Study of the design of the heating system of the Bahai Bath and its development in sustainable architecture

In this paper, the heating system of the Sheikh Bahai bath (Hammam) has been studied. This 400-year-old bath is one of the Safavid baths. The remaining buildings of this era have special architectural features for reasons which are still unknown. It should be noted that most of these buildings are related to Sheikh Bahai. One of them is a bath called the Bahai Bath which according to documents, the water of one of its reservoir was boiled by a candle. The well known reasons for that include: Terracotta tubes which transfer the Methane gas of the adjacent mosque s sewage and the special design of the ever-flickering candle. However, it was discovered that these reasons are not adequate, therefore, the system of solar cookers was introduced as an indirect factor used in its design. More studies showed that the bath s ceiling follows a specific format that focuses on where the exact place of the candle is. In fact, Sheikh Bahai, by designing a special ceiling format which focuses exactly on the candle, has tried to confine the to-and-fro movement of the heat between the ceiling and candle, avoiding energy loss. This design is similar to a solar cooker.

Keywords:

Sheikh Bahai bath , cooker , sustainable architecture , sustainable energy.