New Life – Old Structure

Two thermal comfort surveys of people living in two types of naturally ventilatedhousing: traditional courtyard housing and apartment flats performed in Yazd Ilam arepresented in this article. The first study took place in the Iranian city of Yazd, whichexperiences a hot, dry climate. Over 420 subjects in 32 courtyard housing and 39 flatsresponded to thermal comfort questionnaires. At the same time physical and individualmeasurements were taken. Other comfort survey reports on a short-term study of thermalcomfort in a traditional house in Ilam.Both studies have identified several thermal comfort adaptive actions that a person mighttake to achieve comfort. In the courtyard hosing one of the adaptive actions was movingto a different thermal environment from the one causing the discomfort, while in theapartment flats opening windows and running fans were essential to achievementcomfort. There was a decrease in clothing insulation of subjects with rising temperaturein both types of housing.The paper concludes with a discussion of the thermal comfort adaptive behavioursexhibited by the two groups studied in the survey. However, the adaptive model is shownto be valid without any modification, for predicting the thermal comfort.