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Lessons from Yazd's nature-friendly architecture to contemporary nature-

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Conference Paper · May 2018

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 LESSONS FROM YAZD’S NATURE-FRIENDLY ARCHITECTURE TO CONTEMPORARY

NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

David Leite Viana

Integrated researcher, Information Sciences and Technology and Architecture Research Centre (ISTAR-

IUL), ISCTE/Lisbon University Institute, Portugal

Visiting scholar, Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage Research Centre (AUGH),

SADBE/Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom

Ali Malekabbasi

PhD candidate, Islamic Azad University of Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran

ABSTRACT

Paper’s content: Based on research developed within 2017 Vernacular Architecture Documentation Camp

in the Historic City of Yazd (Iran), the paper addresses lessons from local nature-friendly architecture to

contemporary nature-based solutions. Paper’s structure: The paper launch a systemic perspective of the

Historic City of Yazd and will move on to local nature-friendly architecture set on the correlation between

the built environment and contextual development – gathering lessons towards the definition of nowadays

nature-based-solutions. Major findings: Nature-friendly architecture and community-based interventions

are key features to assemble unfolded nature-based solutions summarizing the “intelligence” of vernacular

architecture solutions to sustainable and embodied living spaces.

INTRODUCTION

Nature-based solutions constitute a paradigm to be consolidated towards overall sustainability within today

built environments. The requisite to achieve higher standards regarding local resources management,

minimum water usage, energy efficiency, waste reduce and life cycles equilibrium (either natural or

artificial ones), stresses focusing architecture and planning under a systemic perspective highlighting

metabolic processes associated to ways of living and its spaces, buildings and cities.
 Urban metabolism accommodate traditions of everyday social practices and imply the

interdependence and (self)organization between flows (of people, water, energy, resources, activities),

structures (ecological superstructures, built infrastructures) and space configuration, showing the balance

(or the lack of it) within itself. Regarding this framework, applied-research tends to target study-cases –

for instance, from vernacular settlements – to track ancestral good practices that can be systemized in

nature-based solutions catalogue, suitable for heritage living contexts. It is possible to foreseen that the

interest in know more about air-condition system working inside houses will be irrelevant in the future

when comparing to the need to understand how wind-catchers can cool down inner temperature through

natural-friendly processes in an arid zones. Therefore, based on research developed to the Vernacular

Architecture Documentation Camp in the Historic City of Yazd, organized by the Deputy of ICHHTO-

Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization with cooperation of Javad University of Yazd

(Iran, 2017), it will be approached a set of lessons from well-known local nature-friendly architecture to

contemporary nature-based solutions. Taking as main reference traditional houses of that historic district,

it will be highlight the way earthen structures (using clay) were developed to receive life in hard climate

conditions and how, consequently, the city planning and the housing design evolved taking into account

typologies like courtyard houses, technological ensemble, sustainable principles and passive

environmental solutions – expressed, for instance, in wind-catchers and underground spaces involving

local building processes and knowledge and in situ available material selection and preparation. Nature-

friendly architecture and community-based interventions are key features to assemble unfolded nature-

based solutions that summarizes the interdependent complexity and richness of vernacular architectural

solutions within a humanized scale – very difficult to find on actual projects, but quite needed when and

how to intervene in social-cultural-built heritage contexts. Cultural diversity, co-creation and social

collaborative processes are applied-research fields needing for deeper knowledge on these topics.

Vernacular Architecture Documentation Camp (VernaDoc) workshops are part of a long tradition of

survey camps, which begun in Finland more than a century ago and are now developed under the ICOMOS

aegis. VernaDoc and its methodology constitute an example of a singular pedagogical exercise able to

enhance the assimilation of vernacular architectural features. The methods in use seeks to sensitize for the

architectural quality of vernacular examples and to enrich on going design trends.

A SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE HISTORIC CITY OF YAZD

When studying the Historic City of Yazd, known as the “capital of the wind towers”, it is possible to verify

how the settlement was developed taking into account geographical conditions of the regional context –

the central area of the Iranian Plateau. As part of the designated Yazd Province, considered as one of the

biggest in Iran (located in the middle of the country), the Historic City of Yazd reveals itself attached to

the desert and mountains (Fig. 1), bridging the North part of Iran to the South, as well as the East to the

West. Being on a cross-junction of millenary routes, Yazd is also known as one of the largest cities in Iran,

where trading activities characterizes daily life’s dynamics since ancestral époques. When looking back to

the history of the Historic City of Yazd, it is common to find references to silk and cotton trading, for

instance (nevertheless, farming and gardening are also mentioned, as well as ceramic and tiles activities).

