Qualitative and Typological Study of One-Way Windcatchers in Eastern IranCase Study:Khousf City and Khour Village in South Khorasan

Windcatchersare architectural/engineering elements in the vernacular architecture of hot and arid cities of Iran. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology and due to lifestyle changesas well as the increase of airborne dust in the region, windcatchers have lost their former significance in these areas and natives have turned to using conventional cooling systems such as water and gas air conditioners. In this article, Khousf city and Khour village of Birjand district were selected as samples from the hot and dry climate in the east of Iran. In this paper, the two towns are introducedand briefly reviewedregarding urban texture, vernacular houses, and architecture of one-way windcatchers and their physical structure. The main objective of the study is to developa typology for the regionalwindcatchers by examining the placement of windcatchers in the plan and section of the building, the plan and elevation of awindcatcher, and the relationship between the windcatcher room and other spaces. The sample windcatcherswere selected for this studywith the help of existing documents and field observations, based on building integrity,accessibility to the building and itswindcatchers, and research limitations. It is intended thatavariety of regional windcatchers be included in the samples. The research method is logical analysis and description with a qualitative approach. The data acquisition method is based on library research, observation, and accurate field measurements. This study identifies three types of one-way windcatchers in the region, which are classified as khol, sharafeh and bad-gir in the local dialect. The type and number of windcatchersto be built in certain places of the house weredecided according to ease of construction, cost, and ventilation power. Finally, based on the information obtained in this study and the information gaps in research related toeastern Iran, recommendations for future research are presented.