A Sustainable Solution of Traditional Architecture in Iran (case study: Kerman)

Iranian vernacular architecture has developed over millennia in response to the arid climate and extremes of temperature of the Iranian plateau. The main focus of traditional Iranian architecture is to utilize climatic factors to heat or cool structures and solve issues related to them. Iran contains hot and dry regions and the diversity of climate has created needs that the architecture must satisfy. Wind towers exhausted warm air from buildings during the day; egg-shaped cisterns held water; and ice pits held water in shallow channels that allow it to freeze at night and be stored as ice in ice houses. This unique Iranian tradition that is a feature of cities with hot, dry climates is little known in the West. There is much to be learned from these building techniques and functions. This article focuses on one of three types of traditional ice pits that have evolved in response to the diversity of climate in Iran; the ice pits found in hot-dry climates. Kerman is the largest province of Iran and has used traditional ice pit to produce ice in winter and store it for use in summer. The system depended on the transfer of temperature in the form of radiation from the water surface to the clean, cold air of the winter nights. This type of architecture in Iran, especially in Kerman, is in harmony with nature and has developed a unique architectural culture tradition. The diverse capacities of Iranian traditional architecture control the architectural environment in harmony with nature and ice pits are a unique feature of it.

Keywords:

sustainable building , earth architecture , ice pit , Kerman , Iranian desert