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An overview of the balcony's contribution to the environmental behaviorof buildings

Papamanolis Nikolaos

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Summary

Balconies constitute an important element of the architecture of buildings in a broad spectrum of geographical areas. Especially in areas with a mild climate, they represent an inseparable and characteristic component of the local architecture. The main purpose of a balcony is to offer the inhabitants quick and easy access to the environment. Nevertheless, in parallel with their functional role, their presence on a building's façade influences several mechanisms that determine the interaction between the building and its environment. Such mechanisms and the resulting influences concern numerous aspects of building physics, like sun-control, daylighting, heat transfer, damp protection, sound insulation, wind-loading, natural ventilation, etc. Accordingly, the building's energy behaviour is also affected. This paper examines the role of balconies in the environmental and energy behaviour of the buildings to which they belong. In particular, it determines the environmental factors whose interaction with buildings in which balconies appear is altered by the presence of those balconies, it investigates the mechanisms which cause these changes and assesses their results.

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