Travelling towards South from Tehran (the capital-city of Iran) to the Historic City of Yazd (a

journey more than 600Km), it has great impact the scale of the desert and the magnitude of the mountains

when arriving to the region (Fig. 2). Once in the Historic City of Yazd, one can feel how dry the

surrounding desert is and how high is the temperature in summer periods – reaching more than 40ºC.

Therefore, knowing Yazd is located more than 1200m 1 above the sea level, one can expect a very dry city

with low levels of rainfall, contributing to the sort of building materials applied in the construction of the

Historic City of Yazd – mainly earthen architecture. The known rainfall annual average (about 60mm) do

not constitute an issue concerning the adopted building techniques and materials set on local resources,

knowledge and the understanding of natural systems between the mountains, the desert and the

underground water supply coming from surrounding mountains’ precipitation phenomena (Fig. 3). This is

the main framework for the paper’s scope: to stablish a correlation between the development of an urban

architecture knowing how to deal with contextual natural adversity (e.g.: climate; geography; geology) by

making it a space where people can live in. In this way, for instance, it is important to understand how the

location of the Historic City of Yazd is structured between two high mountains (designated as Shir-kouh

and Kharanaq) – in the North and South. Considering the limited resources of water, it is possible to

acknowledge how these mountains have an important role in precipitation phenomena, helping to assure

water supply to the valley (known as Yazd Plain) from flows through southeast to northwest direction.
 To have a systemic perspective of the Historic City of Yazd it is critical to guarantee cross-

relations between climate conditions and corresponding influence on the way Yazd’s urban architecture

was assemble. The above referred mountains have – as already mentioned – a key role concerning climate

changes with impact in the Historic City of Yazd, not only regarding rain but also when considering wind

phenomena. The mountains are very high and have a surrounding low level area, originating winds coming

from the mountains and crossing the desert in between – where the Historic City of Yazd is implemented.

This situation provides fresh air to Yazd and contributes to cool the seasonal heat one can feel when in the

Historic City of Yazd. This occurrences, associated to narrow streets ensuring shadow within the urban

tissue, helps to stablish more comfortable urban living conditions. This is something explored not only at

the urban scale but also articulated with typological configuration of residential buildings, for instance –

where the importance to fresh the domestic atmosphere is a relevant effort in the definition of how

dwellings are inhabited. Guarantying fresh air into houses stresses the need to accommodate devices,

spaces and techniques able to accomplish it. Air renovation and circulation within domestic typologies

through passive systems imply knowing the natural environment and adequate the built environment to it.

One can verify this sort of interaction when realizing how the organization of domestic spaces are

correlated with differences of temperature between days and nights, summer and winter, and with dry

winds. It is possible to find domestic spaces to be used during summer time and others to be used in winter

periods, also dealing with temperature changing between day and night (due to light wind movements

within the city). It is possible to attach to the Historic City of Yazd a common ground of configurational

and building procedures involving local climatic factors – such as seasonal winds and storms, intense heat

and low relative humidity, daily temperature oscillations, etc. This systemic perspective of the Historic

City of Yazd highlights the process through which metabolic approaches were consolidated from

generation to generation and how it constitute a meaningful legacy (e.g.: badgirs devices – wind-towers

(Fig. 4)) to the development of integrated and sustainable urban and architectural solutions.

Recognizing the importance of eco-friendly design propositions based on zero carbon approaches

and passive systems to nowadays built environment’s overall sustainability, the Historic City of Yazd is a

repository of ‘vernacular “intelligence”’, where knowledge comes from testing context-based solutions.
 Bio-climate benefits ascend when merging (in a combinatory way) territorial systems, settlement’s

morphology and built typologies – all working together to achieve higher standards of living conditions

and improving different levels on urban comfort. Concerning the need to perceive local territory best

characteristics, it is known Historic City of Yazd location takes advantage of soil constitution, structured

in compacted levels of hard clay providing the right sort of solid ground where houses could be built, as

well as the remaining supporting infrastructure. Due to strong earth composition, overall military and civil

construction was developed throughout Yazd’s development needing only plain foundations. Local soil

quality also contributed to the implementation of a very important underground drainage system as well

as to ensure water supply to the city. Knowing how to work together with natural features of the region

when developing the Historic City of Yazd during centuries, a common ground aroused between

geological formation, climate conditions, natural resources, territory and the built environment – involving

settlement’s morphology and configuration, as well as the way construction techniques and materials were

applied and how buildings were organized; meaning that the ground and the settlement shares the same

material (earth/clay) and rules, stablishing an interdependent connexion and solidarity – increasing, for

instance, the resilience of the Historic City of Yazd to the impact of local natural risks (e.g.; earthquakes).

