An investigation of the adaptive opportunity of rudimentary structures based on field experiments

This article outlines a series of field experiments that examine the adaptive opportunity offered by various generic rudimentary structures: windbreaks, shade structures and simple huts. The structures are typical of those traditionally used by ethnographic communities in very cool and very hot climates, and of some of the worldʹs oldest and longest used types of structures. The adaptive opportunity was tested for under two extreme ambient conditions, those prevalent during the very cool winters at Adaminaby in the Australian Alps and those prevalent during the very hot–arid summers at Forbes in inland NSW. Focus was on the temperature and air movement differential between the ‘inside’ of the structures and the outside environment. It was found that these ‘proto structures’ greatly enhance the thermal choices and thermal control otherwise only negligibly available in the natural environment. It was also found that adaptive opportunity was much more easily achievable in cold conditions than in hot–arid conditions (and climates), because of the ease with which the graduated and shifting heat from a fire can be thermally controlled by simple structures that are materially independent of the heat source.