Vernacular Climatic Configuration: Developing a framework for extracting climatic prototypes from vernacular architecture using K-means and K-prototypes clustering methods (Case study: Chaharsafheh houses of Zavareh)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Architecture, SR.C, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Architecture, SR.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/ahdc.2026.23954.1894

Abstract

In the contemporary performative architecture approach, the aim is to integrate qualitative, functional, and geometric components simultaneously within the building’s form through the use of data science and emerging tools. One of the fundamental components of this approach is the climatic performance. In vernacular architecture, a form-oriented logic has already been realized, as it has been tested over time within historical, climatic, and cultural contexts and has achieved a convergence of multiple dimensions of human life within architectural geometry and form. This is a state that modern architecture has often failed to achieve due to its disconnection from historical roots and its predominantly one-dimensional perspectives. However, the era of data and contemporary machine-learning methods now enables the discovery of hidden patterns and prototypes in vernacular architecture and their application in contemporary design. Accordingly, vernacular prototyping-due to its capacity for redesign and reproduction-can replace vernacular typology and patterning. .



Although vernacular architecture in Iran has been studied through descriptive-analytical and typological approaches, the lack of data-driven analytical systems for documenting and extracting vernacular prototypes that are transferable, testable, and redesignable represents a major gap in both theoretical and applied literature. This article therefore seeks, through a climatic perspective, to establish a systematic framework that links data science, vernacular architecture, and performative design. The research follows a design-research approach and is conducted using a comparative method. Within this framework, a climate-oriented typology of the Chaharsafheh houses of Zavareh is developed through data-driven clustering. In this regard, with the aim of extracting climatic prototypes, more than 400 climate-related features belonging to eight Chaharsafheh houses with basements in the city of Zavareh-documented and measured with detailed attention to climatic components for the first time-were clustered into eight groups of numerical and categorical data using the K-means and K-prototypes methods.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

