Urban design considerations in the environmental assessment of vernacular buildings with timber projections (sachnisi): The case of Nicosia’s historic center

Abstract

In this study, the environmental responsiveness of built heritage is closely connected with the aspects of building typology and urban canyon geometry. The focus of this study is on two-story adobe buildings with lightweight timber projections, locally called sachnisi, which are located on the first floor, above the pass-through space on the ground floor, locally known as portico. The field study reveals and maps a total of 246 sachnisi projections across the walled city of Nicosia, Cyprus, a typical Mediterranean area. This research is the first systematic attempt to integrate cultural, historical, and environmental factors and the urban-and building-scale environmental characteristics of vernacular heritage. The findings highlight thermal adaptive opportunities and passive cooling strategies, i.e., natural ventilation, enhanced by aligning the portico axis with the prime wind direction and operating various openings of the sachnisis. The research also demonstrates that the building orientation and the proportions of sachnisis and porticos are insensitive to the street geometry. Thus, functional and morphological parameters (in addition to climatic parameters) are also significant in the configuration of these architectural elements. The originality and academic contribution of this study lie within the systematic and comprehensive methodology followed, which can be applied to other urban heritage sites. The use of innovative, multidisciplinary methods and tools in heritage studies is also recommended.

Key words： Vernacular architecture; Urban design; Street canyon; Environmental design; Timber constructions; Heritage