That is how they were made, especially in New Orleans. As others have said air conditioning is cheaper and you can have a concrete slab as a foundation instead of a basement.
However, this problem is tackled a bit differently in other countries. In Hungary the slab is two meters thick and supporting walls can be up to a meter in size. They are all brick and reinforced concrete construction. The things are built like tanks, even the communist-built ones.
The bulk of the house maintains an even temperature, much like a cave.
Hungarians have to do this because they have only a small quantity of low-grade coal, no uranium, and little hydroelectric. Most energy is imported.
During the summer it can easily get to 40 degrees Celsius, during the winter -40 degrees. In this respect it is a continental climate similar to the states of the Great Planes.
How would such an arrangement remove the moisture from the air? I am thanking God for air conditioning else my books, clothes, and shoes would mildew overnight.
They used to. The answer to your question is AIR CONDITIONING. And, to an extent, cheap electricity.
A thing called humidity...
If we lived Underground, there would be no need for AC/Heat.
Our 1000 sq foot home has 17 old 12 pane windows, and NO insulation in the walls. We keep meaning to at least have the attic insulation increased, but just haven’t gotten around to doing it. And our exterior is old hard asbestos siding (built in early 1950’s), so we can’t have holes drilled in it to have foam sprayed in. Thank goodness utilities are cheap, here in Oklahoma.
I have noticed a number of homes and apartments in MS do not have eaves or overhangs. Also there are often no trees near to house to shade it. In CA these things are common ways to cool down the house. Why the difference?
We built new in 2002 in mid-Missouri. A geo-thermal system was in our budget.
Our dealer installed a WaterFurnace system with four 200 foot verticle wells to supply the system. The wells are deep below our driveway.
The system supplies our heat, cool and force air. We also enjoy heated floor from this unit.
The system wasn’t cheap.
Payback was a bit over four years vs. a comparable all-electric.
Look at all the old Southern buildings (before AC).
They used the practical natural methods available.
Somebody forgot one thing ...hurricanes.
Would you want pipes with stagnant water around your house for weeks?
We, also, have a thing called a red ant. Your designs would facilitate a greater nuisance of these ants.
I don’t live in the South, but I live in a place where the summer temps can reach the high-90s with high humidity, and I don’t have air-conditioning in my house. The truth is, you get used to it. Simply by opening the windows at night, closing them during the day and making sure the curtains are drawn, you can maintain a temp in your house that’s 10* cooler than the air outside. You just deal with a house that’s 89* inside and live your life.
Air-conditioning and electric water-heaters have made us soft.
Well, down South we used to have high ceilings (heat rises), tall windows, big wide porches with rocking chairs, dog runs and breezeways, root cellars, and, among the rich, slaves wielding fans.
A type of traditional architecture in the south often had squarish floor plans, high ceilings, and steep pyramidal roofs with vented pyramidal “monitors” at the apex (a whole house attic fan could be used to intake cool air from the shady side of the house and push rising heat out the top very efficiently), plus covered front porches to control the sun on the southern side. Cheap electricity and air conditioning killed these by making “ranch style” tract houses with low ceilings viable. People moving to the suburbs perceived these “affordable” homes as “modern”.
I designed an updated version of a monitor house with some enhanced features for a friend who built it in Florida. I remember him calling me to say he was standing in the central space measuring 72F on a thermometer while it was 98F outside; no AC — just convection. The perimeter rooms were probably warmer.
Air conditioning.
Solved.
If the homes is made of Brick or Stucco they are much cooler!!
Build it in Texas.
I’m guessing it’s because they use sweet tea to cool off instead.
Because the 19th Century ended 120 years ago.
When the breeze came off the river, they had their houses arranged so the breeze would channel through these narrow walkways generating a cooling breeze.
However, once the levees were built there was no flooding and also no more breeze. So the design was no longer useful.
If I understand the question, we have a library in the system I worked for that used the ground for heating and cooling.
I am not sure how well it worked as I wasn’t in that department.