Climate-Responsive Architecture for the Residential Houses of Homs: A Comparison of Traditional and Contemporary Houses

Given that high energy consumption in residential buildings is one of the main problems in Syria, applying criteria for a climate-responsive building design is one of the most important ways to reduce energy consumption. This article seeks to study and compare the historical and contemporary residential buildings of the city of Homs and extract the positive and negative aspects of each. The main issue of this research is to identify the traditional and contemporary housing in the city of Homs in terms of environmental model and accordingly provide practical solutions for climate-responsive building design. To achieve this goal, we first studied the criteria of comfort and identified the advantages and limitations of various indicators in a number of climate-responsive designs, and then, we analyzed the housing patterns of the city of Homs. The present research was conducted based on desk studies, including documents, maps, and field observations, with a descriptive-analytical method. The study found that in the historical context of Homs in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, residents built valuable buildings affected by the dominant culture. In fact, these valuable buildings are now in Syria an essential part of the traditional architecture’s identity. French colonization of Syria has changed the form, structure and shape of residential buildings. During the French colonization, in Homs, buildings were influenced by the technology of the industrial age. These buildings are still operating today with high energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to propose some climate-responsive solutions for the new buildings constructed in the hot and humid climate of Homs, with a tinge of traditional architecture. The idea put forward in this paper is to create an urban texture. This texture is largely inspired by the Habitat housing units. It is designed in such a way that is flexible to natural growth and expansion and reflects traditional houses. Eventually, relying on the positive points and merits discussed at the end of the paper, construction of climate-responsive houses is a possibility.