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Investigation of Iranian traditional courtyard as passive cooling strategy (a field study on BS climate)
Farzaneh Soflaeia'*, Mehdi Shokouhianb, Seyed Majid Mofidi Shemiranic
a School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China b Department of Civil Engineering, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, United States c School of Architecture, University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Received 23 April 2015; accepted 16 December 2015
Abstract
The use of passive systems for climate control in providing indoor thermal comfort minimizes global trends in increasing the energy demand for active systems of climate control which has unacceptable negative impacts on the natural environment. This concept is ignored for designing of contemporary buildings which care less about the environmental impacts. The main objective of this study is to investigate the concept of the traditional central courtyard as a passive cooling strategy for improving indoor thermal comfort in the BS climate of Iran. An empirical field study was conducted to analyze three important courtyard design variants including orientation, dimensions and proportions, as well as opaque (walls) and transparent surfaces (windows), in fourteen valuable traditional houses in five ancient cities located in the BS climate of Iran. Results of this quantitative study, show that Iranian traditional central courtyards were designed based on a careful attention to orientation and geometrical properties regarding the physical and natural parameters to act as an effective passive cooling system. In conclusion, all data sets were integrated to propose a physical-environmental design model for central courtyards as a useful passive strategy which can be generalized for the wider use of environmentally sustainable design principles in future practice concerning courtyards for buildings in BS climate.
© 2015 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Passive cooling strategy; Iranian traditional central courtyard; BS climate; Physical-environmental design model
1. Introduction
Passive cooling is a building design approach that focuses on heat gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort with low or nil energy consumption (Santamouris and
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: farzaneh.soflaei@gmail.com (F. Soflaei). Peer review under responsibility of The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development.
Asimakoupolos, 1996). This approach works either by preventing heat from entering the interior (heat gain prevention) or by removing heat from the building (natural cooling). Natural cooling utilizes on-site energy, available from the natural environment, combined with the architectural design of building components, rather than mechanical systems to dissipate heat (Niles and Haggard, 1980). One of the most successful samples of climatic responsive architecture is traditional courtyard houses which were designed with the careful attention to the climatic requirements and socio-cultural contexts. They were responding
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2015.12.001
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Symbols Awt total area assigned to water in the courtyard
Atotal total house area Nsi number of areas assigned to soil earth in the
Acy area of courtyard courtyard
Acs total area of closed spaces SHsl shape of area assigned to soil earth in the court-
An area of the north part yard
As area of the south part Asi total area assigned to soil earth in the courtyard
Ae area of the east part ANel area of courtyard north elevation
Aw area of the west part Asel area of courtyard south elevation
Lcy courtyard length AEel area of courtyard east elevation
Wcy courtyard width A Wel area of courtyard west elevation
Hcy average height of courtyard ATel total area of the elevations
Acy area of courtyard AoNel area of openings in courtyard north elevation
SHcy shape of courtyard Aosel area of openings in courtyard south elevation
Nwt number of areas assigned to water in the AOEel area of openings in courtyard east elevation
courtyard AOWel area of openings in courtyard west elevation
SHwt shape of the area assigned to water in courtyard the
to the most environmental challenges over a long period of time, and used various passive cooling techniques such as Showdan, Khishkhan, Shabestan, Hozkhaneh, central courtyard, wind catcher, air-vent of dome roof, etc. for improving indoor thermal comfort in the hot climate of Iran (Soflaee and Shokouhian, 2005).
This research focuses on the concept of Iranian traditional central courtyards as natural cooling strategy, and its potential application for improving indoor thermal comfort in BS climatic as a case study. Traditional central courtyards in Iran as one of the oldest civilizations in the world go back to 3000 BC (Edwards et al., 2005), and as a design pattern has been used for different functions such as cooking, praying, working, playing, gathering and even sleeping during the hot summer nights. They have roots in Persian-Islamic culture and social perceptions; inspire the sense of introspection with respect to privacy in Islamic ideology. In addition to ideological, social, and cultural characteristics, Iranian traditional central courtyard provided other benefits in hot arid regions. It creates a self-sufficient microclimate area between the outdoor and indoor environments, when it is decorated with trees, flowers and shrubs, not only does it offers a beautiful setting and calm environment, but also supplies shades and increases the relative degree of humidity of the courtyard area as a microclimate modifier.
The saving in the cooling energy needs of the building due to the passive cooling performance of the courtyard was determined by some scholars (Rajapaksha et al., 2003; Toe and ^Kubota, 2015; Fardeheb, 2007; Rajapaksha, 2004). The passive cooling of the courtyard consists of the following features: (a) The shading effects of the walls of the courtyard on the ground and the south-facing wall and windows of the building, (b) The shading effects of the trees on the ground and on the south facing the windows of the building, (c) The effects of the pool, the lawn, shrubs and flowers in lowering the court-
yard ground temperature, (d) The wind-shading effects of the courtyard walls and trees on the infiltration rate of air through the building. All these features reduced the heat gains of the traditional courtyard houses of the building (Safarzadeh and Bahadori, 2003). Protection from or prevention of heat gains encompasses all the design techniques that minimize the impact of solar heat gains through the building's envelope and of internal heat gains that are generated inside the building due to occupancy and equipment (Santamouris and Asimakoupolos, 1996). Microclimate and site design are one of these techniques, by taking into account the local climate and the site context; specific cooling strategies can be selected to apply which are the most appropriate for preventing overheating through the envelope of the building. The microclimate can play a huge role in determining the most favorable building location by analyzing the combined availability of sun and wind (DeKay and Brown, 2014). Previous research has identified that the level of thermal comfort in a courtyard is determined by the microclimatic factors on it, particularly solar radiation and wind. The effect of these parameters may be evaluated with respect to the courtyard's geometry, dimensions, proportions and its orientation as the most influential design variants to provide appropriate thermal comfort in the courtyards (Meir et al., 1995; Meir, 2000; Almhafdy et al., 2013; Givoni, 1976). This research attempts physical-environmental analyses of the traditional central courtyard as the passive cooling technique in BS climatic of Iran to propose an appropriate design model for contemporary sustainable buildings.