This ‘vernacular “intelligence”’ set steps towards a nature-friendly architecture capable to transform a hard

geographical context in a living place, where water and wind plays relevant roles bridging natural and

humanized systems (e.g.: firm clay and the sandstone below the Historic City of Yazd supported the

drainage system and keeps the water unpolluted to be consumed by Yazd’s inhabitants).

By having a systemic perspective of the Historic City of Yazd one realize the intricate set of

meaningful correlations attached to the notion of ‘built environment’ (where, for instance, the knowledge

about wind flows is articulated with the use of badgir technics to assure fresh air into houses’ courtyards).

This awareness of the importance of taking the maximum result from the best natural systems happened

because it is recognizable local geographical conditions are very hard and pressures a constant search for

ways to improve it warranting a nature-friendly life in the region – rooted in the historical matrix of the

settlement, as a crossing spot in the middle of the silk and spice roads that, alongside with other

merchandises, also expedited the handover of information (e.g.: how to settle communities in arid zones).
 One can also realise that the development of the Historic city of Yazd was set having in mind how

strong Nature can be and, better than just to fight against natural elements and its effects, one should work

with them and learn from their rules, patterns, life cycles, flows, physical behaviour, trends, dynamics,

impacts – incorporating the resulting information into settlement’s configuration, the streets network

organization, the building typologies, construction techniques, used materials, etc. The synthesis happens

in the way of living in that demanding geographic context. The Historic City of Yazd reveals a survival

story of a built environment based on ancestral “intelligence” summarizing a large amount of contextual

knowledge. One of the basic notion one can reach when in the Historic City of Yazd is that the settlement

development ought to be guided by some very elementary aspects: i) the topographic performance of the

settlement, concerning the gravity effect on water flows coming from surrounding mountains; ii) the

location of good drinking water (for instance, it is known the importance that methods of gathering and

using water had within the development of the Historic City of Yazd, involving devices like cisterns – the

so-called qanat technique (Fig. 5); iii) the physical behaviour of cooling winds; iv) the access to local

resources; v) the location of good natural materials sources for construction needs.

Nevertheless the regional geographic context and the humanized overlapped aspects so far

mentioned, concerning natural and artificial systems, by studying the Historic City of Yazd it is possible

to verify the richness of characteristics regarding local traditional urban architecture. It is perceived how

the city fabric set an intricate configuration with distinct morphological patterns, like narrow streets ending

in relevant squares of the settlement, or the residential courtyard – assembling a polymorphic urban mosaic

where the courtyard house constitute a major reference. The VernaDoc camp in the Historic City of Yazd

(2017) had as main goal to study this kind of domestic typology, organized around a courtyard (in that

particular case, it was considered the Lariha House (Fig. 6)). Alongside this aim, the Historic City of Yazd

was also under a wider analysis, taking into account the relevance of other types of buildings to the urban

configuration, such as religious spaces, mosques, the bazaar, water-cisterns, among others. Reviewing the

Historic City of Yazd means to verify its urban elements not only through horizontal plans but also

checking vertical sections due to the importance of architectural devices such as the wind-catchers and the

minaret sand domes of the monuments and mosques to the skyline of the Historic City of Yazd (Fig. 7).
NATURE-FRIENDLY ARCHITECTURE IN THE HISTORIC CITY OF YAZD

When visiting the Historic City of Yazd it is well identifiable its perimeter due to the physical delimitation

the designated Qajar group of fortifications establish regarding the different urban tissues one can find

inside and outside the fortifications. The urban fabric within the fortifications expresses a dense texture

with irregular, but linear, street patterns composing an irrigated network of routes connecting a highly

porosity morphology. The interdependence between the different urban elements assembling the urban

form of the Historic City of Yazd is also perceived when studying the local skyline (Fig. 7). As mentioned

at the end of the last section, aspects such as the volumetric richness of singular architectonic features (like

the already referred wind-towers and the domes, among others), the contextual values they express, as well

as the social and cultural relations stablished through them reveals the specificity of processes of space

appropriation and daily activities within the Historic City of Yazd. It is a place where, as an urban structure

constituted by morphotypological devices embodied in the landscape, it is clear how the settlement, the

mountains and the sky meet all together in a systemic and integrated way – reinforcing the uniqueness of

its public and private environments by conforming them in its bosom in a comprehensive way. Alongside

with the designated ‘vernacular “intelligence”’ – introduced within the previous section – the second pillar

supporting nature-friendly architecture in the Historic City of Yazd is this ‘comprehensive approach’ to

the built environment (two more pillars will be enclosed further ahead).

