# Improving School Transition Spaces Microclimate to Make Them Liveable in Warm Climates
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Case Studies, Location and Climate Description  
In this research, two case studies located in the south of Spain were analyzed, specifically, two free-running school buildings in the city of Seville (Seville, Spain, 37\({}^{\circ}\)22\({}^{\prime}\)58\({}^{\prime\prime}\) N 5\({}^{\circ}\)58\({}^{\prime}\)23\({}^{\prime\prime}\) W, 16 m. a.s.l.). This city is characterized by a warm climate, with high temperatures in summer. The Spanish building regulation, CTE [22], which categorizes the country's climate zoning, references Seville as a B4 climate zone, which indicates a winter with mild temperatures and very hot summers (the highest summer severity). According to [PERSON]'s classification, the city is located in a Csa category area, characterized by hot summers, with a dry and warm climate [23]. The hottest months of the year are characterized by low rainfall. The courtyards selected as case studies have different geometric characteristics, but share orientation and have been monitored under the same climatic conditions over a minimum period of two weeks. The geometry of the courtyard is a fundamental aspect to take into account in the study in addition to the climatic characteristics defined by the location. Previous studies confirm the importance of the relationship between the height (H) and width (W) of the courtyard, known as the  
Figure 1: Overview of the methodological assessment.  
aspect ratio (AR) [24] (Equation (1)). Aspect ratios of both courtyards are described in Table 1. AR (I and II) are defined, one for each of the two main dimensions of the courtyard.  
\[\text{AR}=\text{W/H} \tag{1}\]  
Both case studies are located in primary schools and used to be considered as secondary areas. Currently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, not only the importance of classrooms' natural ventilation (to avoid aerosol transmission) has been enhanced but also the importance of using outdoor spaces as teaching spaces has been highlighted.  
Case Study 1. The first case study is a public school building located in a district in the north of the city. It has a central courtyard on the upper floors where the study is held. The courtyard is in direct contact with the nearby rooms. All of them are classrooms. The courtyard's pavement is coated with a black waterproofing material (Figure 2).  
Case Study 2. The second case study is a school building located in the eastern part of the city, recently refurbished. The building includes a central courtyard with square proportions (Figure 3).  
The following table summarizes the main climatic and geometric characteristics of the case studies analyzed in this study (Table 1). A representation of the geometry of the courtyards is shown in Figure 4 to better compare their proportions.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Case** & **City** & **Climate** & **Surface** & **Dimensions (m)** & **Height (m)** & **AR I** & **AR II** \\
**Study** & **City** & **Zoning**[22] & **(m\({}^{2}\))** & **Dimensions (m)** & **Height (m)** & **AR I** & **AR II** \\ \hline Case 1 & Seville & B4 & 152.2 & 8.6 & 17.7 & 7 & 0.81 & 0.40 \\ Case 2 & Seville & B4 & 35.9 & 5.2 & 6.9 & 5 & 0.96 & 0.72 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Climate and geometric data of the case studies.  
Figure 3: Case study 2: Courtyard overview.  
Figure 2: Case study 1: Courtyard overview.