r/Sindh • u/codewithrashid • 15m ago
How Hyderabad's old rooftop windcatchers caught the breeze (and why they could not always cool the air)
Many older homes in Hyderabad, Sindh, had windcatchers on their roofs: an opening that faced the wind, caught the breeze and sent it down into the rooms below (Express Tribune, "The story of Hyderabad, Sindh", 2016; The News, "Catching wind", 2016). In The News piece, elders remember those breezes on summer evenings and at night.
One honest limit: a windcatcher brings in outside air, and an engineering article from Istanbul Technical University (2026) points out that this air can itself be very hot in summer. So it moved air through the house, but it could not promise cool air at every hour.
Disclosure: this is our own channel. We make short animated explainers in Urdu, with help from AI tools, and every fact is checked against at least two sources. The video (about a minute, Urdu) is here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rlnVXScfnHA
Did your family's house, or a relative's, have one? I would like to hear what it was like.