The Influence of the Landscape on the Typology of Traditional House in Kurdistan Mountainous Villages

Abstract

Every natural environment impacts the society that inhabits it and studies on mountainous regions all over the world have substantiated this claim. The impact of natural environments can be seen in the architecture, life and culture of those who live in mountainous regions.  The influence of architecture is physical and caused by the geography and climate of the mountainous regions and the practical difficulties involved in constructing buildings. For centuries traditional houses used locally available materials. It is only from the early 20^th century that traditional homes began to change in terms of the housing materials used. Traditional architecture in Kurdistan was largely built without formally trained professionals. No architect or planner ever designed a traditional house. The planning of a traditional house was developed by the people according to their needs. Traditional houses have changed over time to fulfill the demands of the inhabitants. The aim of this paper is to identify the natural design principles of traditional houses in Kurdistan according to availability of local materials. Different kinds of house such as mud and stone house were developed in different regions of Kurdistan. Many designers are now interested in adapting traditional features to modern design but such attempts have had limited success because traditional house design have not been clearly understood. This study can help to develop an understanding of traditional house designs by analyzing traditional homes in the mountainous regions of Kurdistan.

Keywords: traditional house, typology, environment, mountainous region