A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort

between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Asian Architecture [ARC 2213/2234]

PROJECT 1: CASE STUDY

A comparison study of the passive design strategies to

achieve thermal comfort between the Traditional Malay
house and Ganendra Art House

NAME: HOW PEI NGOH

STUDENT ID: 0316929
LECTURER: MS. ALIA AHAMAD
SUBMISSION DATE: 6 June 2015

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

A comparison study of the passive design strategies to

achieve thermal comfort between the Ganendra Art
house and Traditional Malay house

Table of Contents Page

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2

1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3

2.0 An overview of Thermal Comfort..................................................................... 5

2.1 Factors affecting thermal comfort of residential house in malaysia .............. 5

3.0 The effectiveness of natural ventilation system used in traditional Malay house to
achieve thermal comfort ............................................................................................ 7

4.0 The effectiveness of natural ventilation system used in Ganendra Art house to
archieve thermal comfort ........................................................................................... 9

5.0 Comparison of natural ventilation system in traditional Malay hosue and

Ganendra Art house ................................................................................................ 14

6.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 16

7.0 References ........................................................................................................ 17

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Abstract
The main objective of this research paper is to investigate the differences and
effectiveness of passive cooling strategies between the Ganendra Art House and
traditional Malay house in order to achieve thermal comfort. This research paper is
mainly focuses on the issue in cooling the interior of Ganendra Art house and
Traditional Malay house by featuring various passive design strategies. In assisting the
validation of research, literature reviews from different sources was conducted to enrich
the process of the research paper. A comparison study between the natural ventilation
system in Ganendra Art House and traditional malay house was carried out in the
research paper, which in order to evaluate and compare the effectiveness and
diffrences between the traditional and contempory architecture ventilation system, such
as the built-form orientation, cross-ventilation and sun shading device. Besides that,
based on the passive design strategies used in the Ganendra Art House, the
effectiveness affected the ventilation of the building itself and occupant‟s comfort has
also discussed in the paper. On the other hand, due to the hot and humid level of
Malaysia, there has a lot of climate factors that designer should concern and consider.
As a result, by applying proper passive design strategies, all the issue would be solved
and achieve the thermal comfort in tropical country. In a nutshell, the passive design
strategies applied in Ganendra Art House are ventilated and effective. It is a good
reference for the modern green building development in our country, yet the traditional
malay house would be recommended for the basic passive design as it is the gen of
passive design. Nowadays, we can see that the environment issue is one of the
biggest concerns to architects, although the passive design has been introduced and
enhanced into most of the building design but the technology in our country has not
approached the level. It is to be believed in the future it can be further developed and it
eventually it will become a common practice.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

1.0 Introduction
Tropical climate country experiences hot and humid weather, there are difficulties
in achieving a thermally comfortable environment indoors has been stated due to the
unstable weather. Unstable indoor and outdoor air temperature are insignificant
compare to the sun. Sun is the most important natural element that designer need to pay
most of the attention in building design for achieving thermal comfort especially in
Malaysia, a tropical climate country.

Various passive designs have been practicing and developing in order to solve the
issues for achieving thermal comfort since old time. Traditional Malay house built by
our ancestor is an idea example for us to learn and adopt. It established the basic passive
designs that responded to the hot and humid climate. However, Ganendra Art house
located in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, awarded numerous green building award, is another
great contemporary architecture for us to study on. Although it is a small scale
residential house located in housing area, the green principles adopted into the building
design has responded to the environment and yet met the demands of modern lifestyle.

The case study is particularly interested in the effectiveness and differences of

natural ventilation system in contemporary residential architecture and vernacular
residential architecture in achieving thermal comfort. All the findings provide a
comparison study of natural ventilation system in Ganendra Art house and traditional
Malay house. Both of the case studies are located in Malaysia. The built form, material
used, passive design strategies and building style are various different. So in term of
effectiveness study, it would have an interesting comparison result between
contemporary and traditional residential architecture.

This paper is to investigate the differences and effectiveness passive cooling strategies
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house, where both are located
in tropical climate country and these two case studies are residential house. By
responding to the following research questions:

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house
Question1 : What are the factors that affect thermal comfort of a residential house in
Malaysia?

Question 2 : How natural ventilation system does reacts to the factors of thermal comfort in
Malaysia, explain by using the case study?

Question 3 : How are the ventilation system used in Ganendra Art house to achieve thermal
comfort?:

Question 4 : How are the natural ventilation system practiced in traditional Malay house to
achieve thermal comfort?

Question 5 : What are the differences between the natural ventilation system of Ganendra
Art House and Traditional Malay house

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

2.0 An overview of Thermal Comfort

Thermal comfort is a subjective issue that is no specific definition because when we
determine what will make people feel comfortable, we need to consider a scope of
personal and environmental factors. According to British Standard BS EN ISO 7730,
thermal comfort is that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal
environment. Besides that, ASHRAE Standard 5 states that thermal comfort in a
building is considered success when thermal environmental conditions is acceptable by
80% of the occupants in the space.

