This paper aimed to develop a multisensory approach in a university campus, based on quantitative and qualitative approaches, investigating sense walk experiences (thermo-visual sound walk) under interactions of luminous, thermal, and auditory environments. The study was conducted in October 2021, in Chetma university campus in Biskra city, southern Algeria, which remains a famous oasis settlement of arid regions over the country. A comparative and correlation analysis was performed between the physical dimensions collected through a walking experience in three campus routes (outdoor, semi-outdoor and indoor). In addition, a multisensory survey of the walking experience on perceptual dimensions was evaluated in parallel to the empirical contribution. The paper shows that walkers’ thermal levels were balanced between neural and slightly hot in different spatial aspects. The glare was almost unperceived regarding the luminous conditions in the study site. The auditory experience reveals that the conducted points were generally quiet and well placed for educational requirements. Findings also show a strong relationship between the physical dimensions of the luminous and auditory environment. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the thermal and luminous environments are more perceptible than the auditory environment for the walkers of the outdoor and indoor routes. In contrast, the semi-outdoor route is often perceptible by the perceptual dimensions of the luminous and auditory environments. The findings on sensorial thresholds and spatial adaption are essential for the educational practices’ architectural and urban strategies for the Saharan cities and oasis settlements.

Vernacular urban configurations still constitute sources of inspiration for architects and urban designers. However, in most cases, instead of extracting ideas and processes, designers, in order to create an architecture that respects identity and cultural values while meeting environmental and economic requirements, tend to favour the imitation of the older configurations and end up with frozen copies from the past. This paper suggests an approach based on abstract concepts drawn from past experiences and filtered and refined through physical and environmental design variables. One of these variables is examined here and serves as a filtering technique; the shading control.

The bioclimatic architecture considers the local climatic conditions in order to reconcile maximally the comfort condition of the occupants. Through the several simulations effectuated by the TRNSYS software, this paper shows that the new architecture produced in the south of Algeria following the northern cities tendency is not fully adapted to the hot dry climate of the southern regions, such as the city of Biskra. In these regions, the passive techniques design influence strongly on the thermal architectural space performance. In this regard, diverse of the vertical shading devices size were proposed to evaluate the impact of this passive technique on the thermal performance of the promotional apartments situated in the city of Biskra. The comparative analysis between the simulation results says that the effectiveness of the vertical shading devices on the thermal performance spaces is reducing the indoor air temperature during the summer period. In addition, this analysis shows that promotional apartments are unsuitable for the desert climate.