Ecological function of roofs in vernacular residential buildings of Iran

Roofs serve many functions as part of the landscapes of urban areas and components of buildings. They can provide ecological functions and benefit both environment and human. Roofs within the vernacular residential buildings of Iran served more than protective function. This paper conducted a review research to investigate the ecological functions of the vernacular roofs in Iran. The results show that in comparison to the new movements such as green roof, roof-top garden, and others, some of the vernacular roofs in Iran have in the past served the owner and public with many functions, not only as public spaces, traffic flow and social and cultural interactions, but also as a working space, resting and economic activities. The roof has served many purposes and has been a place with its own ecological identity as the activities links people, other organisms with the environment. This study recommends professionals to have a re-look back to the whole concept of some of the vernacular roofs of Iran, learning, adopting and reusing the concepts of those vernacular roofs in the new architecture.

Keywords:

Ecological function , Vernacular residential buildings , Roof