In Yazd, Iran, over 700 windcatchers (bajirs) have been used for more than 2,500 years, reducing indoor temperatures by 15°C without electricity, beating the desert heat with the world's most ingenious technology for natural cooling.
In the heart of the Iranian desert, where temperatures regularly reach 45°C, lies the city of Yazd with a cooling solution so effective that air conditioners seem primitive, writes Dimitar Angelov on the wall of the social network Facebook. The more than 700 windcatchers (bajirs) that rise above the city are 5-33 meters high brick towers that function as true natural air conditioners, some of which are 2500 years old and still fully functional.
The principle of these windcatchers is a masterpiece of applied physics and understanding of air dynamics. The towers are built with multiple internal compartments and openings oriented in different directions to capture the wind, regardless of the direction it is blowing. When the wind hits the tower, the air descends through the internal channels and enters the house, but not before being cooled by several ingenious methods: passing over pools of water, through wet channels, or by contact with thick brick walls, which remain cool.
The most complex aspect is the two-way ventilation system: while one side of the tower brings in cool air from the outside, the other side expels warm air from the inside of the house, creating a constant circulation. When there is no wind, the collectors work on the principle of a chimney - warm air rises up and exits through the top, sucking in cooler air from the base of the tower. Some collectors are connected to qanats (underground water channels), which further cool the air through evaporation, reducing the temperature by up to 15°C compared to the hot outside temperature.
The city of Yazd is built almost entirely of mud bricks - a material with exceptional thermal insulation properties. The houses have walls 60 cm thick, courtyards with fountains and basins, and small windows strategically placed to reduce the sun's heat. Wind collectors tower majestically above this architecture, some of them octagonal or hexagonal in shape to maximize the capture of wind from all directions. The tallest wind collector in the world is located in the Dolat Abad Garden in Yazd and is 33 meters high.
The efficiency of these systems is so high that in the wealthy palaces and homes of Yazd, the temperature in the rooms is maintained at 25-30°C, even when it is 45°C outside - and all this without consuming a single watt of electricity. The larger collectors can move 60 cubic meters of air per minute, which is equivalent to an industrial air conditioner. The technology is so advanced that modern architects are studying these structures to develop sustainable cooling systems for modern buildings.
Today, in an era of energy crisis and global warming, the windcatchers of Yazd offer important lessons in sustainable architecture. UNESCO has declared the city of Yazd a World Heritage Site not only for its beauty, but also because it demonstrates that 2,500-year-old technology can be more efficient and environmentally friendly than modern solutions. These towers are not just historical monuments - they are models for the future of architecture in a rapidly warming world.
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