2. Literature review
Despite abundant research and literature on the passive performance of buildings in general, the use of "courtyards" in buildings for passive climate control in particular has received only limited appraisal in architectural scholar-
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114 ship. The existing literatures emphasize on the potential of
115 courtyards as microclimatic modifiers in hot dry and trop-
116 ical climates (Donham, 1960; Bagneid, 2006; Cho and
117 Mohammadzadeh, 2013; Al-Masri and Abu-Hijleh, 2012;
118 Muhaisen and Gadi, 2006; Saeed, 2007), however only very
119 few research works have been investigated either empiri-
120 cally or theoretically on the potential of this concept for
121 BS climate of Iran.
122 Rajapaksha et al. (2003) investigated the potential of a
123 courtyard for passive cooling in a single story high mass
124 building in a warm humid climate. Their results revealed
125 that, a significant correlation between wall surface temper-
126 atures and indoor air temperatures is evident. From a com-
127 putational analysis, several airflow patterns were identified.
128 The earlier pattern was promoted when the courtyard is
129 ventilated through openings found in the building
130 envelope.
131 Toe and Kubota (2015) investigated vernacular passive
132 cooling techniques and their potential application for
133 improving the indoor thermal comfort of naturally venti-
134 lated, modern brick terraced houses in Malaysia. Field
135 measurement was conducted in two traditional timber
136 Malay houses and two traditional masonry Chinese shop
137 houses to examine their indoor thermal environments.
138 Fardeheb (2007) evaluated the thermal performance of a
139 courtyard house in a hot and arid climate of Los Angeles,
140 and determined whether the courtyard is cooler than the
141 rooms surrounding it during the day and also if that the
142 courtyard is cooler than the street outside during the day.
143 Hassan (2012) investigated the potential of a ventilated
144 courtyard for passive cooling in a small building in a hot
145 desert climate in New Aswan City, Egypt. Results show
146 that the courtyard orientation and the courtyard geometry
147 are among the most significant factors which affect the
148 thermal performance of the courtyard building model.
149 There are a number of studies focusing on courtyard
150 houses in different countries but less research was con-
151 ducted in Iran. In addition, most of the literature describes
the courtyard houses with prior attention to the socio- 152
cultural characteristics in a historical context and have left 153
the passive cooling performance of courtyards in hot arid 154
climates, particularly in BS climatic as the current research 155
case. 156
This study goes further to analyse the concept of the Ira- 157
nian traditional central courtyard as a passive cooling 158
strategy in BS climate to propose an appropriate design 159
model for contemporary sustainable buildings. In this 160
regard, two types of research methodologies were used in 161
this study; first is a library study that focuses on sustainable 162
architecture, BS climatic identification, and passive cooling 163
effect of the courtyard. The second is a survey study which 164
concentrates on physical-environmental analysis of four- 165
teen valuable traditional courtyard houses in five ancient 166
Iranian cities. Fig. 1 shows the research scope including cli- 167
matic scales, cities and houses that were selected in the pre- 168
sent research. 169
Regarding the selection of the fourteen valuable tradi- 170
tional courtyard houses as case studies, it should be noted 171
that, the research conducted by Iran Cultural Heritage, 172
Handcrafts and Tourism Organization (Haji-Qassemi and 173
Karbassi, 2005), illustrates that these cases are among the 174
best traditional courtyard houses which all were designed 175
by the famous Iranian architects with careful consideration 176
of environmental aspects to provide appropriate thermal 177
comfort. It can be concluded that the principle design of 178
mentioned cases can be employed as a passive cooling 179
strategy to affect the thermal performance of the courtyard 180
building model for BS climate zones. 181
3. Identification of BS climate, BSks and BShs mesoclimates 182
in Iran 183
There are various geographical regions and sub-regions 184
with specific climate characteristics in Iran. In this regard, 185
various climatic classifications are available, however Dr. 186
Ganji's classification is the most acceptable one. He divided 187
o v> o
BS Climate
i— BShs Mesoclimate -|
BSks Mesoclimate
Dezful
Shushtar Mashhad Shiraz Tehran
jl .. il .. il .. il
(O LU (O 3
Tiznou
Ghalambar
Moein Altojar Davoudi Basiri Malek
Mostoufi Seiyedan Nasir Almolk Nasir Aldoleh
Nazeran
Kazerounian Vosough Aldoleh
Figure 1. Research scope.
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Figure 2. Hot-arid climate divisions in Iran based on the Koppen classification method (a) Mesocclimate divisions of the hot-arid region in Iran, (b) BS climate including BSks and BShs Mesoclimates.
Iran, based on Koppen's climate classification, into four climatic regions including A: hot-humid climate, B: hotarid climate, C: mild-humid climate, and D: cold climate (Kasmai, 2005).