As said, in order to understand the metabolic processes that were assembled during the

development of the Historic City of Yazd, “bird-eye” perspectives are not enough to capture the correlation

between all layers constituting the settlement. For that, one need to dissect a wide range of sections

explaining Yazd from the underground to the sky, synthesizing a meta-contour capable to express: the

complexity of the infrastructures; the morphological-typological overlapping; the densification of texture

patterns; the scale diversity among volumes and voids; the ways of being, using and appropriating public,

collective and transitional spaces; among others aspects like the way the ground and the settlement shares

the same foundational element – its material: the clay. Attached to this local and abundant natural resource

one can find a cultural framework within which the inhabitants accommodate their ways of living taking

the best results from their learning from the landscape and the natural systems surrounding them.
 According to ICHHTO’s Executive Summary for Nomination 1, the region where the Historic City

of Yazd is constitute a harsh area of the desert – where people had to rely on contextual experience to

ensure shelters to live in accordingly to the landscape natural circumstances, using local materials to build

the settlement having in mind the best living conditions that could be achieved with the few available

resources – but has a multi-cultural background due to its location on the caravan routes linking India with

the West. In this way, it is important to understand how the above mentioned contextual experience was

combined with knowledge coming from other regions and places. Local practices and generic information

were synthetized within the development of the Historic City of Yazd, correlating ‘vernacular

“intelligence”’ and ‘comprehensive approaches’ into an ‘emotional knowledge’ that also contributed to

the definition of a common ground where nature-friendly architecture was nourish. This third pillar –

‘emotional knowledge’ – played an important role considering the adaptability of the ways of life to the

settlement configuration and its integration within the landscape.

When analysing the Historic City of Yazd one cannot stand on deterministic perspectives, because

– by doing so – it won’t be possible to find the shared “intelligence” within vernacular building techniques

performing earthen architecture assembling the totality of the settlement; it won’t be possible to understand

how the comprehension of local systems (natural and humanized ones) contributed to unfold

interdependent and complementary approaches to the built environment; it won’t be possible to verify the

way sensitive and emotional aspects of local life in community were incorporated into generic standards

regarding urban living conditions. Places like the Historic City of Yazd demonstrates how mandatory is

the need to hybridise some elemental dichotomist concepts structuring sectorial visions of knowledge –

e.g.; theory vs. experience; rationality vs. emotions; formalization vs. the empiric – if one wish to have a

panoramic infill on its nature-friendly architecture. Mediation between ‘vernacular “intelligence”’,

‘comprehensive approaches’ and ‘emotional knowledge’ is ensured by proportionally balancing all into

daily life activities and in the continuous adaption of the built environment to higher levels of comfort. In

this way, alongside with these three pillars, a final fourth one can be highlighted: ‘balanced synergy’. This

is the ability to be aware, in every moment, of the most adequate correlation among all sort of systems,

resources, processes, elements and techniques addressing nature-friendly architecture.

 ‘Vernacular “intelligence”’, ‘comprehensive approaches’, ‘emotional knowledge’ and ‘balanced

synergy’ lead the built environment of the Historic City of Yazd to be recognizable either by the

homogeneity of the urban fabric and by the singularity of notable elements within local nature-friendly

architecture. Going back to ICHHTO’s Executive Summary for Nomination 2, the Historic City of Yazd is

unique compared to other cities across Iran and the world. This is due to several iconic elements, already

mentioned in this paper, like the badgirs (wind-catchers), minarets and domes (Fig. 7). Furthermore,

buildings have lower heights so these elements, which stand taller than their surroundings create a harmony

between the cityscape and the skyline not only because of their height but also due to their specific form,

colour and substance 2. Buildings also connect together through public spaces such as Tekiehs and

meidanchehs – occasionally used as social nodes and links between typologies.

