What the Badgir Still Teaches Us
Yazd’s windcatchers are not just symbols of the past; their logic offers a serious answer to the energy crisis of today’s buildings.
Anyone who has passed through Yazd remembers its skyline of windcatcher towers. Yet these towers are, above all, precise machines for moving air.
How a badgir works
A windcatcher works in two ways: capturing wind on its windward face and channelling it down, and drawing warm air out on its leeward face through pressure difference. On still days, sun on the tower walls heats the air inside, and the stack effect pulls air up out of the house.
Many windcatchers were paired with a pool, a cool basement or a qanat so that incoming air was cooled and humidified before reaching the rooms.
Lessons for today
- Natural ventilation works when it shapes the building section from day one
- Thermal mass and shade are preconditions for any passive cooling
- Simple, legible controls for occupants beat complex technology
In our Yazd villa we combined these principles with motorised dampers and sensors, and a year of monitoring left us more optimistic about the approach.
