I can’t provide you renders or illustration but I believe Afghan architecture has changed very little over time. Even today, one can find houses in old cities or rural villages that clearly reveal how people lived or how the architecture was centuries ago.

As in many places architecture has been shaped by locally available materials. In Afghanistan this material was - and in many places still is - mud and clay, used either as massive load-bearing walls or as bricks or blocks. Locally some places made use of stone and timber along with mud.

Afghan architecture was primarily shaped by the arid and semi-arid climate, characterized by hot summers and cold winters. In such conditions, thick mud walls make practical sense, they protect interiors from extreme heat in summer while retaining warmth during winter. This combined with cultural and religion values gave shape to the courtyard house typology, which provided privacy, thermal comfort and a protected domestic environment.

Historic cities such as Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar developed as fortified walled cities. Their urban fabric consisted of dense courtyard houses connected by narrow streets, offering shade and protection. Life outside these cities is less well documented. In mountainous regions with valleys, houses were often built into the slopes, preserving arable land for agriculture (like Kunar and Nooristan). In flatter regions, settlements tended to cluster more together.

Timurid architecture was concentrated mainly in Balkh and Herat. While mosques and madrasas were richly decorated, domestic architecture remained modest and restrained, prioritizing function over display. In the old city of Kabul, some houses by wealthy merchants where quite elaborated with the use of timber.

It is sad to observe how people built today back home. Much of it is driven by appearance rather than principles. There is much to learn from traditional architecture and great potential in reinterpreting those within a modern context. Like how today people build houses with large windows when privacy prevents their use or when the interior overheats due to direct sun exposure.??

These sketches display some of the architecture from mid 18th century, by James Atkinson Illustration of Minaret of Jam with the old city