This study concentrates on B: hot-arid climate region which almost covers two thirds of this country, where receives almost no rain for at least six months of the year. Hot-arid climate sub divisions were identified based on the Koppen climate classification as the most widely used climate classification system. In this regard, statistical analysis of the local meteorological data from several stations was employed and Iranian cities in this climate were climatically classified. According to this classification, hot-arid climate subdivided into two climates including desert biome-dry tropical climate (BW) and steppe-dry mid-latitude climate (BS). In addition, BW and BS also are divided into four mesoclimates including BWhs, BWks, BShs and BSks (Fig. 2a).
This research specifically focuses on BShs and BSks mesoclimates. The Steppe climate comes under Koppen's BS classification (Fig. 2b), the B stands for dry climates, and the S for Steppe climate. It is characterized by grasslands, and this is a semiarid climate. It can be found between the desert climate (BW) and more humid climates of the A, C, and D groups.
4. Field investigation: environmental physical analysis of Iranian traditional central courtyards in BS climate
Five ancient cities in the BS climate of Iran were selected including Mashhad, Shiraz and Tehran from BSks mesocli-mate, as well as Dezful and Shushtar were located in BShs mesoclimate zone. Three valuable courtyard houses from each city were chosen in order to examine as a case study. Traditional courtyards can be analyzed based on various approaches, such as historical, cultural, spatial, structural,
ornamental and constructional details, etc. Most of scholars are unanimous in that dimensions and proportions of Iranian traditional central courtyards are appropriate and the main reason for acting as passive cooling systems (Rajapaksha et al., 2003; Toe and Kubota, 2015; Fardeheb, 2007; Rajapaksha, 2004). This research tries to extract a design model regarding size, dimensions, and proportions based on results of physical-environmental analysis of fourteen valuable cases in five ancient cities including Mashhad, Shiraz and Tehran from BSks mesoclimate, as well as Dezful and Shushtar which were located in BShs mesoclimatic zone. Analysis was based on three design variants including:
1) Courtyard's orientation, extension and rotation angle
2) Courtyard's dimensions and proportions regarding
(a) Positive spaces (enclosed areas),
(b) Negative spaces (open areas),
(c) Natural bodies (water and soil earth)
3) Courtyard's opaque (walls) and transparent surfaces (windows) in respect to access points to the prevailing wind flow.
4.1. Criterion 1: Courtyard's orientation, extension and rotation angle
This section of research tries to examine the orientation, extension direction, and rotation angle, in fourteen research cases in order to identify the most appropriate climatic orientation to gain maximum radiation to passive heating and daylight during the cold seasons, and also maximum suitable airflow to passive cooling, and natural ventilation for indoor spaces during the hot seasons.
Orientation and aspect ratio of a courtyard are two design factors that are critical to the microclimatic performance of courtyards (Meir et al., 1995). The amount of
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259 solar energy absorbed within an urban space, such as the
260 courtyard, during a given time period, is determined by
261 the penetration of short-wave radiation into the space
262 and by the albedo of the overall system. While the latter
263 is largely a function of material reflectivity, both are
264 affected by the courtyard's orientation and geometry
265 (Meir, 2000).
266 Most of Iranian traditional courtyard houses in hot-arid
267 climate are formed along north-south, northeast-
268 southwest or northwest-southeast directions which are
269 the best orientations in order to maximize usage of summer
270 and winter living spaces, as well as service spaces at the east
271 facade (receiving west daylight) acting as a buffer zone for
272 the heat (Pirnia, 2005).
273 Despite the geographical location of different cities in
274 hot-arid climate, spaces mostly are located in the northern
275 part of the courtyard which faces to the south, in order to
276 absorb the maximum radiation for passive heating and
daylight during the cold seasons. In the opposite, spaces 277
that are located in southern part of the courtyard face to 278
the north, to gain minimum radiation and maximum suit- 279
able airflow for passive cooling, and natural ventilation 280
during the hot seasons. This seasonal movement occurring 281
between summer and winter spaces is one of the human 282
responses to climate condition (Memarian and Sadoughi, 283
2011). 284
Among the fourteen research cases, Fig. 3 as an example 285
shows the analysis of criterion 1 for Nasir Almolk house in 286
Shiraz. As can be seen, house and courtyard both were ori- 287
ented along the Northeast-Southwest direction and court- 288
yard was rotated 45° from the north direction. 289
Table 1 illustrates the results of Criterion 1 for fourteen 290
research cases that were selected in this paper. As can be 291
seen, houses located in Mashhad and Shiraz have similar 292
orientation and those were extended in Northeast-South- 293
west direction, however different rotation angles can be 294
Table 1
Results of Criterion 1, Courtyard orientation and rotation angle of courtyard houses.
Cities Houses Orientation Rotation
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi Northeast-Southwest 10°
Seiyedan Northeast-Southwest 35°
Nazeran Northeast-Southwest 23°
Shiraz Basiri Northeast-Southwest 42°
Nasir Almolk Northeast-Southwest 45°
Kazerounian Northeast-Southwest 10°
Tehran Malek Northeast-Southwest 15°
Nasir Aldoleh North-South 0°
Vosough Aldoleh North-South 0°
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou East-West 0°
Ziaei East-West 0°
Ghalambar East-West 0°
Shushtar Moein Altojar East-West 0°
Mostoufi East-West 0°
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295 observed in these cases. Regarding houses in Tehran,
296 except Malek's house which followed the same orientation
297 as other cases in BSks mesoclimate, the other two houses
298 were oriented in the North-South direction without any
299 rotation angle. On the other hand, houses in Dezful and
300 Shushtar from BShs mesoclimate, all have the same orien-
301 tation, extension and rotation angle, with East-West direc-
302 tion and no rotation.
