The Accordance of Vernacular Earth Architecture with IEPs and the Natural Image of Sustainability: Investigation of Earth Architecture of Kavir

Making an investigation into the traditional architecture found in Iran’s Kavir, one can see an architecture that has emerged by merely changing the form of the face of the earth; this [complex] architecture is nothing but an intellectual use of simple land and water which simultaneously accords with the Islamic environmental principles [IEPs]. In this article, following a descriptive analysis of this architecture and its natural environment and making a comparative analysis of its values with the Islamic Environmental Principles [IEPs], we are going to demonstrate how Kavir’s vernacular architect, as the steward of the earth, has achieved utilization, development and maintenance of natural environment in the light of IEPs and a tacit sustainable building approach. Eventually, a model related to overlapping values of this earth architecture with the IEPs and the natural image of sustainability has been introduced.