CASE STUDY OF IRAN AND BIKANER

1. R A R 4 0 9
V E R N A C U L A R A R C H I T E C T U R E
2 0 2 0 - 2 1
H O T & D R Y C L I M AT E R E G I O N
S U B M I T T E D TO : S U B M I T T E D BY :
A R . A B H A G U P TA P R AT E E K S H A R M A
AVA N T I K A D H I M A N
K A J A L R AT H O R E

2. HOT AND DRY CLIMATE
Hot and dry climate

3. H O T A N D D R Y C L I M AT E
• A L S O K N O W N A S A R I D R E G I O N O R D E S E R T C L I M AT E
• M A X . T E M P E R AT U R E
4 0 ° C - 5 0 ° C
• M I N . T E M P E R AT U R E M AY
B E F R E E Z I N G P O I N T
• V E G E TAT I O N I S S PA R S E
D U E TO H I G H A M O U N T O F
E VA P O R AT I O N
• S A H A R A D E S E R T, N U B I A N D E S E R T, I N D I A N D E S E R T,
L I BYA N D E S E R T A N D E A S T E R N D E S E R T

4. BIKANER, RAJASTHAN
• State – Rajasthan
• Area – 27,244 km2
• Coordinates – 27o 11’ – 29o 03’
N 71o 54’ – 74o 12’ E
• Altitude – 238 mts above MSL.
• Population – 6,42,550
• Density of Population – 78 per
km2
POPULATION
• MALE-RURAL (8,21,434) MALE-
URBAN (4,19,367)
• FEMALE RURAL (7,42,119)
• FEMALE-URBAN (3,81,017)

5. CLIMATE OF BIKANER

6. JALWALI HOUSE

7. JALWALI HOUSE
• The smaller villages north of Bikaner epitomize true
Indian village.
• The main activity of the desert region is agriculture and
dairy products.
• The farmers produce millet and other grains for their
own consumption as well as to sell. These villages
show very few signs of progress.
• Occasionally, some villages near the bus route area are
seen to have more modern facilities, like electricity.
• It is in the interior villages that one finds some of the
most beautiful mud forms in an undisturbed, vernacular
architectural environment.
• The village of Jalwali is situated in this region on an
uneven terrain.
• Here, the houses are compactly grouped within a
network of narrow meandering paths.
• Generally, each of these houses has a private inner
courtyard and a semiprivate outer courtyard for the
cattle.
• The most significant and typical feature is the entrance
gate of these houses, and also their unique grain and
other storage jars made of mud.

8. JALWALI HOUSE

9. PLAN AND SECTION OF HOUSE

10. ABOUT HOUSE
• In the plan form, the houses have an enveloping quality with the inner courtyard as
the nucleus.
• The mud walls of the rooms and the encircling walls with their numerous storage
elements, are the first envelope around their private open-to-sky domain.
• The outer envelope encloses the open space for animals, the rooms for visitors, the
storage area for fuel-wood and areas for other, less private activities.
• The entrance gate is the main reference point.
• The guest rooms are in one corner and are away from the main house.
• These indicate the need for privacy in line with social custom.
• The guest rooms have platforms in the front.
• These rooms might also be used for storage purposes or to house animals during
conditions of severe heat or cold.
• The floor of this court is left unfinished and is often left in its natural condition.

11. CIRCULAR,THATCHED ROOF
• Houses are constructed out
of stone as well as mud.
• Rectangular rooms arranged
in geometric pattern around
the courtyard constitute the
basic plan form.
• all major Spaces are
rectangular, with flat stone
slabs or rough wood roofs,
except for one
circular(kitchen or store)
space with a conical

12. OUTER WALL
• The walls are either constructed
out of sun baked mud bricks or
undressed stone, plastered with
mud.
• The village Houses have two or
three courtyards.
• The outer court has a high and
strong compound wall for and
protection against the
sandstorms.
• The inner or central court is the
place onto which all rooms
open. And it is the hub of
activities.
• The rear yard is where the

13. WALLS WITH SMALL HOLES
• The mud Walls of the boundary
are heightened at this point to
cover the doorway in the shape
of an arch, a triangle or a square.
• A few inches maybe provided for
lamps.
• The selection of the form of this
element is always special and
individual, and means a lot to the
residents.
• Any single street is dotted with a
number of entrance elements
and is made interesting in that
manner

14. JHOMPA
• The main house is entered
through a small opening
in a low mud wall,
separating the two
courtyards.
• Two rectangular rooms on
the two sides and one
circular Jhompa right
across the entrance
surround the internal
space which is open to the
sky.
• The circular Jhompa has a
conical thatched roof. The

15. • The circular Jhompa is the
main living space while the
rectangular rooms are for
children and members of
the family.
• On the two diagonal walls
linking the rooms, are seen
grain storage units of
various sizes, built of mud.
• Since they are hand made,
the heights, depths and
widths of each differ from one
another

16. WALL PLASTERING
• The complete construction
is in traditional style.
• And Built with naturally
available surrounding
material like, mud, thatch,
bamboo and lime.
• Houses are made of local
materials and plastered
with cow dung.
• Beautiful paintings have
been done in traditional
style by local woman
artisans.

