Khus tatti
Wetted vetiver screen
Born in North India (Indo-Gangetic plain).
How it works
Screens woven from fragrant vetiver (khus) roots, hung across an opening and kept damp. The dry summer wind gives up its heat to evaporate the water as it passes through, and enters cooled, softened and scented.
In a modern home
A damp vetiver or jute blind on a hot, dry balcony or window; the desert-cooler principle, without the machine or the electricity.
What it answers
Built from
Source
North Indian summer vernacular; vetiver evaporative-cooling studies.
Follow the threads
Projecting eave / sunshadeshares overheating, no shading, glare→Narrow shaded streets & self-shading massshares overheating, no shading, cool→Overhanging balcony & deep verandahshares overheating, no shading, cool→Perforated stone screenshares glare, no shading, cool→Projecting lattice screenshares glare, no shading, cool→Buffer & transition spacesshares overheating, no shading, cool→