climatic conditions, building material resources (their type and size), as well as the technical and cultural level of the population as well as socio-political conditions shaped the architecture, especially before the industrial era. In our time, other conditions have come into play, such as styles, architectural fashions, cheap traditional energy sources, etc., which allowed architects to build freely, regardless of climatic conditions.
The analysis of human settlements in terms of taking care of thermal comfort is interesting. It turns out, that on all continents people in the past, very simple, although they skilfully used solar radiation to heat their homes. Heat energy conservation factor, use of solar energy, it was one of the most important in the construction of houses in colder climatic zones.
Returning to the cradle of European culture, Greek houses from the Hellenistic era were re-examined. It was stated, that the architecture of these houses used the basic principles of passive solar heating, and firewood or charcoal were used extremely rarely, as the materials were very expensive. Socrates wrote about the Greek house, it should be cool in summer, and warm in winter, that “in houses facing south, the sun penetrates the main room in winter (oikos), and in summer, when it shines overhead and over the roof, there is a shadow".
The classic example of such a homestead is the house in Priene (3rd c. p.n.e.). The entire city was criss-crossed by a grid of streets running north to south and east to west, so that all the houses could face south. Individual plots were surrounded by a full wall, which was thick on the north side 1,5 bricks: Inside, there was a centrally located courtyard with the main room, decorated with a portico from the south. The auxiliary chambers were on the western side, so that the eastern light shone upon them. These houses had no windows, only large door openings (rys.a).
The house from Olyntus looked similar (northern Greece), where the plots were also enclosed by a wall, to which from the inside on the north side, Two-storey buildings adjoined the eastern and western sides, and on the south side there was only a hall with a portico. Low buildings on the south side allowed sunlight to penetrate into the main room in winter, located on the north side.