I live in a hot place that is getting hotter. What bothers me is the architecture of new homes that are sited poorly and make no effort to use the design of the

I live in a hot place that is getting hotter. What bothers me is the architecture of new homes that are sited poorly and make no effort to use the design of the home to control hot / cold. A great example of this is homes across North Africa and the Levant where there is a central column through which wind blows and brings natural cooling into the home - think "whole house fan" but without any mechanization. These types of designs and thought into how a house is sited on its lot make so much sense but instead we get cheaply constructed mass tract housing. It would be very curious to know just how much energy use could be reduced by different materials and design.