ایمانی چات قیه, فاطمه , طاهباز, منصوره و حیدری, شاهین . (1403). تیپولوژی انرژی محور ابنیه تاریخی شهر تهران: مبنایی برای تحلیل و سناریوهای اقدامات بهره‌وری انرژی. معماری اقلیم گرم و خشک, 12(20), 169-188. doi: 10.22034/ahdc.2026.24026.1898
توسلی، محمود. (1391)، ساخت شهر و معماری در اقلیم گرم و خشک ایران، انتشارات پیام: پیوند نو, تهران.
جدیدی، مریم. (1398). الگوی مسکن شهر زواره با توجه به شیوه زندگی در گذر زمان. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه علم و صنعت ایران.
جودکی عزیزی، اسدالله و سیدرسول موسوی حاجی و رضا مهرآفرین. (1393). «گونه شناسی الگوی چهارصفه در معماری ایرانی و سیر تحول آن». در پژوهش های معماری اسلامی، ش 5، ص 64-86.
حسینی،سید امیر.، فتحی، شها ب الدین.، بمانیان، محمدرضا.، مهدو ی نژاد، محمدجواد(1403)، رمزگشایی عناصر معماری به کمک دستور زبان شکل (گونه شناسی فضاهای 64 خانۀ تاریخی از کاشان، یزد و اصفهان) ، باغ نظر، ش.141، ص- ص: 5-14
ذوالفقاری. (1393). گونه‌شناسی الگوی چهارصفه در معماری ایرانی و سیر تحول آن. پژوهش‌های معماری اسلامی، 5.
روحی، صفورا، و مهدی‌نژاد، جمال‌الدین. (1404). بررسی کارایی سیستم‌های سرمایش غیرفعال بومی در خانه‌های سنتی ایران. فصلنامه مطالعات توسعه پایدار شهری و منطقه‌ای، 6(2)، 1–22.
طباطبایی زواره، س.، ولی‌بیگ، ن.، و عظیمی، م. (1397). مقایسه کالبد خانه‌های چهارصفه و حوضخانه‌ای زواره. نشریه معماری اقلیم گرم و خشک، 6(2)، 101–125.
غفاری، ع. (1379). زواره، نمادی از اسطوره کویر. تهران: دفتر پژوهش‌های فرهنگی.
محمودی، مهناز؛ مفیدی شمیرانی، سیدمجید. (بدون تاریخ). تحلیل بر گونه‌شناسی معماری بادگیرهای یزد. هنرهای زیبا، 36.
مسعودی‌نژاد، مصطفی، طاهباز، منصوره، و مفیدی شمیرانی، سیدمجید. (1400). بررسی رفتار حرارتی شوادان. مطالعات معماری ایران، 7(13)، 49–70.
معماریان، غ. (1387). معماری مسکونی ایرانی، گونه درونگرا. تهران: سروش دانش.
Afshari Basir, N., Habib, F., & Mofidi Shemirani, S. M. (2017). Vernacular houses in Yazd: Natural elements. International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development, 7(2), 19–26.
Ali, Usman, Mohammad Haris Shamsi, Cathal Hoare, Eleni Mangina, and James O’Donnell. 2019a. “A Data-Driven Approach for Multi-Scale Building Archetypes Development.” Energy and Buildings 202:109364. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109364.
Alrasheed, Mousa, and Monjur Mourshed. 2024a. “Building Stock Modelling Using K-Prototype: A Framework for Representative Archetype Development.” Energy and Buildings 311:114111. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114111
Bahadori, M. N. (1978). Passive cooling systems in Iranian architecture. Scientific American, 238(2), 144–155.
Bahadori, M. N. (1985). An improved design of wind towers for natural ventilation and passive cooling. Solar Energy, 35(2), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(85)90002-7
Camburn, B., Viswanathan, V., Linsey, J., Anderson, D., Jensen, D., Crawford, R., Otto, K., & Wood, K. (2017). Design Prototyping Methods: State of the Art in Strategies, Techniques, and Guidelines. Design Science, 3. doi:10.1017/dsj.2017.10
Dahl, T. (2010). Architectural Space and the Environment: Towards a New Architectural Ecological Understanding. The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture.
Dahl, T. (2010). Climate and Architecture. Routledge.
Foruzanmehr, Ahmadreza. 2017a. Thermal Comfort in Hot Dry Climates: Traditional Dwellings in Iran. 1st ed. Routledge.
Ghanbari, S., Yeganeh, M., & Bemanian, M. R. (2022). Architecture Typology of Rural Plain Houses Based on Formal Features, Case Study: (Talesh, Iran). Frontiers in Built Environment, 8. doi:10.3389/fbuil.2022.856567
Habib, Farah, and Seyed-Majid Mofidi-Shemirani. 2012. Typology of Earth-Shelter Architecture in Iran. http://forum.
Hey, T., Tansley, S., & Tolle, K. (Eds.). (2009). The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery. Microsoft Research.https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Fourth_Paradigm.pdf
Izadpanahi, P., Mahmoudi Farahani, L., & Nikpey, R. (2021). Lessons from Sustainable and Vernacular Passive Cooling Strategies Used in Traditional Iranian Houses. Journal of Sustainability Research, 3(3), e210014. https://doi.org/10.20900/jsr20210014
Jain, Anil K. 2010a. “Data Clustering: 50 Years beyond K-Means.” Pattern Recognition Letters 31(8):651–66. doi:10.1016/j.patrec.2009.09.011.
Kolarevic, Branko, 2004, Back to the Future: Performative Architecture, International Journal of Architectural Computing, DOI:10.1260/1478077041220205
Ma, Yuanli, Wu Deng, Jing Xie, Tim Heath, Yeyu Xiang, and Yuanda Hong. 2022a. “Generating Prototypical Residential Building Geometry Models Using a New Hybrid Approach.” Building Simulation 15(1):17–28. doi:10.1007/s12273-021-0779-6.
(2006). Vernacular design as a model system. In L. A. and M. Vellinga (Ed.), Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 179–198). Taylor & Francis.
Soflaei, Farzaneh, Mehdi Shokouhian, and Seyed Majid Mofidi Shemirani. 2016a. “Investigation of Iranian Traditional Courtyard as Passive Cooling Strategy (a Field Study on BS Climate).” International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 5(1):99–113. doi:10.1016/j.ijsbe.2015.12.001.
 
Soflaei, Farzaneh, Mehdi Shokouhian, and Seyed Majid Mofidi Shemirani. 2016b. “Traditional Iranian Courtyards as Microclimate Modifiers by Considering Orientation, Dimensions, and Proportions.” Frontiers of Architectural Research 5(2):225–38. doi:10.1016/j.foar. 2016.02.002.
Sonay, A. (2016). Prototype Concept in Architecture and Comparative Analysis of Analogical Designs and Imitated Buildings. 17(3).
Kaliszewska, Agnieszka, and Monika Syga. 2022. “A Comprehensive Study of Clustering a Class of 2D Shapes.” International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science 32(1). doi:34768/amcs-2022-0008.
 
Journal of Architecture in Hot and Dry Climate
Volume 13, Issue 21
May 2025
Pages 103-122

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics