presents data from one year of monitoring and post occupancy evaluation for the Trombe wall installed as a retrofit in a residential unit in Sinai, Egypt as a proof of concept. Available affordable local materials were of main concern because of the project’s remote location in a mountainous desert area with very limited natural resources. The idea was to involve the local community in the different phases of the project, then train them onsite on how to use the Trombe wall system. Results indicate that the use of the Trombe wall did in fact enhance indoor heating and cooling loads. In addition, the direct involvement of the local inhabitants proved to have a positive impact on the Trombe wall’s performance and efficiency. The discussion elaborates on key lessons learned and challenges faced from the urban living lab experience presented in the study. Lastly, recommendations for further implementation of the passive Trombe wall system are presented.

In the coming years, it is anticipated that if we continue with the same pace of energy consumption, communities will continue to face three major challenges; a mounting increase in energy demands, pollution, and global warming. On a local scale, Egypt is experiencing one of its most serious energy crises in decades. The energy consumed in indoor cooling and heating is the biggest portion of total energy consumption in residential buildings. This paper is an experimental simulation study for building retrofitting in off-grid settlements in semi-arid climates, using Trombe wall as a low-tech passive heating and cooling solution. In this study, we made developments to the conventional classic Trombe wall using occupant-centered design and living lab experimental methods. The thermal efficiency of the proposed Trombe wall design is simulated during winter and summer peaks. In the proposed design we used gray paint instead of typical black paint in addition to 15 cm reversible natural wool insulation and two 3 mm thick roll-up wool curtains. The new design reduced the heating load by 94% and reduced the cooling load by 73% compared to the base case with an annual energy savings of 53,631 kW h and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 144,267 kg of CO2. The living lab test proved that the proposed design of the Trombe wall is economically viable and the payback time is 7 months. It is recommended that the proposed design be monitored for a whole year to have an accurate assessment of its efficiency. A post occupancy evaluation is also needed to measure local residents’ acceptance and perceived comfort after retrofitting.

Given the current energy crises, recent efforts have been directed at bringing energy efficiency and environmental awareness across the board into architectural education in Egypt. Although interest in sustainable design teaching and learning started more than 20 years ago at both post graduate and undergraduate level in Egypt, ecological illiteracy persists in architecture education. There is a large gap between what our schools of architecture offer, what the regulations currently specify, and what the market demands. This paper investigates the role of the graduation design studio in rooting an understanding of sustainability in architectural higher education, taking an experimental design studio case as an example. During this studio, the students developed a range of skills and techniques that were of value to their graduation projects and which will stand by them later as architects in the future. Students were able to experience climatic conditions and building technology in a specific context and associated with specific local vernacular architecture. Such experience was used to develop new adaptive and responsive climatic architecture approaches by means of physical hands on test cell models in a living lab environment. The design studio focuses on passive solar approaches suitable for a hot arid climate. The paper aims to show how this design studio could be a pilot model for green architectural education in Egypt.

Vernacular buildings in Egypt express a variety of passive low-tech approaches in design and construction to achieve human comfort and fulfil inhabitants’ requirements. They have been devised to suit living in regions where local inhabitants had to invent various passive building strategies to live under severe local climatic conditions without depending on fossil fuels. This paper discusses a retrofitting approach for off-grid vernacular buildings in the Western Desert of Egypt. The study hypothesis argues that, when retrofitted and equipped with renewable energy solutions, vernacular structures can act as nearly zero energy buildings. A post occupancy evaluation was used as an assessment tool for two pilot projects that served as case studies. Results showed that combining vernacular passive strategies with affordable active renewables such as roof top solar panels results in a hybrid energy efficient retrofitting solution for deprived off-grid vernacular buildings. The intention is for the results to act as a basis for future retrofitting that would take into account the challenges and obstacles inherent in such work. This is an aim capable of contributing to a reduction of energy consumption that would also encourage retrofitting using renewable solutions for existing housing stock in Egypt.