Designing Comfort in Semi-Arid Campuses: A Study of Dual Fountains and Curved Seating at CECOS University Peshawar Outdoor Cafe

Abstract

Semi-arid cities often experience extreme heat, which makes the use of open spaces inaccessible, compromising their social purpose. The paper explores the micro-scale design interventions to enhance thermal comfort in the micro-scale environment by using the example of the cafe courtyard at CECOS University in Peshawar. We assessed the synergistic impact of the implementation of two low flow fountains, high-albedo seated curvature, and the presence of existing trees shade by a combined approach of ENVI-met microclimate simulation with validation using on-site sensors. The measurement of thermal comfort was through the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index. The findings validate the hypothesis of the synergistic interaction between evaporative cooling and high surface reflectance to form localized cool pockets and greatly decrease PET values at maximum irradiance. This study has shown that, with limited and specific design changes, human thermal comfort can be increased successfully, which can be applied practically to recover outdoor social spaces in heat-stressed cities.

Keywords: Urban Heat Island, Peshawar, CECOS University, Café, Fountains, Curved Seating.