Urban icons or landmarks include buildings with a different physical form or a distinct function;

nevertheless, they also play a role in the overall congruence one can find between forms and functions in

the Historic City of Yazd. It is also perceived that built typologies like dwellings, mosques, bazaars,

madrasehs, keep maintaining not only their foundational matrix concerning the settlement configuration

but also their specificity in terms of layout. It can be appreciate the dialog between space organization and

space appropriation and between collective memory and individual actions. This is a common procedure

within stable metabolic processes, where the equilibrium between flows coming in and those going out is

a key factor for the continuance and endurance of the systems. Here is where ‘balanced synergy’ had a

relevant contribution achieving nature-friendly architecture in the Historic City of Yazd – not only in

physical terms but also when involving socio-cultural aspects. It is known sustainability of built

environments demands an articulation between environments, society and economic (socio-economic)

aspects, meaning that the factors coming from these interdependent areas need to be assemble through

holistic procedures. When analysing the Historic City of Yazd regarding settlement configuration,

morphology, typologies, activities and space appropriation it possible to address these features within the

wheel of environmental, sociocultural and socio-economic sustainable principles 3. This conceptual

framework is going to be use as an operative background synthetizing why it is consider in this paper that

the Historic City of Yazd have nature-friendly architecture.

 Closing this section of the paper, it can be useful to go through the main nature-friendly features

attached to Yazd’s built environment. According to Carlos et al. 3, environmental sustainability addressees

the human capacity of intervention in order to decrease and even avoid impacts on the environment. When

analysing the Historic City of Yazd it is possible to verify local architecture check the five principles set
3
by Carlos et al. to ensure environmental sustainability. It was highlighted along the paper

morphotypological correlation with the settlement configuration was set respecting environmental context

and landscape, taking benefit of natural and climate resources, reducing pollution and waste materials,

contributing to human health and welfare and reducing natural hazard effects. The ‘natural’ matrix of that

place was transferred to local architecture by assuming an appropriate choice of site, by minimizing the

impact of interventions, by ensuring conditions to site regeneration, by its integration with environmental

morphology and by understanding the features of the site.

The Historic City of Yazd has nature-friendly architecture because local buildings were developed

choosing the appropriate orientation, considering the hydrography of the place and managing water

resources, taking advantage of the natural landform and also taking advantage of soil thermal inertia.

Indoor living spaces seeks to ensure temperature and humidity levels within acceptable values, as well as

adequate natural ventilation and guaranteeing adequate natural lighting and sun radiation, not forgetting

the regulation of temperature asymmetries during day and night and summer time and winter periods. It is

due to these group of strategies one can identify in the built environment of the Historic City of Yazd local

architecture is considered as nature-friendly. Despite the overall morpho-typological and social relevance

of urban architecture in the Historic City of Yazd, such as the bazaar, water-cisterns, mosques and the

designated hammams, tekieh and meidanchehs (usually connecting buildings) and hoseiniehs (religious

spaces) 4, one can consider the house with a courtyard is the most meaningful space achievement and

where the core features concerning nature-friendly architecture are synthetized. This spatial component

constitute a repetitive morphotypological element acting in different buildings despite the attached

function or use. Analysing the urban form of the Historic City of Yazd, the result of courtyards within

morphology is an inter-scaled set of relations of similar patterns stablished by and between the same shapes

(Fig. 8).
LESSONS FOR NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Two sections through Lariha House’ courtyard (a longitudinal one (Fig. 9) and cross-section (Fig. 10))

will be used within this final part of the paper as a graphic reference concerning the sort of topics being

addressed. Considering the four pillars mentioned on the previous section – i) ‘vernacular “intelligence”’;

ii) ‘comprehensive approaches’; iii) ‘emotional knowledge’; and, finally, iv) ‘balanced synergy’ –

supporting the notion on nature-friendly architecture in the Historic City of Yazd, eight key lessons to

nature-based solutions can be highlighted. Let’s know them.

