Build Zigzag Patterns On Exterior Walls to Keep Buildings Cooler During Heat Waves

“These two directions require different properties for cool walls,” says Qilong Cheng, a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University who worked on the study as a graduate student at Columbia University. “So we have this two-surface zigzag design, with one surface facing the sky and the other facing the ground.”

The angles, looking a little like the sawtooth roofs of factory rooms, can shave 5.5° Fahrenheit off average indoor temperatures.

Radiation coming up from the ground is reduced or deflected by one material, while heat from the sun is reflected with ultra-white paint.

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