ENERGY EFFICIENT ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STRATEGIES IN HOT-DRY AREA OF IRAN: KASHAN

Abstract

Climate had a major effect on the performance of the traditional building architecture and its energy consumption in hot dry area of Iran. Lack of water and harsh climate of these areas forced people to build their houses with some strategies based on efficient energy consumption. Heating and cooling usually use largest portion of energy consumption of buildings. Therefore, builders tried to use natural climatic strategies for coping with harsh conditions. These strategies include layout orientation, distance between buildings, building orientation & form, climatic elements such as Eyvan (porch), Wind catcher, central courtyard and etc. The paper aims to introduce the mentioned strategies and then, categorize these characteristics in three levels: a) macro scale, b) medium scale and, c) micro scale. In addition, the strategies will be explained in their level of performance. Finally it focuses on lessons that we can learn from our past experiences to improve our energy consumption patterns in contemporary architecture.