Surrounded by high-rise buildings, some two-storey buildings with black roofs are sited along the Xiaohe (Little River) in the north of Hangzhou, China. The buildings were originally built in the late Qing Dynasty (late 19th century) and restored in 2007 by the Hangzhou municipal government. The architectural materials used in the buildings are mainly concrete for the ground floor and timber to the first floor. Three buildings located at Xiaohe Historical Street were investigated to establish whether traditional buildings performed as well as modern buildings. Hourly temperature and humidity readings from September 2009 to August 2010 were recorded for the selected houses. It was concluded through comparisons that the restored heritage buildings provided similar thermal comfort and conditions to modern buildings
