The Windcatchers of Yazd — Epoche A2
Every visitor to Yazd, in the middle of Iran's desert, asks the same question: what are those tall towers on the roofs? They are not chimneys, and they are not minarets. They are windcatchers - badgirs - and they are the reason this city lived well in the desert for centuries without electricity. A badgir is a tower with tall open slots at the top. The slots face the wind. High above the roofs the air moves faster and carries less dust, and the tower catches it and leads it down a shaft into the rooms below. In many houses the air passes over a small pool on its way, so it arrives cooler than the street. And on a still day, with no wind at all? Then the tower works backwards. The hot air inside the house rises up the shaft and leaves, and cooler air is pulled in from the shaded courtyard. The famous one stands in the Dowlatabad Garden: about 33 metres, one of the tallest ever built, working since the 1700s. I stood under it at noon, and a steady cool draught fell on my head - a machine with no motor, no fuel and no moving parts.