17. REES AND STEAMS MIXED WITH MUD TO
PROVIDE STRENGTH
• The further covering of houses
is done with thatched roofs.
Each house is made and
individual dwellings units which
has opened the sky courtyards.
• The houses are aromatized by
guggle collected from local
forest.
• The material chiefly utilized is
sun-dried mud bricks and
plastered with mud on it

18. LOCALLY AVAILABLE MUD

19. THE SUNKEN SPACES

20. ENTRANCE TO A HUT

21. WALL CONSTRUCTION WITH JALIS

22. HUT WITH BEAUTIFUL INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR

23. • At Jalwali, these storage units stand out due to their shapes
and the architectural composition of their forms.
• Unlike other places, where single storage units were found,
this village had many units within one house, perhaps due to
the prosperity of the local farmers or their need to protect
themselves from draught.
• The functional and sculptural storage units have two
openings, the larger one near the top and the smaller one at
the bottom.
• The upper opening generally has a lockable shutter.
• The lower opening is small and used for the daily quota of
food grains.
• A cotton rag is used to plug it.
• The walls of the storage jars are 15 to 20 centimeters thick,
with stone or wood on base, and the jars are propped up
from the floor on fixed stilts.
• They are replastered every year before new grains are stored.
• The hand made storage units are never identical.
• Such variations of detail add to the beauty of these mud
houses and give them a highly personalized look within a
generic order.

24. IRAN

26. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
• Iran is located in a warm climatic region which lies between 25°and 40° latitude.
• Dry deserts of northern Africa and Saudi Arabia extend from the Atlantic Ocean in
western Africa going across Iran and finally end in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan
• The current study has selected two regions: firstly, the region mostly located in the
central part of Iran, with arid-hot summers and cold winters; secondly, the borders of
the Central Desert with its extreme hot-arid summers and nearly cold winters.
• In these areas, achieving human comfort, especially in hot season, can be very hard.
• In addition, the air temperature in these regions ranges between maximum of 40–45°C
and minimum of 0–5°C.
• Precipitation in these parts is very low, and relative humidity is under 30% with a clear
sky during the summer days.
• Moreover, dusty wind is an important factor in these regions which is very unsteady.

27. EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON BUILDING
FORM
• The main principles of the construction form in Iranian vernacular architecture in a hot
arid region are flat and convex roofs, inward-outward oriented buildings, deep
basement, and central courtyard using brick or occasionally adobe.
• Most buildings are built using thick walls in this region.
• The building forms in this hot and dry region have a sense of owning a central
courtyard.
• In addition, they have various openings both around the central courtyard as well as in
the exterior walls of the constructions located in the southern coast region of Iran.
• Consequently, buildings in this region are mostly designed based on the semidetached
form.
• Semidetached form assists the construction to reach the appropriate level of thermal
comfort during the hot months of the year through cross ventilation.

29. • Moreover, buildings in these regions are mostly built on the ground level.
• In other words, most of the houses in hot and dry regions have a Shabestan
(basement) and a Shuwadan (deep basement).
• The majority of the constructions has flat or dome roofs and most of the roofs are built
with brick domes or vaults.
• Rubble and brick are common materials used for walls in these regions.

31. CONSTRUCTION DESIGNS
COMPATIBLE WITH CLIMATE
• Basement was one of the most important spaces of the residence under study in Yazd
city and passive cooling strategy was considered in the climate design of the house.
• Wind catcher has defined the room temperature to be 28°C in midday in Yazd.
• Ghobadian (2003) has also stated that the cellar temperature was 24°C, in hot hours of
Kashan.
• The central courtyard and main spaces in Esfahan houses which have been determined
by Khalili (2011) were defined as being in the thermal comfort range.
• Keeping the house exterior closed and building nonporous walls are some methods for
restraining the sandstorms.
• Moreover, surrounding the exterior part of the building via walls in shade is also a
significant solution for streets and sidewalks get extremely hot during the day and they
redirect heat in large amounts into the building.