Lesson 1 – To know environmental conditions: Nature-based solutions are keen to increase

performance levels regarding energy efficiency and the correlation between built environments and bio-

climate strategies. Knowing environmental conditions it is considered mandatory to understand local

climacteric phenomena in order to articulate them with sustainability principles. Moreover, this it is

relevant not only concerning the promotion of healthy living spaces within settlements but to ensure local

productive activities (e.g.: farming and gathering – reducing the need for transportation infrastructure, time

dislocation and fuel consumption in goods supply, for instance).The longitudinal section of Lariha House

(Fig. 9) reveals how the sun position during the day and different periods of the year was an important

factor when organizing the domestic spaces surrounding Lariha House’ courtyard. Spaces to be used

during summer season are open spaces totally connected with fresh micro-environment set by vegetation

and the small central water pool defining the courtyard composition. The referred open spaces are located

in the sector of the courtyard without direct sun during the hottest periods of the day in summer time. The

vegetation (small trees and plants) promotes shadows and the water tank (and fountain) ensures air

humidity to the courtyard and, mainly, to the outdoor resting big wooden bed in the courtyard and above

the water pool (Fig. 10) – mitigating the heat using passive approaches without needing mechanic/electric

devices to artificially cool the air.

Lesson 2 – To engage with territorial systems: Nature-based solutions are being addresses as

appropriate solutions to be widely applied concerning overall climate changes effects, mainly increasing

seasonal or daily temperatures and water shortage in extreme climacteric conditions (especially dry ones).
To be able to respond to these issues in an effective way, it has been more and more proven the need to

stablish a clear inter-relation between systems within the built environment and those structuring

territories. The inter-dependence among natural and artificial systems is mandatory ensuring territories can

still perform in equilibrium to future generations. The longitudinal section of Lariha House (Fig. 9) reveals

the importance water infrastructure had not only regarding how the House was built but also concerning

the distribution of the spaces. A tunnel with stairs lead to an underground water cistern connected to the

Historic City of Yazd’s water supply system. The access to the water cistern is made from the courtyard

of the House and the air ventilation of the water cistern is ensured by a vertical air tunnel, also connected

with the courtyard. The courtyard is the water spatial framework, synthetizing it different systems – one

with a territorial-urban correlation. Other example is the wind-catcher (Fig. 10) dealing with the knowledge

about how local wind systems works. The fresh air coming from the wind-catcher cool the big open-space

facing the courtyard. As mentioned, this space is also more fresh due to the position within the House

layout, located in a shadow area, with no direct sun on it (or, at least, in a big portion of it). The hot air

tends to go up and goes out of that space through the wind-catcher (Fig. 4).

Lesson 3 – To manage landscape resources: Nature-based solutions seeks to rebalance nowadays

asymmetric equation between the availability of resources in different landscapes and the amount of

resources currently built environments are demanding. Not only the quantity of resources needed to

maintain over-predatory ways of life is an issue to be addressed urgently, but also the speed is being done.

The equilibrium among resources and energy being transform in and between natural and artificial systems

is a relevant achievement in metabolic processes, ensuring local landscapes have time and conditions to

generate again the consumed resources. The longitudinal section of Lariha House (Fig. 9) shows how local

natural resources like the sun, wind, water and clay were manage in a combined way playing a significant

role in Lariha’s design and space organization. The configuration of Lariha House take advantage of sun

position and shadows effects to set domestic places to be used with local high or low temperatures; the

fresh air plays a similar role and, alongside, contribute to Lariha’s volumetric characterization through the

wind-catcher tower – also assuming an urban role through its presence in Yazd’s skyline. The clay was

used in structural walls with large sections, taking advantage of thermic gains ensured by clay density.
 Lesson 4 – To structure integrated urban forms: Nature-based solutions are applied to ensure

fluidity in urban forms, morphotypological flexibility and built environment’s continuity. Keeping

energetic flows moving and in constant transformation is a key feature within natural systems. This is a

standard to be increasingly considered when proposing and developing urban planning strategies and

architectural design principles. To achieve it, configurational measures like integration and connectivity

must be approached in urban and architectonic performances. Moreover, integration is also a quality value

concerning interconnection between settlements implementation and landscapes conformation. The

common ground in these sort of correlations is the human scale and community proximity between living

spaces and working spaces. To structure integrated urban forms means to ensure eco-friendly

closeness/mobility networks and to promote walkability in the built environment – diminishing the need

for fossil fuel and daily mechanic transportation of people and goods; and shorting places, urban dynamics

and human activities. Lariha House also has a highly integrated space – the courtyard (Fig. 9 and Fig. 10)

– ensuring the majority of connections between the domestic spaces. Besides, constitutes a central space

for family life activities by sharing, meeting and addressing family members’ inter-relations (playing the

same role of a square in a city). In addition, also brings “nature” into Lariha, symbolized in the water pool,

the fountain, the small trees, plants, flowers, odors, and the sky.

