This research deals with the study of determining the air temperature inside model
buildings built using different walls' cladings, which took place during the summer of
2002 in the research station of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, King Saud
University, Riyadh, KSA.
The study aims to know the effect of mostly commonly used cladings on thermal
performance of buildings. An experiment was done using model rooms. This experiment
has been performed during the summer. Readings of air temperatures inside the rooms
were collected, statistical analyses and graphs were presented. Study results concluded
that using sand bricks, ordinary bricks, stones, and marble cladings gave good feasible
results compared with (mortar) covering for outer walls. It has been shown
experimentally, that when the maximum temperature of the air outside the building was
36T, the difference in temperature of the air inside the room covered with (mortar) and
the other rooms was about 4°C.
The research work was concluded with some architectural recommendations suitable for
using the outer wall cladings for buildings in KSA.