Draft. These pages were imported from the ARC Technical Criteria document (16 April 2026) and have not yet been reviewed in this format. Several thresholds are still being settled and are flagged on the pages concerned.

The ARC framework - two Steps and three Zones

The framework supports occupants managing their health and comfort through simple, robust adaptive behaviour, and focuses designers on future-proofing. It consists of two Steps and three Zones.

The framework is designed to support the ability of building occupants to manage their health and comfort via simple, robust, 'adaptive behaviour', as local climates worsen and extreme weather increases in intensity and frequency.

It focuses designers on solutions that help future-proof buildings to allow easier, more cost-effective measures to be installed, such as glazing, insulation, airtightness, mechanical cooling, ventilation and dehumidification - when required, over time.

The two parts

The framework consists of two Steps and three Zones.

First designers should decide between one of two strategic 'Steps'. Next, they should use the three-zone approach to help arrange the building's form, functions and detailed layout.

The condition that applies to every ARC building

No ARC-compliant building should be completely reliant, for the thermal safety of its occupants, on electricity-dependent mechanical systems alone - including systems using solar and battery backup.

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Source: ARC Technical Criteria - ARC's Cool Buildings Programme - ARC Framework
Overview · confidence high · Imported 2026-08-29, not yet reviewed · next review 2026-11-29
Tags: framework, design-strategy, zones, steps, overview
Citation key: arc-framework