For generations, British homes have been designed around a simple premise: keeping heat in. But as temperatures rise and periods of extreme weather become more frequent, architects are increasingly being forced to rethink long-held assumptions about how homes should perform. The question is no longer just how to stay warm in winter, but how to remain comfortable during hotter, longer summers.
To explore how residential design is adapting to a changing climate, we asked Robert Douge, Co-Founder of Arya Douge, to share his views on the growing challenge of overheating in both new-build and retrofit projects. Drawing on recent experience designing homes for a warmer future, Robert explains why passive cooling, intelligent orientation and climate-responsive architecture are becoming just as important as traditional energy-efficiency measures in shaping the next generation of British homes.
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For much of modern British architectural history, the challenge was straightforward: how do we keep homes warm?
Our housing stock evolved around heat retention. Thick masonry walls, smaller windows, and heavily insulated interiors (curtains and rugs) were all designed for a climate where cold, damp weather shaped the way buildings performed. Even many contemporary homes continue to operate on this assumption.
But increasingly, architects are beginning to confront a very different problem: overheating.
Record summer temperatures, warmer winters and increasingly volatile weather patterns are beginning to reshape the way we think about residential architecture in Britain. With El Niño weather systems anticipated again this year – and climate scientists warning of more frequent periods of extreme heat – there is a growing recognition that many of the homes being designed today will exist in a climate very different from the one they were originally conceived for.
In many ways, architecture is having to catch up.
The climate we are designing for is changing
Thames House is a new-build family home in Bourne End for a Brazilian and Australian couple inspired by the Brazilian Modernism of the 1950s.
The brief invited us to design a home in this aesthetic: expansive glazing, deep overhangs to the eastern and western facades to shade the glass from the sun, and open-plan living spaces connected closely to the landscape.
Initially, we expected the brief to be challenging. After all, the British climate has historically had very little in common with Sydney or Rio. Without direct morning and evening sunlight penetrating deep into the footprint, surely the house would feel too cold for much of the year.
For every new-build project we undertake, we carry out detailed thermal modelling to ensure the building is comfortable and energy efficient – not only now, but throughout its lifespan. The results surprised us.
What we perhaps hadn’t fully appreciated was the rate of climatic change projected by the experts. Increasingly, the data suggests that within the lifespan of buildings being designed today, London’s climate may begin to feel closer to that of the Brazilian Modernists who inspired this house than the London of Dickens.
Moreover, it is not simply that the climate is becoming warmer – it is becoming more extreme. Buildings will need to cope not only with higher average temperatures, but greater volatility between seasons and more frequent periods of intense heat. Rather than resist, we decided to work with it.
Of course, the building envelope is highly insulated and fitted with large expanses of high-specification glazing to maximise daylight and views while minimising reliance on artificial lighting.
To the south, double-height glazing welcomes lower winter sun but avoids direct exposure to the higher summer sun. To the east and west, the glazing is protected by deep overhangs and louvres which prevent direct solar ingress during the hottest parts of the day.
Crucially, all of the glazing is operable, allowing natural cross ventilation whenever the external climate is comfortable enough to permit it.
For periods of extreme heat, the house can be fully air-conditioned. However, the cooling is carefully zoned so that only occupied areas require conditioning, reducing unnecessary energy demand.
What interested us most throughout the process was the extent to which architectural ideas once associated primarily with warmer climates increasingly feel relevant to Britain too.
Retrofitting real estate for a hotter future
This becomes even more complex in retrofit projects.
Although new-build homes are carbon intensive to construct, they afford the freedom to design in a climate-conscious way from the outset. The same cannot always be said of a Georgian or Victorian townhouse, where the architect must work carefully with the constraints of the existing fabric.
These projects often require a more nuanced marriage of low organic technology and contemporary high-performance systems in order to create homes that feel passively comfortable.
Sometimes the most effective solutions are surprisingly simple.
A south-facing conservatory, for example, can act as a low-tech thermal magnet – collecting warmth during winter months and allowing that warmth to permeate into the wider house. Combined with high-performance glazing and a louvred roof, the same space can remain comfortable during summer too.
Basement spaces can utilise the stable temperature of the earth itself to regulate internal conditions naturally, supplemented discreetly by modern heat-exchange systems which minimise energy loss in both summer and winter.
Roof insulation, high-performance glazing and carefully controlled ventilation all play their role too.
Increasingly, projects are requiring architects to think less about creating static internal environments and more about how buildings adapt to fluctuating external conditions over time. The assumption that British homes only need to defend against the cold no longer really holds true.
