Comparative Summer Thermal and Moist-Air Responses of Glass-Enclosed Courtyards in Rural Housing: Implications for Sustainable Retrofit Screening

Glass-enclosed courtyards are common in self-built rural housing, but their summer retrofit value is uncertain because temperature attenuation may coexist with overheating or moisture accumulation. This study compared three south-facing brick-concrete dwellings with glass-enclosed courtyards in Qingdao, China, and integrated matched field measurements with a 64-household survey. Outdoor-normalized temperature offsets, sampled range differences, psychrometric variables, moist-air enthalpy, and courtyard-room temperature separation were analyzed. Mean courtyard–outdoor temperature differences across 18 observations were +1.34, +0.64, and −0.12 °C for Cases 1–3. On 15 July, Case 2 reduced the sampled courtyard temperature range to 0.9 °C compared with 7.9 °C outdoors, while its mean courtyard humidity ratio remained 2.86 g/kg higher than outdoors. This contrast shows that attenuation of dry-bulb temperature variation does not necessarily imply a reduction in absolute air-moisture content. The survey showed that 55.6% of valid respondents reported hot-side summer sensations, while 47.6% identified improved summer ventilation and cooling as a desired retrofit outcome. The survey provides complementary implementation context, while shading, courtyard ventilation, and courtyard–room air-exchange control are identified as candidate measures for future intervention testing rather than as validated retrofit solutions.