303 4.2. Criterion 2: Courtyard's dimensions and proportions
304 Proportion is one of the determinant criteria in architec-
305 ture for the perception of harmony, and harmony is the
306 discipline and regularity which exists between components
307 of phenomena (Kurt Grutter, 1987). Iranian traditional
308 architects also used special unit traditional measurements
309 in designing of traditional buildings. This unit called
310 "Peimoun" in Persian, basis of that system was human
311 body proportions like "Arash" (40 cm) which was the dis-
312 tance from elbow to the end of the fingers, "Gaz" (60 cm),
313 which was 24 fingers, and "Govar" (1.60 cm) that was the
314 distance from right hand fingers to left ones when they are
315 completely stretched. Each part of the traditional building
316 was measured based on this module which could be divided
317 into smaller sub-modules for detailed design to reduce the
318 diversity of sizes, easy building and matching of the com-
319 ponents. With regard to building form, Iranian traditional
320 architects used the modular geometrical design method,
321 they used a golden rectangular design with specific propor-
322 tions of width and length which it is drawn inside a regular
323 hexagon (Pirnia, 2005).
324 Criterion 2 deals with the investigation of dimensions
325 and proportions of Iranian traditional courtyards regard-
326 ing : a) Positive spaces (enclosed areas), b) Negative spaces
327 (open areas), and c) Natural bodies (water and soil earth).
4.2.1. Positive spaces (enclosed areas) 328 Within the Islamic culture of Iran, the notion of the void 329
has an important philosophical meaning, the negative 330
space of the courtyard, surrounded by rooms as positive 331
spaces, has roots in the metaphysical principle of unity in 332
Islam (Nasr, 1987). Climatic function of the traditional 333
central courtyard as a microclimate modifier for improving 334
comfort conditions of the surrounding environment is 335
another considerable factor. It creates a comfortable living 336
environment with seasonal usage of all spaces around; 337
north and sunny side of courtyard is used in winter, and 338
vice versa, south and shading side is used in summer. 339
In this regard, Fig. 4 as an example, shows four divisions 340
of enclosed spaces including living spaces in north, south, 341
west, and east parts of Nasir Almolk courtyard house in 342
Shiraz, alongside of its negative (open) space which called 343
the central courtyard. 344
Table 2 shows the analysis results of different areas 345
assigned to the enclosed spaces for the fourteen courtyards 346
in BS mesoclimate zone. As can be seen, most areas are 347
assigned to the northern part of enclosed spaces in BSks 348
mesoclimate with 43%, 30%, and 45% of total enclosed 349
area for Mashhad, Shiraz, and Tehran cities' cases respec- 350
tively. Results reveal that the total area assigned to the 351
north and south in all cases are greater than the total area 352
of the eastern and western parts. There are some exceptions 353
that some portions have an area of zero such as Davoudi, 354
Seiyedan, and Nazeran houses in Mashhad, as well as the 355
Vosough Aldoleh house in Tehran. The reason behind this 356
assignment is certainly due to the local land restrictions. 357
4.2.2. Negative spaces (open areas) 358 Since courtyard's geometry, dimensions and propor- 359
tions; particularly height to width ratio of a courtyard 360
are among the most influential parameters to improve the 361
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Table 2
Dimensions and proportions of positive spaces of courtyards.
Cities Houses Atotal Acy Acs AN AS AE AW AN (%) As (%) t (%) Unite: (m) t (%)
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi 1114 555 559 271 0 104 184 48 0 19 33
Seiyedan 395 140 255 116 55 0 84 45 22 0 33
Nazeran 468 225 243 83 45 115 0 34 19 47 0
Average 43 13 22 22
Shiraz Basiri 1046 247 799 96 340 105 258 12 43 13 32
Nasir Almolk 602 169 433 186 113 52 82 43 26 12 19
Kazerounian 584 210 374 131 53 96 94 35 14 26 25
Average 30 28 17 25
Tehran Malek 1006 75 931 331 86 315 199 36 9 34 21
Nasir Aldoleh 1823 228 1595 416 630 451 98 26 39 28 6
Vosough Aldoleh 551 295 256 188 0 0 68 73 0 0 27
Average 45 16 21 18
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou 475 96 379 28 267 31 53 7 70 8 14
Ziaei 284 60 224 64 21 82 57 29 9 37 25
Ghalambar 684 95 589 34 235 242 78 6 40 41 13
Average 14 40 29 18
Shushtar Moein Altojar 1622 157 1465 178 478 139 670 12 33 9 46
Mostoufi 2013 750 1263 238 332 516 177 19 26 41 14
Average 15 29 25 30
362 thermal performance of surrounding spaces (Meir et al.,
363 1995; Meir, 2000; Almhafdy et al., 2013; Givoni, 1976), this
364 part of the study deals with investigation of form and
365 dimensions of traditional central courtyards regarding
366 length, width, height, as well as their proportions, including
367 height to length, height to width, and length to width
368 ratios. The aim is to identify the best form, appropriate
369 dimensions and proportions of central courtyards to act
370 as microclimate to energy efficiency in contemporary build-
371 ings. In this regard, Fig. 5 as an example shows the dimen-
372 sions and area of the open space of Nasir Almolk house in
373 Shiraz as well as its total area and the area assigned to the
374 courtyard.
Table 3 shows the geometrical properties of the fourteen 375
research cases in BS climatic zone. Results reveal that the 376
maximum proportion of the courtyard area to the total 377
area can be observed in Mashhad city with the amount 378
of 44%, on the other hand the minimum proportion is in 379
Dezful with the amount of 18%. The length to width ratio 380
of the courtyards ranged between 1.09 and 1.68, however 381
this ratio is greater in Dezful and Shushtar houses when 382
compared with Mashhad, Shiraz and Tehran cities which 383
were located in BSks mesoclimate. Due to this lower ratio, 384
sthe square courtyard shapes in this climate zone such as 385
Nazeran, Nasir Almolk, and Nasir Aldoleh houses can 386
be seen. 387
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Table 3
Dimensions and proportions of negative spaces of the courtyards.
