Hello.

A competition requires us to make a small bird watching unit/shelter in a region that is mostly humid and has a moderate temperature (it is next to the sea). They also want it to be both open-space and for it to provide thermal comfort for the occupants through natural ways (so no air-conditioners etc).

The part that confused us is how to setup thermal comfort in an open-space structure. How can we naturally control (at least to a small extent) the temperature inside an open-space structure if it is not isolated enough from the external environment around it?

Along the way I started losing the meaning of open-space all together. Searches about an open-space shelter mostly show just roofs on columns without walls, completely not isolated from the external environment. How can we provide (and control) thermal comfort in such a scenario? Is simple shading from the sun and the natural wind enough for that?

In the meantime, certain sources define open-space for buildings as simply structures that have defined minimum-sized openings in them that allow for direct sunlight and wind ventilation from the outside.

It confused me. Would a building with glass windows and ventilation shafts be considered open-space? Or do we have to remove the glass on the windows and let them act as simple openings? Or does that not count either and we have to remove a wall or all for the structure to qualify as open-space? How can the last 2 options provide thermal comfort in their case? And does insulation even matter in open-space structures like these?

Unfortunately we cannot ask the competition hosts for more details. I was hoping to get more concrete definitions of the terms related to this project (open-space mostly). I wanted to know, according to a definition, if insulation then matters, and how to provide thermal comfort in that scenario. The information I found didn't seem relevant enough, or not specific enough for our case. I hope that someone can enlighten me or redirect me to relevant sources that can clear the confusion/provide insight.

Thank you and sorry in advance if the questions asked here are rather common-sense. It seems we lack certain fundamental definitions to progress further.