A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Cities, Arid Climates and Shading: Persian Vernacular Building Responses
Historic Persian cities have long been admired for their successful design efforts. They have offered context-sensitive design strategies to make settlements sustainable and adaptable to diverse local circumstances including environmental impacts. Climate-responsive solutions, created within the limits of local natural resources were designed to minimise the negative impact of harsh climate conditions and enhance indoor and outdoor living conditions and experiences at both the architectural and urban scales. Urban shading has been used throughout history in hot desert cities of the Central Persian Plateau. Lack of water and extreme heat limited the use of extensive green spaces, compensated for by shaded open living spaces including Iwans, courtyards, domed roofs and Sabats, covered streets. Closely spaced buildings mitigated the sun's heat on the streets and gave the city a human scale. While many studies have been conducted on the energy performance of vernacular buildings, often dependent on building energy performance modelling this research focusses on the success of these desert cities through their solar shading techniques that rely largely on the arrangement of different built form elements at the neighbourhood scale. This chapter set out to shed light on neighbourhood energy performance by investigating vernacular strategies for shading open spaces, including street pattern measures (Between-ness, Closeness, and Straightness), street orientation, and open space shading analysis. A mixed-method approach based on open-source tools is used: (1) Image Processing and (2) Network Analysis. The city of Yazd in Central Iran was used for this case study. The research revealed a diversified and hierarchical street pattern using neighbourhood level physical shading structures such as Sabat and domed roofs over sidewalks, techniques that can be re-invented when designing public open spaces in hotter climates to create liveable and cooler living environments. This chapter expands our understanding of the energy performance of historic Persian cities, provide insights for contemporary urban planning and design, and helps to create more sustainable and liveable cities for future generations at the neighbourhood-design level.
Cities, Arid Climates and Shading: Persian Vernacular Building Responses
Historic Persian cities have long been admired for their successful design efforts. They have offered context-sensitive design strategies to make settlements sustainable and adaptable to diverse local circumstances including environmental impacts. Climate-responsive solutions, created within the limits of local natural resources were designed to minimise the negative impact of harsh climate conditions and enhance indoor and outdoor living conditions and experiences at both the architectural and urban scales. Urban shading has been used throughout history in hot desert cities of the Central Persian Plateau. Lack of water and extreme heat limited the use of extensive green spaces, compensated for by shaded open living spaces including Iwans, courtyards, domed roofs and Sabats, covered streets. Closely spaced buildings mitigated the sun's heat on the streets and gave the city a human scale. While many studies have been conducted on the energy performance of vernacular buildings, often dependent on building energy performance modelling this research focusses on the success of these desert cities through their solar shading techniques that rely largely on the arrangement of different built form elements at the neighbourhood scale. This chapter set out to shed light on neighbourhood energy performance by investigating vernacular strategies for shading open spaces, including street pattern measures (Between-ness, Closeness, and Straightness), street orientation, and open space shading analysis. A mixed-method approach based on open-source tools is used: (1) Image Processing and (2) Network Analysis. The city of Yazd in Central Iran was used for this case study. The research revealed a diversified and hierarchical street pattern using neighbourhood level physical shading structures such as Sabat and domed roofs over sidewalks, techniques that can be re-invented when designing public open spaces in hotter climates to create liveable and cooler living environments. This chapter expands our understanding of the energy performance of historic Persian cities, provide insights for contemporary urban planning and design, and helps to create more sustainable and liveable cities for future generations at the neighbourhood-design level.
Cities, Arid Climates and Shading: Persian Vernacular Building Responses
Urban Sustainability
Cheshmehzangi, Ali (editor) / Roaf, Sue (editor) / Chenary, Kimia (author) / Abdi, Mohammad Hamed (author)
2025-02-15
16 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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