Unite: (m)
Cities Houses Lcy WCy Hcy Acy Hcy Hcy Wcy Lcy W„ xti (%) SHcy
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi 25.8 21.5 8.9 555 0.34 0.41 1.20 50 Rectangular
Seiyedan 12.2 11.5 5.1 140 0.42 0.44 1.06 35 Rectangular
Nazeran 15 15 8 225 0.53 0.53 1.00 48 Square
Average 0.43 0.46 1.09 44
Shiraz Basiri 19 13 4.8 247 0.25 0.37 1.46 24 Rectangular
Nasir Almolk 13 13 5.6 169 0.43 0.43 1.00 28 Square
Kazerounian 15 14 8.4 210 0.56 0.60 1.07 36 Rectangular
Average 0.41 0.47 1.18 29
Tehran Malek 10.2 7.4 5.4 75 0.53 0.73 1.38 7 Rectangular
Nasir Aldoleh 15.1 15.1 6 228 0.40 0.40 1.00 13 Square
Vosough Aldoleh 18.1 16.3 4.2 295 0.23 0.26 1.11 54 Rectangular
Average 0.39 0.46 1.16 25
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou 15 6.4 5.8 96 0.39 0.91 2.34 20 Rectangular
Ziaei 8.4 7.1 6.7 60 0.80 0.94 1.18 21 Rectangular
Ghalambar 12 7.9 7 95 0.58 0.89 1.52 14 Rectangular
Average 0.59 0.91 1.68 18
Shushtar Moein Altojar 15.7 10 5.8 157 0.37 0.58 1.57 10 Rectangular
Mostoufi 30.5 24.6 7.4 750 0.24 0.30 1.24 37 Rectangular
Average 0.31 0.44 1.40 23
388 4.2.3. Natural bodies (water and soil earth)
389 The modulation and heat dissipation techniques rely on
390 natural heat sinks to store and remove the internal heat
391 gains (Lechner, 2009) The Iranian traditional central court-
392 yard as an ecosystem is made of natural bodies which can
393 be divided into two major categories including water and
394 soil earth.
395 The various types of water have been used in traditional
396 central courtyards, and pool is one of them which was
397 designed in various shapes, mostly rectangular. It was usu-
398 ally located at the center of the traditional courtyard, and
399 often constructed along one of the main axes of the house
400 (Tofan, 2006). Pool often had a low depth, in order to
401 increase the water surface to absorb the solar radiation,
402 increase evaporation and provide more humidity to
403 decrease the dryness of air as well as create convective
404 breezes to supply the passive cooling and natural ventila-
405 tion for each house. In addition, soil earth as a thermal
406 mass can be coupled with night ventilation if the stored
407 heat that will be delivered to the space during the eve-
408 ning/night (Santamouris and Asimakoupolos, 1996).
409 Green surfaces including low water-usage trees and
410 native plants which are selected for adoption to the hot-
411 arid climate also play a considerable role in the balance
412 of shade and sun in different seasons. Plants can contribute
413 to the natural cooling of interior spaces by shading in sum-
414 mer to decrease the gain of radiation through the court-
415 yard's floor and facades in the summer, and in contrast,
416 by increasing the absorption of radiation through the
417 courtyard's floor and bodies to provide passive solar heat-
418 ing in the indoor spaces in winter.
419 In this regard, this part of the study attempts to investi-
420 gate dimensions and proportions of water and soil earth as
421 natural bodies of traditional central courtyards in fourteen
422 research cases. The aim is to identify the appropriate ratio
423 of area assigned to water, soil earth, and plant to the total
area of the courtyard based on the as-built dimensions in 424
selected cases. Appropriate proportion of area assigned 425
to water may significantly increase the humidity in the 426
courtyard, on the other hand an appropriate ratio of soil 427
earth and plant to the total area of courtyard can provide 428
suitable shading or sunlight in different seasons. 429
As an example, Fig. 6 shows the area assigned to the 430
water and plants of the Nasir Almolk house in Shiraz. It 431
can be seen that 40 and 74 square meters were assigned 432
to water and plants respectively in this research case. 433
Table 4 provides the result of analysis of natural bodies 434
for all fourteen research cases. The maximum and mini- 435
mum ratios of the water area can be seen in Tehran and 436
Shushtar respectively. Due to the higher humidity level in 437
Dezful and Shushtar cities which were located in BSh 438
mesoclimate and are very close to the hot-humid region, 439
it can be observed that less attention is paid to natural bod- 440
ies when compared with the other three cities in BSk meso- 441
climate. The maximum and minimum ratios of the area 442
assigned to the plants are in Shiraz and Dezful respectively. 443
Despite dryness of cities located in BSk mesoclimate, it can 444
be observed that in some cases no area was assigned to the 445
plant and water which maybe due to local land restrictions. 446
The area of natural bodies in all research cases shows that 447
form of the area of water and soil earth is mostly of rectan- 448
gular shape, except Basiri houses in Shiraz that have a shal- 449
low oval shape pool. 450
4.3. Criterion 3: Courtyard's opaque (walls) and transparent 451
surfaces (windows) 452
In hot-arid regions, the function of facades in traditional 453
central courtyards is to protect the indoor spaces from 454
gaining the heat and outdoor high temperature. In this 455
regard, dimensions, proportions, and especially height of 456
north, south, west, and east elevations of courtyard usually 457
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Figure 6. Analysis of natural bodies for Nasir Almolk house in Shiraz, (a) Area assigned to water in courtyard (b) Area assigned to soil earth and plants in courtyard, (c) Rectangular shallow pool, (d) Two rectangular areas assigned to soil earth and plants in the courtyard.
