Natural ventilation in the ancient buildings of the City of Sana'a, Yemen.

The traditional architecture of the city of Sana's is considered to be one of the best examples of architectural heritage in the world. It also reflects the builders' full understanding of local traditional building materials and of the climatic environment. Building airflow helps maintain comfort in these buildings and therefore the aim behind this study is to understand how the vernacular houses of the old city of Sana's perform in terms of natural ventilation. The study also examines the role of air temperature and wind speed in natural ventilation. Overall the investigation will allow a better understanding of thermal comfort provided by traditional Yemeni architecture. A vernacular building typical of the houses found in the old city of Sana's has been examined to predict the bulk air flow to the building, and also predict the air movement through each space with in the building envelop. A computer simulation has been the main technique used, though further field study work is to be carried out in the buildings.