Sustainability image in Iran's traditional architecture

By means of the industrial revolution and technology, the modern world is changing rapidly. This change is altering cultural, political, social, and economic and many other concepts. These changes also affect the architecture world. The effort to use renewable energy has increased due to the fact that the renewable energy has been overused and this energy resource has been coming to an end. The decrease in the fossil energy reserves day by day and the serious increase in the need for energy, have also increased the importance of renewable energy sources. Compatibility of the building design with the natural environment and climate data is known for a long time. The traditional architectural examples still existing today, emerged with solutions, which are suitable for climate and nature conditions, found by people under the influence of historical, social and cultural factors for long years. The traditional architecture represents an example of the ecological approach. Iranian architecture, which has been transformed in time being affected by the drained traditions and cultural items for centuries, displays a great variety both structurally and aesthetically. Iranian traditional architecture has been a worldwide cultural, artistic and architectural light throughout the history and led humanity and civilization. The texture of the cities was damaged due to the fact that Iran did not care about traditional architecture and ignored many rules in the modern age and building modernization. Although the development of technology is beneficial for humanity, the damage caused to the environment is too much. In this study, we examine the sustainability criteria in traditional buildings and structures. According to our research, cultural, climatic, originality, material conditions are compatible in the majority of traditional structures and due to this compatibility old and historical buildings do not give any damage to their environment and the lives of the people. On the contrary, they always protect lives as well as providing a healthy world and life. The study covers the characteristics of traditional architecture and the evaluation of traditional buildings in the context of sustainable design criteria. Key Words: Renewable energy, Environment, Traditional Architecture of Iran, Sustainable Architecture.