33. COURTYARD
• In the courtyard, the cool night air, which is heavier than surrounding warm air, settles
down and remains in it.
• Thus, there are cool piles of air which protect the building from the outdoor hot air.
• The air inside the courtyard is cool at daytime, especially where there is not much sun.
• In small courtyards, where their width is smaller than their height, wind flow is not able to
impact the storage of cold air inside.
• Hence, in various ways, small courtyards are known as the best thermal regulators for a
building.
• While water resources in this climate can moderate the temperature during day and night,
they can also reduce the temperature fluctuation inside the building as a microclimate.
• One major reason for the presence of a pool of water, trees and plants in most courtyards
in this region is to increase the air humidity which is essential in hot and dry regions for
making indoor spaces more moderate.
• Consequently, when the breeze passes over a pool, fountain, or an irrigated area, it cools
down before entering the house.

36. IVAN
• Nowadays, closed areas in buildings are placed just after the outdoor area which can be a
street or a yard. Conversely, traditional buildings link the closed areas to outdoor climate,
environment and light through an interface, called a semi-open space.
• The difference of temperature between the semi-open and open spaces leads to a gentle
airflow from the courtyard, making Ivan a usable space in summer while providing indoor
areas with favorable thermal comfort.
• An “Ivanche” or arcade is the smallest form of such a space and is mostly placed in the
lower areas of the construction, or is created between the courtyard and the rooms, in
accordance to the area around the courtyard, or to windows and doors,
• The best known semi-open space is Ivan, which has one open side overlooking the
courtyard, two semi-open sides and one closed side.
• The closed side is linked to “Shahneshin”, which can be integrated into the main room by
opening the doors or windows. The two other sides are mainly associated with transition
areas.
• Ivan is along the open and closed spaces which preserve the spatial hierarchy of the
construction. Moreover, this vernacular Iranian element of architecture is climatically
significant in creating thermal comfort conditions in adjacent indoor spaces.

37. • Facing south and east, Ivan can be more efficient in winter while more efficacies could
be resulted in spring and summer when it faces north. North faced Ivan is used more
frequently in most parts of Iran.
• Ivan has been used to function as a place for living and resting during the day,
sleeping at night, having dinner and breakfast, guest gathering, pass ways, linking
rooms and also taking advantage of the view of sky and courtyard.

39. CELLAR (SARDAB)
• A completely underground room where the roof is even few meters lower than the
adjacent ground level is called Sardab or Cellar.
• In Sardab, the floor, walls, and roof have a quite lower temperature compared to
outdoor one, and therefore, thermal comfort level is impressively met through the
reflection of the residents’ body temperature to the surrounding surfaces.
• In general, heat release into the soil and temperature changes of different layers of the
earth follows two basic rules: first, the range of circadian variations (or annual) of
temperature decreases versus the earth’s depth.
• Moreover, its temperature is persistent in a specific depth of the earth, and there is
almost zero variation in the temperature.
• In cellar locations underground, this rule is greatly observed temperature throughout a
typical hot summer day without using an electro-mechanical cooling system.
• The basement was the only space in which the temperature fell within (or possibly
below) the comfort zone. That is why basements and underground living rooms were
traditionally used as alternative living spaces.

41. BASEMENT
• Dissimilar to Sardab, ceiling in the basement is located higher than the ground or the
neighboring courtyard so that the windows be able to transfer the natural light into
the area.
• While basement can be used around midday, in the first hours of the warm periods, it
is the courtyard that the residents can use more efficiently.
• In a sequent way, movement can be observed from higher levels to lower ones during
the day.
• In extremely hot days, it is the basement areas around the courtyard which can be
used to live and work in first hours of the day and during the hottest hours, the
occupants can move down into the deepest and coolest area of Sardab.
• Basements can be a permanent source of cooling and a place to seek comfortable
housing during hot summer days.

54. CONCLUSION
• Traditional constructors in Iran were using developed techniques for controlling the
climate despite their access only to limited resources as well as lacking modern
technologies.
• Making use of only natural materials such as stone, earth, water, sand and plants,
those builders were providing comfort situations.
• Moreover, wind and sun energies were amongst the most utilized sources for them.
They constructed with restricted alternatives and had to understand the environmental
elements and their features to make the best use of them.
• This current study has investigated the climatic design and passive techniques used in
these constructions and figured out how these ideas and techniques can cause the
inhabitants to have thermal comfort, using natural energy strategies.

55. THANKYOU