Lesson 5 – To assemble contextual typologies: Nature-based solutions assemble a catalogue of

“nature” performances which need to be addressed through heuristic and structured ways due to specific

contextual frameworks they all share giving singular and generic means to each one of them. When

applying sets of “nature” performances to build environments, living places are the background where to

synthetize it correlating environmental features with socio-cultural in spaces built, defined and organized

with local rules, patterns and processes. Bridging contextual procedures and typological configuration

ensures socio-spatial cohesion bringing together ways of life, daily activities and space appropriation –

increasing the sense of belonging, resilience levels and comfort standards. In the longitudinal section of

Lariha House (Fig. 9) it is possible to acknowledge the intrinsic relation within spaces, uses, local habits,

unfolding – for instance – the inter-connection between public, semi-public, semi-private and private

spaces (e.g.: the street is in a higher level and entering the House means descending to a lower courtyard).
 Lesson 6 – To use local materials and building techniques: Nature-based solutions promotes the

maintenance of natural life chains within built environments, guarantying the looping progression of

systems and processes into healthy living conditions. Keeping local building material life cycles in a

balanced mode is crucial to accomplish this goal. In addition, using local materials (and reusing them)

contributes to waste manage and shrinking the constant need for new building materials. It also plays a

relevant role in building maintenance and rehabilitation, shorting the financial effort involved and

managing available resources. Alongside, it is known contextual building techniques are usually attached

to local natural materials (in this case, earth/clay). By promoting the use of local materials and building

techniques ancestral knowledge can be perpetuated and ways of doing can pass from generation to

generation. On the other hand, crossing the ‘vernacular “intelligence”’ one can find in places like the

Historic City of Yazd with scientific knowledge new insights can consolidate local practices in a wider

theoretical-practical corpus able to be world wide spread. Lariha House, as most of the buildings in the

Historic City of Yazd, was develop adopting earthen architecture techniques and incorporates benefits

from this type of construction, such as being a low-carbon building. VernaDoc survey camps has as main

scope the designated vernacular architecture. However, Lariha House cannot be considered as such,

because constitutes a formalized model which typology and shape combines ancestral procedures with

structured geometry, proportion and volumetric composition rules, for instance. Nevertheless, earthen

architecture examples like Lariha House summarizes local building experience with contextual building

intelizentia – where building material (earth/clay) is the common denominator in the equation.

Lesson 7 – To develop mix-interactions between spaces, inhabitants and between both: Nature-

based solutions implementation means reducing deterministic specialization in built environments.

Instead, flexibility concerning uses, activities and appropriation is mandatory regarding networking plural

local contexts 5. As in any living eco-system, diversity enriches the range of options concerning multi-

scenarios development. Ensuring different and crossed interactions in and between spaces increases

inhabitants’ interactions and allows to fulfill a larger set of daily needs based on proximity logics (reducing

motorized transportation, for instance). Correlated micro socio-spatial dynamics into globally integrated

places unfolds combinatory and inter-scaled exchanges among spaces, inhabitants and between both.
 Lesson 8 – To co-create embodied living spaces: Nature-based solutions follows the ethos the

majority of natural system shares, i.e., each element has a particular role, is part of a bigger whole and is

an active participant contributing to the definition, constitution, organization and multi-functionality of the

system. Taking into account the interdependence between elements in developing a balanced system, it

has been increasingly advocated in several professional and scientific forums the need to deepen co-

creation processes ensuring higher standards towards embodied living spaces. Collaborative approaches,

individual participation, community engagement are usually referred as procedures with the ability to bring

more active actors into built environments’ configuration, collective well-being, management and

regeneration. Places and spaces accommodating life need to evolve, transform and adapt to daily actions

developed in a very pragmatic way, suppressing contingencies and limitations within local socio-physical-

environmental contexts. Embodied living spaces call for interconnected actions mediated by extended

practices of body-cultural place immersion and mind-critical place knowledge. Lariha House (Fig. 9 and

Fig. 10) constitute a relevant reference regarding how empirical and qualitative approaches can/must be

articulated with formal/quantitative methods. This is a relevant step towards accomplishing generic theory

from ancestral contextual experience ensuring sharable knowledge to inform lessons from local nature-

based architecture to world-wide nature-based solutions catalogue – increasing built environments

resilience, mitigating risk factors’ impact and promoting cultural diversity and social innovation.

