Villa Tugendhat as a Technical Monument - Elements of Passive Solar Architecture

Abstract

The elements of passive solar architecture are crucial for designing of low-energy and passive houses; moreover it might be surprising that some of the principles of passive solar architecture were applied in the functionalist Villa Tugendhat built in the year 1930, designed by the German architect Ludwig Miese van der Rohe and which belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This case study attempts to point out the individual elements of solar architecture which were applied in the villa. In order to verify some of the statements/claims a numerical simulation of incident solar radiation (XSun) was performed in the Danish simulation software BSim. The paper includes a list of other timeless technical specifics, especially in terms of HVAC, which were used in the villa, and the authors have written about elsewhere (Villa Tugendhat – An Unique Air-conditioning System in Residential Hall. CLIMA 2013. ISBN 978-80-260-4001-9).