Energy conservation in traditional Turkish houses in Kahramanmaraş: An analysis on thermal comfort

In recent conditions, where the importance of environment and energy efficiency is increasing day by day, buildings cause environmental problems with excessive energy consumption. Buildings must provide a sustainable future by providing efficient energy solutions. Traditional buildings, in different climatic zones, have design criteria compatible with the climate and are thought to have minimum energy consumption, have take the lead the present with years of experience and have become important sources for contemporary buildings with their designs. Traditional Kahramanmaraş houses were selected as research data within the scope of structure, climate and energy. The fact that traditional Kahramanmaraş houses are being used effectively today reveals the problem of how effective the thermal comfort criteria in buildings are. Due to this problem, it forms the basis of examining the thermal comfort conditions of traditional Kahramanmaraş houses and researching their effect on conservation of energy. The architectural and structural features of traditional houses in the Kahramanmaraş, which are the subject of the study, the climate data of the region and their effects on traditional architecture were examined. The energy performances of 10 residential buildings selected from traditional residential buildings were evaluated with a three-stage method. In the first stage, under the title of building design, settlement plan, form, space organization, use of material and structural system details were analyzed. In the second stage, the effects of the sun and wind direction on the building and the openings in the building were added to the analysis, taking into account the regional climate, and the facade orientation features of the buildings were analyzed. The final stage is called energy design and the heat losses on the facade walls of the buildings are calculated using the TS 825 data prepared by the Turkish Standards Institute. The effect of building form, orientation and envelope variables on the energy performance of each house, whose wall heat loss values were determined, was revealed. The energy performances of traditional houses have been compared and evaluated according to the TS 825 data determined with recent conditions. As a result of the evaluation, it has been seen that the heat losses of traditional residential buildings in Kahramanmaraş are above than the specified standards. Suggestions for improvement of the residences were given in order to minimize heat losses and save energy. Recommendations for the restoration of traditional Kahramanmaraş houses, which are considered as Cultural Heritage, with an energy-efficient design model and improvement of the facade wall sections were presented. Within the context of the proposal, effective energy use will be achieved by adapting traditional houses to recent and following conditions. Keywords: Kahramanmaraş traditional houses, structure, climate, energy