Natural Ventilation Systems in Texas Courthouses designed by James Ridley Gordon: an Analysis of Development of Climate Responsive Typologies.

The use of natural ventilation is an excellent strategy for achieving passive cooling in buildings, especially in hot and humid climate areas like in Southern Texas. The architect James Riely Gordon (1863- 1937), after ten years of architecture practice, originated specific typologies of plans, extremely innovative in court house architecture to respond to South Texas climate, reinterpreting the period’s attention in mechanical systems’ innovations for ventilation and cooling and heating. Gordon designed seventeen courthouses in Texas, twelve of which are still existing and functioning at this time. From analysis of his work, we can identify a typological metamorphosis in the design development of courthouses, which evolved over time to become more technologically sophisticated and climatically efficient. This study investigates the design and construction features and climatic response strategies of these types of court houses, identifying the step by step evolution process in the development of these typologies, and specifically examines and assesses their natural ventilation effects. This step by step process developed by the architect for creating the best typological system intends to suit, simultaneously, style, function, technological innovations and mostly, environmental thermal comfort. These systems, now no longer in operation due to the adoption of mechanical ventilation systems, are rediscovered and reinterpreted as core elements of sustainable architecture, and could form valuable lessons for the contemporary sustainable design in hot humid climates.