Over the last few decades, Iranian architects have made a significant contribution to architectural design. This has, however, remained largely unrecognised internationally. This publication highlights the future potential from an environmental design point of view of Iran s rich heritage of vernacular architecture. It provides contemporary analysis of thermodynamics, poche walls and multi-variant envelopes in significant historic buildings, such as the Khaju Bridge and Music Chamber Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan. Insights are provided into the postwar period in Iran with a retrospective of the work of Hadi Mirmiran.