The effect of courtyards as microclimate modifiers on the sustainability of traditional houses in a region with 13Wks mesoclimate in Iran was explored. The principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investiga...The effect of courtyards as microclimate modifiers on the sustainability of traditional houses in a region with 13Wks mesoclimate in Iran was explored. The principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investigated to identify the most intluential physical-environmental character- istics that can effectively improve energy efficiency in contemporary residential buildings. A field study was performed to analyze various physical elements of six valuable traditional courtyard houses located in a region with BWks mesodimate in Iran. These elements included the orientation, extension, rotation angle, dimensions, and proportions of enclosed and open spaces, as well as physical bodies (opaque waUs), transparent surfaces (openings), and natural elements (water and soil). Results showed that most of the studied Iranian courtyards were particularly designed to enable orientation, dimension, and proportion to act as microdimate modifiers. All survey-based data were sumrnarized and integrated to propose a physical- environmental design model for courtyards as a useful energy-efficient strategy for contem- porary sustainable housing in a region with BWks mesoctimate. The proposed model can be generalized to all design cases located in areas with similar climatic conditions.展开更多
文摘The effect of courtyards as microclimate modifiers on the sustainability of traditional houses in a region with 13Wks mesoclimate in Iran was explored. The principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investigated to identify the most intluential physical-environmental character- istics that can effectively improve energy efficiency in contemporary residential buildings. A field study was performed to analyze various physical elements of six valuable traditional courtyard houses located in a region with BWks mesodimate in Iran. These elements included the orientation, extension, rotation angle, dimensions, and proportions of enclosed and open spaces, as well as physical bodies (opaque waUs), transparent surfaces (openings), and natural elements (water and soil). Results showed that most of the studied Iranian courtyards were particularly designed to enable orientation, dimension, and proportion to act as microdimate modifiers. All survey-based data were sumrnarized and integrated to propose a physical- environmental design model for courtyards as a useful energy-efficient strategy for contem- porary sustainable housing in a region with BWks mesoctimate. The proposed model can be generalized to all design cases located in areas with similar climatic conditions.