Leveraging adaptive comfort - the three-zone strategy¶
The three-zone approach arranges a building's form, functions and detailed layout around its context, the wind and the sun's path, so it can operate passively whenever necessary.
Next, designers should use the 'three zone' approach, to help arrange the building's form, functions and detailed layout.
This helps decide on the best responses to its urban or rural context, wind directions (for cross ventilation cooling and heat shedding), and the sun's daily path - anticipating the intensity of solar radiation falling on different parts of the building during the days, months and year.
Why the zones exist¶
Because ARC is aiming for both Step 1 and Step 2 buildings to be able to operate during periods of disruption, including to the electricity supply, the three-zone approach should be used to create buildings that can operate in naturally ventilated, passive mode whenever possible or necessary.
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.
What applies to every zone¶
All zones should be secure, insect-protected, well-shaded, and able to be effectively naturally ventilated. The building should also offer its occupants a survivable refuge from extreme heat events - see designing a heat refuge.
The three zones¶
| Zone | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mechanically cooled and ventilated | Zone 1 |
| 2 | Communal heat refuge, naturally ventilated | Zone 2 |
| 3 | Transient and buffer spaces | Zone 3 |
Diagrams not yet included
The source refers here to three illustrations: a notional building with only zones 2 and 3 incorporated; the same notional building with zones 1, 2 and 3; and a design for a school in Tanzania showing the use of zone 3 'buffer spaces' on the east and west elevations to help shade zone 1 and 2 rooms. They carry a note to the author - "redo: plan to ppt, with same zone colours" - and have not yet been prepared for the wiki.
Source: ARC Technical Criteria - Leveraging adaptive comfort: the 3-zones strategy
Pattern · confidence high · Imported 2026-08-29, not yet reviewed · next review 2026-11-29
Tags: framework, zones, design-strategy, passive-design
Citation key: three-zones-strategy