This paper is part of a study of 43 courtyards in Mexico and Spain. It examines the "aspect ratio" for five Andalusian courtyards, comparing their temperature ranges to the official temperature ranges, over several hot, dry days. If radiation were the primary means of courtyard cooling, then a relationship between aspect ratio and courtyard cooler temperatures should become evident. However, courtyard cooling is more complex, especially given the influence of evaporation in the hot-dry summer of southern Spain. Further, radiation can be significantly influenced by moveable shading devices, or toldos, which can block sun by day but expose the courtyard walls and floor by night. Opening windows can facilitate ventilative cooling as well. Evaporative cooling through watering of plants and surfaces, moveable shading, and opening and closing windows all depend on human intervention. This "proactive" approach to cooling is also called "thermal sailing." It may be more influential than courtyard proportion.
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