Environmental Study of Water-Cistern and Ice-house in arid regions, through case studies in Yazd, Iran

Today sustainable development is a well-known approach to solve the crisis of the modern world including the damages that human has caused to the nature. On the other hand, environmental design for providing thermal comfort without using fossil fuel is one of the significant characteristics of Iranian architecture. Therefore, study and analysis of one of these valuable architectural features became the main subject of this research. Water-cisterns and ice-houses have been fulfilled the people’s demand for potable water and ice during hot summers in arid regions of Iran in ancient time. The use of cisterns has been diminishing rapidly in Iran. This is because of the widespread use of piped water, household refrigerators and concerns about health issues. They are the valuable historical buildings in Iranian architecture worth of keeping which are fallen into ruin but still can be studied for their environmental lessons. In this article after brief introduction to these buildings and the city of Yazd, the data collected in a water-cistern and an ice-house in three seasons -winter 2008, spring and summer 2009- will be presented and their thermal behavior will be analyzed. Then with comparison of their behavior with each other and with the outside temperature and considering difference in their physical features the reasons of their behavior will be described. In the end with the comparison of their behavior in the three different seasons the passive environmental facilities that they propose will be mentioned