Describing native architectural features of Kandovan, a sustainable village with rock architecture

Abstract

The purpose of the present chapter is to investigate the unique features of Kandovan as well as its rural elements playing a role in the traditional texture of the village as sustainable elements. The village is located 62 km from Tabriz, Iran, in a region with moderate mountain climate. The village of Kandovan is a specimen of the most primitive type of human life and its coexistence with nature. The village texture consists of a series of pointed cones with manmade and natural cavities emerging on the surface. These cones have sporadically extended over the steep mountain skirts toward the peak of the mountain in a condensed and scattered manner. The building of the houses in Kandovan are of the rock-made architecture and date back to the seventh century (in the Hijri solar calendar) and in cases to even as early as pre-Islamic eras. The rocky architecture of Kandovan represents man's struggle to harness and tame the nature to satisfy his needs. The structure and texture of the cone-shaped habitats of the village, made of INEMBERITE and ALTHER, formed with the passing of time by the combination of the volcanic materials from the Sahand with the mud resulting from flood-causing rainfalls. The residential space in the Kandovan village is carved off the stone mass and rock Karans (rock-shells) create a firm crust around the space like a body, protecting the residents from natural phenomena such as rain, snow, wind, cold, and heat. In addition, the shape of the cones and their positioning has a substantial effect on increasing a sense of comfort and convenience for the residents through regulating environmental conditions like heat, cold, humidity, and light. The village Kandovan is listed as one of the three rocky villages of the world, the other two being the Kappadokia in Turky and Dakota in the USA. Kandovan is different from other rocky villages, in that life is still present and the residents of the village still continue to live their day-to-day life with the natural features of the village without making fundamental changes in the structure of their habitats. The methodology of the present chapter is based on library research method and field observations, and describes and analyzes the structural and architectural elements existing as sustainable elements in the texture of the village. Notable among the elements are the integrated and interconnected rural texture; interior and exterior design of the houses; access means; apparatus; ventilation; cooling and heating system; materials, types, and typology of the Karans; and the rocky architecture. Kandovan, with its high potential in aptly using sustainable architecture may be fit as a model for various sustainable structures around the world.