Table 4
Analysis result of natural bodies including the area assigned to water and soil earth.
Cities Houses Nwt SHwt Awt t (%) Nsi SHsl Asi Unite: (m) Ay (%)
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi 1 Rectangular 57 10 4 Rectangular 116 21
Seiyedan 0 - 0 0 0 - 0 0
Nazeran 0 - 0 0 0 - 0 0
Average 3 7
Shiraz Basiri 1 Oval 53 21 4 Rectangular 38 15
Nasir Almolk 1 Rectangular 40 24 2 Rectangular 74 44
Kazerounian 0 - 0 0 0 - 0 0
Average 15 20
Tehran Malek 1 Rectangular 25 33 0 - 0 0
Nasir Aldoleh 1 Rectangular 42 18 2 Rectangular 33 14
Vosough Aldoleh 1 Rectangular 6 2 3 Rectangular 94 32
Average 18 15
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou 1 Rectangular 5 5 0 - 0 0
Ziaei - - 0 0 0 - 0 0
Ghalambar 1 Rectangular 5 5 0 - 0 0
Average 3 0
Shushtar Moein Altojar 0 - 0 0 0 - 0 0
Mostoufi 1 Rectangular 5 1 4 Rectangular 49 7
Average 0 3
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458 are different in design. In Iranian traditional central court-
459 yards with rectangular forms and north-south extension,
460 the higher facades are situated in the northern and south-
461 ern sides. This situation prevents the direct gain of solar
462 radiation by the higher facades, whereas the shorter
463 facades in western and eastern sides, gain the sunlight
464 and heat directly in summer, and not in the winter.
465 This part of the study tries to investigate dimensions and
466 proportions of the northern, southern, eastern and western
467 area of elevations of traditional central courtyards in all
468 fourteen research cases. The aim is to identify the appropri-
469 ate dimensions and proportions of facades, particularly for
470 facade height and ratio of the area of each facade to the
471 total area of facades in central courtyard. This pattern
472 can provide the most appropriate shading or sunlight in
473 different seasons based on the similar pattern of most of
474 the traditional courtyards in this climate zone. Fig. 7 shows
475 a different elevation of Nasir Almolk's courtyard house in
476 the north, south, east, and west portions. It can be seen
477 that northern elevation has the maximum area of elevation
478 compared with other parts.
479 Table 5 illustrates results of the areas and their propor-
480 tions of different elevations of fourteen research cases in the
481 BS climate zone. As can be seen houses in Mashhad, Shi-
482 raz, and Tehran which are located in the BSk mesoclimate
483 assign the maximum area in the northern elevation, in con-
484 trary with houses in Dezful and Shushtar that the maxi-
485 mum area can be observed in the south elevation.
486 However in all cases, area of the north elevation ranged
487 between 23% and 34% of courtyard's total elevation area.
488 It should be noted that the minimum ratio of the eleva-
489 tion's area in most of the cases can be found in east and
490 west elevations.
Figure 7. Courtyard's elevations in north, south, east and west of Nasir Almolk house in Shiraz.
Dimensions and proportions of openings in traditional 491
central courtyards are different in various facades to pro- 492
vide passive heating or natural cooling for residents in dif- 493
ferent seasons. In the south facade of traditional central 494
courtyards, the windows were not movable and mostly 495
there were no top windows because there were sash- 496
windows with vertical openings. Therefore, indoor spaces 497
benefit from natural ventilation by these sash-windows in 498
this facade. In the north facade, there were sash-windows 499
with vertical openings similar to the south facade, the 500
humidity and cool air of the central courtyard could be 501
overcome by opening the sash-windows in the evenings 502
and nights, because there is no wind catcher in this part 503
of the house (Khorsand, 2012). In the north facade, there 504
are rooms with three and five doors namely the Se-dary 505
and Panj-dary respectively; the function is similar to pro- 506
viding indoor thermal comfort due to a reduction in indoor 507
temperature fluctuations in winter times. Moreover, the 508
symmetrical north elevation can be observed in all the cases 509
which is due to achieving similar sunlight conditions in all 510
the winter rooms. In the east and west facades, there are 511
big movable windows with wooden lattice frames which 512
are appropriate for autumn and spring seasons due to high 513
intensity of solar gain in these facades. 514
This part of the study attempts to analyze the area 515
assigned to openings in northern, southern, eastern and 516
western elevations of traditional central courtyards for 517
the fourteen research cases as well as the ratio of the total 518
opening area to their corresponding facade's area. The aim 519
is to identify the design pattern that it employed in design- 520
ing of Iranian traditional courtyard houses located in BS 521
climate zone regarding area of openings and its proportion 522
to corresponding facades which may provide passive heat- 523
ing or cooling for residents in different seasons through an 524
appropriate shading or sunlight in different seasons. 525
In this regard, as an example, Fig. 8 shows the opening 526
of elevations in different facades for Nasir Almolk house in 527
Shiraz. 528
Table 6 illustrates the area and proportions of the open- 529
ings in courtyards' elevations based on the as-built dimen- 530
sions. It can be seen that more attention was paid to the 531
northern and southern opening ratios compared with the 532
east and west parts in all houses. The maximum opening 533
ratio in the north part can be observed in Basiri's houses 534
in Shiraz with the amount of 94% that means almost all 535
parts of the north elevation were covered by doors and 536
windows, on the other hand the minimum ratio can be seen 537
in Ghalambar's house with no opening which is because 538
there is not any facade in the north part of this case. 539
Compared with houses which were located in BSk mesocli- 540
mate, other house has less openings in their facades. 541
5. Physical-environmental analysis results for BSh and BSk 542
mesoclimates 543
In this section, based on results of the analysis of four- 544
teen courtyard houses, as case studies, tries to identify 545
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F. Soflaei et al. / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment xxx (2015) xxx-xxx 11
Table 5
Areas and proportions of elevations in different parts of courtyards.
