The climate adaptability of indigenous courtyard houses in the hot arid climate of central Iran has been widely studied for the summer period. However, the performance of them in winter has not yet been studied. As such, the capability of the system for the whole year is not clear. To address this gap the current study investigates the climate adaptability of ten indigenous courtyard houses in Yazd (central Iran) for the whole year. Autodesk Ecotect Analysis software was used to model and calculate the shading, sunlit and shading-sunlit indexes (as climate adaptability evaluating indicators). Next, statistical analyses were conducted to determine the relation of calculated indexes and geometrical parameters and aspect ratios of the courtyards. The results reveal that the overall level of climate adaptability of courtyards for the whole year was average (51%), it was higher for the summer period (73%) and lower for the winter (20%). Furthermore, the geometrical parameters of the courtyards have opposite effects on shading-sunlit performance in summer and winter. In this study, a new layout is proposed for the courtyard to optimize its climate adaptability for the whole year.
Akbari, H; Cherati, SM; Monazam, NH; Noguchi, M
Effect of courtyards' geometrical parameters on climate adaptability and shading performance in hot-arid climate of Yazd (Iran)
Sustainable Energy Technologies And Assessments