The canarian balcony as a bioclimatic element

Abstract

The wooden balcony has become the most characteristic element of the traditional Canarianarchitecture, both, urban and rural, being very appreciated for itsornamental value, but, however, its functional characteristics are unknown within the biocli-matic behaviour of this architecture. Its presence in the facades and the galleries or balconies, around a patio, is a commonelement in the domestic architecture of two or three floors allowing the protection againstthe weather, to prolong the housing toward the outside, observ-ing the farmland, enjoying the landscape and thegood weather, drying the products of the harvest or simply as anelement of distinction and social representation. On the other hand, the galleries are presented as bodies attached to the building (usuallyon the first floor) that serve the dual role of generating an intermediate space protected fromwinds and seasonally regulate the sun of walls and holes.