Design Principles for Ventilation with Regenerative Results: Vernacular Diyarbakir Houses

Abstract

Many building assessment systems are criticized due to focusing on individual building performance. However, in order to be truly positive, the effects of different aspects of a built environment should be considered through correlative impacts across different scales. Ventilation and air related properties are among these important effects. With the aim of exemplifying architectural design solutions, a vernacular settlement in the southeast of Turkey: Diyarbakir and its houses are examined with a systematic evaluation approach through architectural design under three phases. In the first phase, outdoor environment components which induce or effect air movements are examined and evaluated along with user properties. Aspects of ventilation, building envelope and indoor environment of Diyarbakir houses are analyzed in the second phase. The last phase is the evaluation of houses in terms of ventilation efficiency by relating user requirements with acquired properties of air and ventilation. With this examination, many architectural features as passive systems are revealed in order to condition and move the air. Additionally, based on findings, it can be interpreted that presuming the built environment as a part of bigger and smaller systems may create net positive results for humans and other systems of the place.