What can be learned from the kind of lessons referred in this section of the paper contributed, in

2017, to the inscription of the Historic City of Yazd on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. This is a major

achievement and means great responsibility concerning the future of that part of the city. Moreover,

implies a remarkable challenge regarding the legacy the Historic City of Yazd wants to be – if a museology

site or if a vibrant, joyful and comfortable place maintaining alive it specific matrix. Probably, the second

option is the desirable one. Further insights about how to balance the past with what is yet to come will be

mandatory. It is advocated in this paper that places like the Historic City of Yazd should consolidated an

operative legacy to a common and plural urban daily life, balancing touristic trends with diversity in terms

of living socio-physical conditions, economic activities and environmental subjects. A sort of meta-lesson

can be outputted if a synergetic methodology is assemble to learn from and to process all correlated inputs.
DISCUSSION

It is possible to argue that highlighting metabolic and low-tech accomplishments of places like the Historic

City of Yazd in a data revolution era, such as the present one, will result in lessons with reduce impact

within today’s iGeneration preferences. However, once again, learning from local nature-friendly

architecture into the consolidation of a world-wide spread nature-based solutions’ catalogue implies the

formalization of urban and architectural methodologies, combining analogical approaches with digital

techniques. Formal methods in architecture and urbanism 6 supported by technological achievements must

be correlated with field-work and in situ surveys. Assembling the designated synergetic methodology,

mentioned when closing the previous section of this paper, means mining contextual data and its records

through time and space (climate; geology; resources; comfort standards; population; socio-economic

performance; etc.) and aggregating it as useful information towards the definition of effective nature-based

solution. The path between empirical experience and adaptive pragmatic know-how, coming from nature-

friendly architecture, to structured sustainable principles and systemic strategies, in nature-based solutions,

demands formalizing traditions of everyday social practices to shape architecture and urbanism. This is a

relevant scientific challenge worth to be discussed in forums such as this IASTE Conference, in Coimbra.

REFERENCES

1
Nomination of Historic City of Yazd for Inscription on the World Heritage List: Executive Summary.
(Yazd: ICHHTO/Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, 2016), p. 16.
2
Nomination of Historic City of Yazd for Inscription on the World Heritage List, p. 28.
3
G. D. Carlos, M. Correia, M. L. Dipasquale, H. Guillaud, S. Mecca, C. Mileto, F. Vegas, M. Achenza,
D. L. Viana, L. Cannas, L. “Research method and operative approach”. M. Correia, L. Dipasquale, S.
Mecca, S. (Eds). VerSus: Heritage for Tomorrow. Vernacular Knowledge for Sustainable Architecture.
(Firenze: FUP, 2014), p. 29.
4
A. Modarres. Architecture of the City of Yazd: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. N. Sarmadi trans.
(Tehran: Nashr-e Yazda, 2014).
5
M. M. Olia. Traditional Architecture of Cities and Geographical Context of Yazd Housing. (Yazd:
Tarbiat Moallem University, 1985).
6
D. L. Viana, F. Morais, J. V. Vaz. Formal Methods in Architecture and Urbanism. (Newcastle upon
Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018).
 Fig. 1. Wind-catchers and mountains in the Historic City of Yazd (source: David Leite Viana).

Fig. 2. Desert and mountains on the region of the Historic City of Yazd (source: David Leite Viana).
Fig. 3. System of underground tunnels with water coming from the mountains surrounding the Historic

City of Yazd (source: Ali Malekabbasi).

Fig. 4. Badgir elevations and section (wind-catcher) (source: Federico Minelli/ICHHTO-Cultural

Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization archive (elevations) and the Historic City of Yazd

archive (section)).
 Fig. 5. Quanat section – water supply system (source: Historic City of Yazd archive).

Fig. 6. Lariha House – street elevations (source: Ahmad Niyazmand/ICHHTO-Cultural Heritage

Handicrafts and Tourism Organization archive).

Fig. 7. Skyline of the Historic City of Yazd, with courtyards, wind-catchers, domes and minarets (source:

Ali Malekabbasi).

Fig. 8. The effect of courtyards in the urban form of the Historic City of Yazd (source: Google Earth Pro

2018).
Fig. 9. Lariha House – longitudinal section through the courtyard (source: Dharaj Shivapakwajjanalert

and Jorge Sá/ ICHHTO-Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization archive).
 Fig. 10. Lariha House – cross section through the wind-catcher (source: David Leite Viana/ ICHHTO-

Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization archive).

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