The Utility of Computerized Energy Simulations in the Study of Religious Identity

This paper highlights the methodological utility of computerized energy simulations in evaluating cultural and heritage influences on built form of immigrants' churches. Specifically, I compared St. Paul's Lutheran Church built by the Wends immigrants in Serbin Texas in 1871 with the Wendish original homeland church in Kotitz, Germany built 200 years earlier. A morphological analysis was conducted along accepted “design with climate” guidelines and showed that the church in Texas was built similar to the one in Kotitz. To corroborate these findings I utilized ENERWIN- a computerized energy simulation program to evaluate the comfort level and energy performance of each church in its actual location and as if “transported” from one location to the other. These simulations provided controlled analyses of thermal comfort of a given church in different climates. The findings demonstrate that immigrants retain their church form in new frontiers despite changes in climate, and introduce empirical evidence to the study of religious identity.