Wind catchers – “Baud-Geers” in Persian– are the main component of the traditional buildings in the hot regions of Iran. A Baud-Geer is a tower linked to a building that uses wind to provide natural ventilation and passive cooling. This passive renewable strategy offers the opportunity to improve the ambient comfort conditions in buildings whilst reducing the energy consumption of air-conditioning systems. In this research the natural ventilation performance of a typical wind tower in a hot dry central region of Iran -Yazd city- is studied. The tower is equipped with wind, temperature, air-velocity and solar sensors to acquire a climatic database. Using the measured data, the theoretical values of the ventilation rates are estimated and analysed to assess the performance of the wind tower. Additionally the data collected from the on-site measurements will assist in the validation of a CFD computer model. Finally the findings from this field study will lead to a discussion on the potential of Baud-Geers in achieving thermal comfort. This can contribute to energy savings for cooling and to the reuse and reappraisal of wind towers in Iran

This study explores how school buildings can be exploited more efficiently in the future, since, at present, they remain unused for a substantial amount of time. One possibility to tackle this inefficiency, is to involve the local community more closely in usage of its school building. First, a theoretical analysis was carried out to increase the fundamental understanding of the underlying dynamics related to opening school infrastructure to the local community. Second, focus group discussions were organized to research whether involving the local community in the school building was compatible with educational needs. The first highlighted that more extensive building usage could lead to positive social, environmental, educational and economic benefits. In the second, educational experts stressed that they wanted to adopt more innovative and flexible forms of teaching in the future, such as team teaching. Technical directors expressed concerns on safety issues if the local community is to be more closely involved. In the final step, all findings were translated into their technical consequences. From this analysis, it could be concluded that a school building with a high degree of short-term flexibility was the preferred option to reconcile societal and educational needs.