[tzamora]

No, we don't have any special design for our homes. It's just that we have lots of energy for our small country, all from our hydro plants and our volcanos, we have so much energy that we sell it to 6 more countries in the central America region.

[DoreenMichele]

Thank you for replying

Vernacular design is just very localized design using local materials and suited to local weather. It's like adobe homes in the American Southwest and igloos in Alaska.

What is a typical home like there? How are they heated and cooled?

[leesalminen]

Our house in Costa Rica was built with cinder blocks on a concrete pad. Very different from the wooden framing + drywall in my house in the US.

My house doesn’t have any heating but does have mini-split AC units in the bedroom that we usually run for 3 hours in the afternoon if someone is going to sleep in that room.

There is a concept of having a ceiling fan next to some windows at the top of the wall near the roof. The idea is to have the fan pull the hot air up and out that window, creating a nice draft. Usually you have this in the main living area. They have a name for this that escapes me at the moment.

[DoreenMichele]

Ceiling fans used like that is an old fashioned method that was common in the Deep South of the US before AC, I believe. I would say that fits with what I am talking about.

Thank you for replying.

[selimthegrim]

Transoms (as in passing something ‘over the transom’)

Source: I am typing this from New Orleans where they were common, although the older dorms at my school in SoCal had them in the rooms.

[tzamora]

Here we have a very non extreme weather, so no cooling and no heating needed at all in our homes, we use steel rods, concrete blocks and concrete all according to the anti-seismic codes here and we also use protection for the humidity. The dangers we have from a climate point of view are storms that make our rivers overflow and causes lots of damage to our towns.

[DoreenMichele]

Thank you. If there is no "need" for heat or cooling, likely there is some degree of vernacular architecture and passive solar design going on. It's just so normal you likely don't realize it is any different from how homes get built elsewhere and lifestyles elsewhere.