CZI_Educ. Buildings

Climatic Zoning of Iran
for Educational Buildings
Morteza Kasmaei
School development and Mobilization Organization
Affiliated to the ministry of Education
Tehran,1994

Iran’s Geographical Location and natural physical characteristics import a wide climatic diversity to the country. There is a difference of 15 deg. latitude between the Northernmost and Southernmost urban centers of the country and a difference of 2500 m. (about 83,333 ft.) in the altitude between the lowest and highest. The existence of the high continuous barriers, formed by the mountain ranges, the Alborz to the North and the Zagross, from the Northwest to the Southeast. the presence of the Caspian Sea to the North, the Persian Golf and Oman Sea to the West and South have resulted in a wide variety of climates in the various parts of the country, therefore obviating the necessity for a range of design types to suit specific climatic zones.

Research conducted during the last decade has established the economic benefits of saving precious fossil fuel, leading to ever compelling evidence in favor of energy efficient building design. The findings of this research showed that the Educational Buildings with forms designed to respond sensitively to climate, have harnessed non-fossil energy present in their natural environment efficiently answering their thermal comfort needs as required by the climatic conditions of the location as well as the activity of the building. Such buildings, which are in harmony with their natural environment, in several parts of Iran, would be almost free from the use of mechanical systems throughout the year, for achieving indoor thermal comfort conditions.

The research conducted involved 201 Meteorological stations in various parts of the country. The meteorological data from these stations were used to conduct software to predict the air temperature within educational buildings, mainly classrooms with different size, shape, proportion, location, fenestration, and different capacity, in schools from elementary up to college level. In order to predict the internal air temperature of different classrooms the internal heating load – including metabolic heat from the students, penetrated solar radiation, and light fixtures – and the heat absorption of interior materials were considered by the software. The input data that was used contained all physical dimensions of a classroom plus hourly ambient air temperature and solar radiation in 24 different geographical orientations. To examine the accuracy of the program’s output, the ambient and interior air temperature of 108 different classrooms in four schools from two different cities were recorded in periods that schools heating facilities were not in use.

As a result of this analysis and with the comparison of internal thermal conditions of different classrooms, 201 populated area of the country were grouped into 31 groups within 6 zones. The geographical boundaries of these 6 climatic zones have been plotted on the geographical map of Iran on a scale of 1/4,000,000 which is the official map of Iran’s climatic zones for educational buildings. Additional information presented in the margins of the map, includes, predicted thermal conditions of classrooms during the educational year, main design objectives of each zone and design aims and guidelines including building orientation, plan organization and layout, size of fenestration, size of desired shading devices and building materials.

C limatic Design = Energy Savings + protecting the Environment
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