School Space and Sustainability in the Tropics: The Case of Thermal Comfort in Brazil

Abstract

This work aims to discuss thermal comfort and school architecture in Brazil, within the Anthropocene framework. The objective traverses the fields of school management, curriculum, and educational policy. The importance of the environmental emergency in the context of the Anthropocene is recognized, understanding it as a space-time in which climate change biopolitically impacts both local and global daily life. In this way, we consider that the curricular dimension together with school architecture, in the Anthropocene scenario, tends to respond to the demands of biosecurity. The methodology of this article is the analysis of documentary sources, particularly current Brazilian legislation on school architecture, thermal comfort, and public funding. The initial hypothesis of this work operates with the argument that in Brazilian legislation there is a predominance of HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) systems over sustainable forms such as natural ventilation, design of classrooms, placement of windows, use of trees and vegetation and management of the student’s schedule. The assumption of the research lies in the need for reconfigurations of the principles of school architecture, considering both biosecurity and bioclimatic architecture essential for the future in the scenario of climate extremes along the Anthropocene.