The effects of climatic factors on urban context and vernacular architecture of cold and temperate regions of Iran

Abstract

Throughout the history, climate and environmental factory have been always on eof the most important aspects in the designing process among the other forces. Climate is clearly one of the prime factors in culture, and therefore built environment. As climate responsive designstrategies were used in the past, traditional buildings were more comfortable. In Iran, traditional urban contexts are proper evidences of climatic adaptability of urbanism and architecture. A brief explanation on climatic condition and the strategies used in two different regions of Iran i.e cold region and temperate one are explained in this paper. The methid used in this research is an analysis data gathered through library study. Cold climate is the main complicated factor in mountain region of Iran. Primary principles in cold climate region is based on maximum absorption of sun, minimum heat wasting, avoidance of winter coldness existing in majority of a year, resistance against long-time freezing, protection of building against cold wind. The urban context of cold region is concentrated and dense. On the other hand Temperate Climate of Iran, rainfall is very common and in summer as a rainstorm. To reduce the unpleasant effects of humidity, in the traditional architecture of this region scattered buildings are preferred in order to create the possibility for natural ventilation.