Behagliches Raumklima - Wohnen in halboffenen Räumen in ariden Regionen

Climate comfort in traditional residential buildings - Living in semi-open spaces in arid regions

The traditional urban areas in the arid regions are characterized by courtyard houses. This creates the impression of being built of introvert units with less connection to the outdoors. However, life within the courtyard houses is to a large extent combined with open spaces. Open and semi-open spaces belong to main living spaces despite the restrictive climate conditions in the arid region, while internal courtyards create the main outdoor. One of the widespread semi-open spaces in the traditional architecture of the arid regions is Iwan (īwān). This paper studies how the Iwan has worked as a climate efficient space in the arid region. It explores the factors enhancing the thermal comfort in Iwan, the position of Iwan in the floor plan, and the impact of the interaction between wind catchers, water ponds and prevailing winds in warm seasons to reduce the air temperature in Iwan. The analysis is based on 30 case studies from four different cities in the arid region of Iran.