Thermal comfort in historic buildings: The case of Ali Gav madrasah

Thermal comfort studies have been the subject of research since 1930s. Thermal comfort conditions, which are of great importance for human health, are also important for energy. Also in places where thermal comfort conditions are not optimal, improvements are made accordingly. Today, due to climate change issues and reduced energy resources, there are changes in indoor thermal comfort conditions. The historical buildings constitute the majority of the city's building stock with their unique and aesthetic architectural qualities, conservation, economy and tourism activities. When these structures are examined, it is observed that many environmental factors such as sun and climatic conditions are taken into consideration and energy is saved. These features are an important advantage in re-functionalizing historical structures. New details and additional applications made according to the new function given to historical buildings affect the thermal comfort properties of the structure in a positive or negative way. The first part of this study includes literature review about thermal comfort conditions in historical buildings, the purpose, scope and method. Besides the materials and methods of the study are mentioned and the equipment used, technical analysis for the user assessment for thermal comfort and the standards used in the evaluation are contained. In the second part; thermal comfort, concepts of bioclimatic comfort, thermal comfort analysis, thermal comfort in historical buildings are given information. In the third part, the concept of conservation in historical buildings has been mentioned and restoration methods have been taken into consideration in the restoration and contemporary additional cases. Afterwards, a general definition of Ali Gav madrasah, the reasons for being selected for this study, history of the building, architectural features and architectural interventions in historical process are explained. In the fourth chapter; The thermal comfort properties of Ali Gav madrasa, which is the application part of the study, are evaluated in the context of the data obtained from the measurements. As a result of all these analyzes and evaluations, the restoration criticism of the building was made from various perspectives. In the fifth part of the study, the results of this study are discussed and suggestions are developed according to their results. Based on historical documents and excavations, today's thermal conditions of the re-functionalized Ali Gav Madrasah, which has undergone restoration and has a top cover made of modern materials, has been studied. As a result of the study, it was seen that thermal comfort conditions were insufficient for all places within the Madrasah. However, it was observed that this situation was not directly related to restoration/reconstruction, and suggestions were made to make the required feasibility studies and to produce the necessary solutions and architectural details prior to the construction of such applications for historic buildings.