Mashrabiya

I have read that the holes in the latticework tend to be larger near the top & smaller near the bottom; the larger holes at the top encourage a draft of the warmer air to quickly escape overhead & cause a slight drop in air pressure, inducing convection air movement indoors. This pressure difference forces air from the street (which is traditionally already cooled by the shape & design of the surrounding buildings & water features) to draw through the smaller holes near the bottom of the latticework, further cooling it through a principle of thermodynamics similar to the Joule-Thomson effect.

Especially in rural areas, people still enhance this effect by placing jars of drinking water near by for passive evaporative cooling which serves a dual purpose of cooling both the air & the water without electricity, and it is speculated that this design was originally inspired from a designated shelf by the window used to hold & cool water using the same principles. I, however, cannot validate any of the above information as I am neither of Middle Eastern origin nor influence.

Thank you for this thought provoking article.

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