As a Chico resident, you’re well-acquainted with scorching temperatures reaching triple digits during the summer months. With such prolonged heat, your reliance on air conditioning to maintain a cool and comfortable home is undeniable.
When your AC system malfunctions, summoning an air conditioning service company becomes your top priority to swiftly restore its functionality. Meanwhile, amidst the Chico heat, alternative methods are sought to beat the heat. Yet, you can’t help but ponder how people coped before the era of air conditioning. The following article sheds light on this:
Posted by: Apartment Therapy
How Did People Survive Before Air Conditioning?
Their architectural choices were different.
The advent of air conditioning brought about significant changes in architectural practices, particularly in regions like the South. Notably, older buildings often feature lofty ceilings, allowing hot air to ascend and leaving the lower areas cooler. Deep eaves and porches shielded windows from direct sunlight, while strategic tree planting provided additional shade on the house’s east and west sides.
Furthermore, room designs incorporated windows on opposing walls to facilitate cross ventilation, encouraging airflow. In instances where such arrangements were unfeasible within a single room, architects aligned rooms in a row to enable air passage between them. This design is evident in historic shotgun homes in New Orleans or railroad apartments in New York.
They embraced outdoor living.
Presently, porches are quaint architectural elements, yet in the past, they served as vital spaces for shading windows and offering outdoor respite from the sun’s glare. While modern heat prompts people to retreat indoors, historically, the opposite was true:
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Today, central air conditioning is a standard feature in homes, offering comfort during hot spells. We’re privileged to have this luxury, a fact underscored when our AC systems falter amid the sweltering summer heat.