Cities Houses ANel Asel AEel AWel ^ (%) Ar (%) Äjel v ! As (%) Unite: (m) AmL (%) Äjel v !
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi 242 184 156 264 29 22 18 31
Seiyedan 81.2 36 39 113 30 13 14 42
Nazeran 117 117 125 119 24 24 26 25
Average 28 20 20 33
Shiraz Basiri 65 71 85 78 22 24 28 26
Nasir Almolk 133 53 86 56 41 16 26 17
Kazerounian 148 55 90 89 39 14 24 23
Average 34 18 26 22
Tehran Malek 45 45 54 54 23 23 27 27
Nasir Aldoleh 101 97 69 99 28 27 19 27
Vosough Aldoleh 93 60 59 74 33 21 21 26
Average 28 23 22 27
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou 66 115 60 63 22 38 20 21
Ziaei 62 52 46 46 30 25 22 22
Ghalambar 63 145 69 70 18 42 20 20
Average 23 35 21 21
Shushtar Moein Altojar 75 100 62 51 26 35 22 18
Mostoufi 252 252 206 98 31 31 25 12
Average 29 33 24 15
A Vv A ONel
AA VVVV W/ / /
Figure 8. Opening of elevations in different facades for Nasir Almolk house in Shiraz, (a) Windows of north elevation of Nasir Almolk house in Shiraz.
546 the design pattern of courtyard houses at the level of cities.
547 These cities including Mashhad, Shiraz, Tehran, Dezful,
548 and Shushtar are located in BS Climate, and the selected
549 courtyard houses are among the best traditional courtyard
550 houses in Iran.
551 To present an appropriate model for designing of court-
552 yard houses in these cities, summary results of analysis of
553 criteria presented in last sections are provided in Table 7.
554 As can be seen in this table, Mashahad and Shiraz have
555 similar orientation with a different range of rotation angle.
556 Houses in Tehran were oriented in the north-south direc-
557 tion without a rotation angle, and Dezful and Shushtar
have the same orientation in the east-west direction without any rotation.
Regarding the second criterion, in terms of the ratio of the enclosed area, the maximum area assigned to the north and south parts of the house can be observed in Tehran and Dezful respectively with the amount of 45% and 40%. The average results show that more attention was paid in the northern and southern part of enclosed spaces compared with the east and west.
Proportion of the courtyard as an open space, illustrates that the maximum and minimum length to width ratios can be observed in Dezful and Mashhad respectively. Area
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Table 6
Results of area and proportion of the openings in courtyard elevations.
Cities Houses AONel AOSel AOEel AOWel aom,j. (%) AK,l (/0) Ael (%) Aï (%) Unite: (m) AOW,J (%) Awa (%)
BS Climate BSks Mesoclimate Mashhad Davoudi 35 0 33 50 14 0 21 19
Seiyedan 35 16.5 0 43 43 46 0 38
Nazeran 45 45 41 0 38 38 33 0
Average 32 28 18 19
Shiraz Basiri 61 16 5.5 10 94 23 6 13
Nasir Almolk 32 21 30 30 24 40 35 54
Kazerounian 54 10 29 29 36 18 32 33
Average 51 27 25 33
Tehran Malek 12 10 11 1.3 27 22 20 2
Nasir Aldoleh 33 30 28 0 33 31 41 0
Vosough Aldoleh 42 0 0 15 45 0 0 20
Average 35 18 20 8
BShs Mesoclimate Dezful Tiznou 0 19 7 12 0 17 12 19
Ziaei 11 8 6 4 18 15 13 9
Ghalambar 0 32 13 16 0 22 19 23
Average 6 18 15 17
Shushtar Moein Altojar 21 10 10 9.5 28 10 16 19
Mostoufi 23 40 15 0 9 16 7 0
Average 19 13 12 9
Table 7
Summary results of analysis of three criteria for five city cases Mashhad, Shiraz, Tehran, Dezful and Shushtar.
Criteria Parameter Mashhad Shiraz Tehran Dezful Shushtar
No. 1 Orientation NE-SW NE-SW N-S E-W E-W
Rotation 10-35 10-45 0 0 0
No. 2 AN/Acs 43% 30% 45% 14% 15%
AS /Acs 13% 28% 16% 40% 29%
Ae /Acs 22% 17% 21% 29% 25%
AW /Acs 22% 25% 18% 18% 30%
H cy / Lcy 0.43 0.41 0.39 0.59 0.31
H cy / Wcy 0.46 0.47 0.46 0.91 0.44
Lcy / Wcy 1.09 1.18 1.16 1.68 1.4
Acy / Atotal 44% 29% 25% 18% 23%
Awt / Acy 3% 15% 18% 3% 0%
Asl / Acy 7% 20% 15% 0% 3%
No. 3 ANel/ATel 28% 34% 28% 23% 29%
ASel/ATel 20% 18% 23% 35% 33%
AEel/ATel 20% 26% 22% 21% 24%
AWel/ A Tel 33% 22% 27% 21% 15%
AONel/ ANel 32% 51% 35% 6% 19%
AOSel/ASel 28% 27% 18% 18% 13%
AOEel/AEel 18% 25% 20% 15% 12%
AOWel/ A Wel 19% 33% 8% 17% 9%
570 assigned to the courtyard is also one of the important fac-
571 tors in designing, it can be seen that the maximum and min-
572 imum ratios of the courtyard to total area of the house can
573 be found in Mashhad and Dezful respectively (Fig. 9). In
574 terms of natural bodies, it can be observed that more atten-
575 tion was paid to water and plants in the courtyards in Shi-
576 raz and Tehran, compared with the other three cities. In
577 contrast, less attention can be seen in Dezful and Shushtar
578 which is due to the high level of humidity in these two
579 cities.
