Indoor Environmental Quality in Qajar Houses of Shiraz with an emphasis on Thermal Comfort and Daylighting (case study: Nemati House)

Indoor space quality is directly related to the occupants’ physical and mental health (sick building syndrome) and energy saving in the building. Incorporating climatic factors in architectural design can increase occupants’ well being while consuming less energy. Iranian traditional houses have always been good examples of such architecture and provide useful inspirations for contemporary architects. traditional Qajar houses in the historical part of Shiraz city are prominent examples of this high quality architecture, but few studies have been conducted about them.  evaluating IEQ factors in these houses specially daylighting and thermal comfort and their influencing factors can be beneficial to contemporary designers. Nemati Qajar house in Shiraz is selected as the case study. with the aforementioned factors have been evaluated using quantitative methods including field surveys and simulation in Designbuilder software. The results of the findings are analyzed in 2 steps: First, the amounts of thermal comfort and daylighting in spaces were compared with current standards. Second, the results were expressed in a qualitative way using architectural specifications of spaces. The findings of this study indicate that the rooms of this old house have different energy behaviors. For example thermal comfort in the basement is in acceptable range for 10 months of the year, but it lacks proper daylighting, and the shaahneshin room is in thermal comfort range for 8 amonths of the year and has proper daylighting for almost all months of the year