Ürünlü-Urfa: Learning from Rural and Urban Vernacular Architecture in the Context of Sustainability

Traditional built environments are one of the most essential parts of maintaining cultural identity and preservation. As awareness about sustainable building grows, researchers are focusing on traditional built environments to understand the role of sustainable considerations in these structures. Thereupon, this paper investigates the rural and urban contexts of Ürünlü and Urfa as a whole, using the immediate context, mass, and envelope systems to get more detailed information. In this study, it was found that in the immediate context, things like land use, environmental coherence, house-site relation, and orientation; in the mass formation, things like mass formation, structures, and building components; and in the envelope system, things like building components, materials isolating body mass, and durability are all part of are among the vernacular features which show in how people respond to environmental factors in these contexts. The study generally shows that both rural and urban settlements highlight the correlation between regional climate and an extensive understanding of building practices.