Thermal comfort and practicality: separate winter and summer rooms in Iranian traditional houses

Abstract

Traditional houses in hot dry regions of Iran provide conditions in which the inhabitants could cope with the severe climate. Previous research shows that these vernacular houses work as a complex passive cooling system that modifies the internal climatic conditions. This complex modifying system has various components or sub-systems of which one is the existence of separate seasonal rooms in the house. This study focuses on the use and performance of seasonal rooms. It used a range of different methods including a socio-cultural questionnaire survey, interviews, personal observations and thermal comfort and temperature variation surveys. It shows how these architectural spaces work as climatic elements to provide comfort, and how they are perceived by current users.