580 Regarding the third criterion, except Mashhad city, in
581 other city cases it can be seen that the maximum area
582 was assigned to the north or south facades when compared
with the east and west. The ratio of north, south, east and 583
west facades' areas to the total area of elevations of the 584
houses in Mashhad, Shiraz, Tehran, Dezful, and Shushtar 585
ranged between 20-33%, 18-34%, 22-28%, 21-35%, and 586
15-31%, respectively. Results of this criterion also reveal 587
that the maximum opening area was assigned to north or 588
south elevations in all city cases. 589
6. Purposed design model for central courtyard in BS climate 590
zone 591
As final results, a design model is presented in this sec- 592
tion for courtyard houses in BS climate zone based on 593
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594 the size, dimensions and proportions of Iranian traditional
595 courtyard houses through the three physical-environmen-
596 tal criteria.
597 The average results show that most of the area should be
598 assigned to the southern part of the enclosed space of
599 courtyard houses with a ratio of 30%. However the total
600 area of north and south is always greater than east and
601 west parts (Fig. 10a).
602 Appropriate orientation can be considered as northeast-
603 southwest with 10-45° rotation or east-west directions with
604 no rotation angle. However the local geography and envi-
605 ronmental conditions as well as location latitude cannot be
606 neglected for this consideration.
18 1614121086420
.....v
« ..........
<1 by
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Figure 11. Linear design equation in BSks and BShs mesoclimate zones.
From the results of analysis of fourteen cases presented in this research, it was attempted to propose a model based on the proportions of length, width, and height. Linear fitting was employed and best line that matched with the scatters was found out. Design equations for expressing the relationship between length and width of the courtyard are presented in different scales, city scale, mesoclimate scale, and at the scale of BS climate (Table 8). Fig. 11 shows two proposed design equations for BShs and BSks mesoclimate zones, it can be observed that these two equations are relatively close and can be extracted as a generalized equation for BS climatic zone based on these results. (See Fig. 12)
610 611 612
618 619
Table 8
Design equations and relationship between length and width of the courtyards in different scales.
Equation
Mesoclimate
Equation
Equation
Mashhad
Shiraz
Tehran
Dezful
Shushtar
-0.04Lcy + 13.9
Wcy = 0.8Lcy + 0.17
Wcy = 0.73LCy + 2.4
Wcy = 0.7Lcy + 3.67
WCy = 1.17Lcy - 4
Wcy = 0.85L - 2.8
W = -0.1L + 8.26
Wcy = 0.99Lcy - 5.49
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Figure 12. Proportions of length, width and height of central courtyards, (a) length versus height, (b) width versus height, (c) width versus length.
Results of the fitting process for different proportions is provided in Fig. 11, as can be seen three linear equations were proposed for designing courtyards based on its geometrical proportions. The best relationship between the length and width of the courtyard was obtained based on the following equation (Eq. (1)) which can be used for designing of contemporary courtyards in the BS climatic zone.
WCy = 0.8Lcy + 0.17 (1)
Based on the average results of the last section, it is recommended that about 17% of courtyard can be assigned to natural elements, 8% for water and 9% for plant. This ratio can be obtained for appropriate thermal comfort in the courtyard and surrounding areas as the observation and previous studies demonstrate (Fig. 10b).
It is proposed that the total area of the facades in north, south, east, and west parts of courtyard can be considered almost identical, but height of surrounding bodies must be designed differently. In fact, height of the facades in the north and south should be higher than east and west elevations.
Openings in elevations can be designed based on the ratio of total opening's area to its corresponding elevation with the amount of 21-29% for the north and south elevations, and 17-18% for the east and west elevations. It should be noted that there is also a relationship between the opening area ratio and size of the courtyard that can change the amount of these proportions.
7. Conclusion
Based on Koppen's climatic classification method, BS climate, BSks and BShs mesoclimates were identified in the hot-arid region of Iran. Three physical-environmental analysis criteria for traditional central courtyards as passive cooling strategies were defined, and employed to examine fourteen remarkable Iranian traditional courtyard houses in Mashhad, Shiraz, Tehran, Dezful, and Shushtar ancient cities located in BSks and BShs mesoclimate zones. Size, dimensions and proportions of physical and natural elements of traditional central courtyards were identified
and the logical relationship between them was found. Recommendations were outlined for designing of courtyards as effective natural cooling systems regarding orientation as well as geometrical properties of their physical and natural elements. Design equations were proposed as a function of proportions and dimensions of courtyards, considering length, width and height. These design models and recommendations can be employed for designing of contemporary sustainable buildings in BS climate and results can be generalized to other climatic regions by carrying out similar investigation as future works.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to express their thanks to Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization and Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch in Iran for their support of this research.
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