Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heat wave events; however, existing apartment buildings in Los Angeles do not typically provide passive cooling, and instead exacerbate an individual’s exposure to extreme heat. In this study, a typical Dingbat apartment building was digitally modeled, and indoor air temperatures were measured in a heat wave simulation. A matrix of passive cooling remedies was then applied to the apartment building, and the reduced indoor air temperatures were measured against the baseline apartment building. The simulation results found that the combined use of phase change materials, ventilation, insulation, and shade, can reduce indoor temperatures significantly enough to consider retrofit strategies in place of mechanical cooling solutions for older apartment buildings in Los Angeles.
