Vernacular architecture has evolved over time to reflect and sustainably comply with the environmental and cultural contexts in which it exists. This kind of architecture possesses a variety of original and clever practices and technologies to satisfy various necessities imposed by context. Iran's vernacular architecture has mastered the art of adaptation to context by developing different architectures in different regions of the country. Despite their different appearances, these architectures follow the same logic in spirit: sustainable adaptation to context. This original research work surveys this logic in two regions, one hot-arid and the other hot-arid-windy, in Iran (represented by the city of Yazd and the region of Sistan, respectively) through a comparative study. This paper studies different elements and techniques of sustainability in these areas, reasons for their existence and the factors that have shaped them into the specific way that they are. The main elements that were studied through this survey include: fabric and orientation, sidewalks, facades, materials, entrances, courtyards, basements and cellars, porches, roofs, wind-catchers, and openings. In conclusion, links that connect different specifications of context to different aspects of construction are discovered and their role in overall character of two region's architecture is illustrated so they can be used as guidelines for future designs and constructions.

Extensive energy consumption in construction and ventilation has caused numerous environmental problems alongside huge waste of nonrenewable natural resources in today's world. Meanwhile, vernacular architecture has been able to sustainably adapt to climate by developing creative and local solutions which provide a comfortable living environment, consume less energy and cause less pollution than the new ways of construction, one of which is wind induced ventilation. Vernacular architecture of Sistan (southeast of Iran) is not an exception to this rule. It utilizes its own set of unique elements and techniques that are compatible with region's climate. This original article studies wind induced ventilation and its elements in Sistan's architecture, including: (1) roofs (Sistani, Filpush and Barrel); (2) ventilator openings (Kolak, Surak and Dariche); and (3) walls. Then, this paper continues to classify three different compound room types in Sistan's architecture, based on orientation and use of mentioned elements by documenting thirty-two sample houses across the region: (1) stretched against the prevailing winds; (2) stretched aligned with the winds; and (3) L shaped. CFD simulations are used to study the wind behavior and evaluate the ventilation performance of these room-types. These simulations lead to guidelines to enhance the ventilation performance of existing buildings and future constructions, including: where to put the windows, which orientation maximizes the natural ventilation performance, where to consider precautions to block the undesirable winds from entering and how far from each other should different room types be built.

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