2.1 Factors Affecting Thermal Comfort of residential house in

Malaysia
ASHRAE Standard 55 thermal environmental conditions for human occupancy stated,
“There are large variations, both physiologically and psychologically, from person to
person. It is difficult to satisfy everyone in a space. The environmental conditions
required for comfort are not the same for everyone.”. Therefore, an optimal
temperature that can full fill all occupant‟s desire is difficult to determine. Generally,
human thermal comfort is affecting by 6 major factors and they are categorized into
two: personal factors and environmental factors. Personal factors includes clothing
levels which may be non-uniform over a person‟s body and individual metabolic rate.
Whereas, environmental factors includes air temperature, relative humidity, air speed
and radiant temperature. The major factors that affect the thermal comfort in both of the
case studies are air temperature, air speed and radiation intensities.

Figure 1 table of thermal comfort level

According to Malaysian meteorological department (MetMalaysia), the relative humidity
in Malaysia is ranging from 70 to 90% which is high and where uniformly high
temperature throughout the year. Thus, decrease the humidity and maximize air flow‟s

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house
strategies are desired. Figure 1 shown, the recommended room air temperature range
for comfortable should between 20 to 23 Celsius.
On the other hand, air speed and wind direction are playing important role in
achieving thermal comfort. Different air temperatures affect thermal comfort of a space
as it increases heat loss when the human temperature is higher than moving air
temperature. The large difference temperature of outside and inside of building affects
the thermal comfort which it makes people experience the gap frequently in transient
manner. As Malaysia located in equator line, the wind over the country is generally light
but long periods of still are. This caused privilege in archiving thermal comfort by
having large opening for the effective cross-flow of air in the house.

Figure 2 local thermal discomfort caused by radiant temperature asymmetry

“People are more sensitive to the asymmetric radiation caused by a warm ceiling that
caused by hot and cold vertical surfaces which can be shown in Figure 2”, stated by
ASHRAE Standard 55. Radiant temperature is the heat transferred by radiation
between object which has the ability to absorb and emit radiant heat. There is a net
flow of radiant heat energy from a hotter object to a cooler object. The net flow will be
terminated when both of the object reached the same temperature which is known as
in the state of thermal equilibrium. The radiant heat energy exchange between the
environment and human are summarised by plane radiant temperature and mean
radiant temperature. The information of the direction of the radiant heat flow is provided
by plane radiant temperature, yet the mean radiant temperature will provide the
information of the average value of temperature.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

3.0 The Effectiveness of natural ventilation system used in

traditional Malay house to achieve thermal comfort
In Malaysia such a hot and humid climate country, the crucial importance
environmental requirements are to make less severe the effects of high humidity, solar
gain and heavy rain. Traditional Malay house design is well known of responding the
requirements above and established the strategies such as having large opening,
steep pitch roof and house raised on stilts to ventilate the house.

Figure 3 Tebar Layer and window in Traditional Malay house

As a result, traditional Malay houses are lightweight structure with large openings.
A different pressure will be developed between the Inlet and outlet openings of the
house, air will flow from the higher- pressure end to the low pressure end theoretically.
In order to allow cross ventilation, traditional Malay house usually having many full
length open able windows on opposite walls and door to allow the wind achieve highest
performance and allows ventilation at the body level. The elongated open plans and
minimal interior partitions in the house also helps good cross ventilation and restrict air
movement in the house to ventilate the interior and achieve thermal comfort. Besides
that, intricate woodcarvings (Figure 3) as known as tebar layar are installed at the
traditional Malay house„s roof and windows to allows air passage through it to interior
and yet to have aesthetic value of Malay‟s culture.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Figure 4 section of traditional Malay house

The steep pitch roof of traditional Malay house (Figure 4) rapid the rain run-off
fast and the large overhangs drain the heavy rains away from the house. The large
overhangs also function as protection from direct sunlight and provide solar shading to
have low exposed vertical area. As the warm air will raise, the ceiling less and high
porous roof structure made of attaps, allows the warm air escape from the interior and
cooler the interior at the same time.
In additions, the floors of traditional Malay houses are slotted and raised above
the ground to catches wind of high velocity. This arrangement provides a reservoir of
cool, shaded air below the floor and also protecting from insects and flooding.
However, the houses are usually single storey and shallow in plan to encourage
maximum amount of airflow. The layout also important that they are arranged randomly
which allowed the wind velocity will not be reduced and so they can positioned in a
staggered and widely spaced configuration that faces the prevailing wind direction.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

4.0 The Effectiveness of natural ventilation system used in

Ganendra Art house to achieve thermal comfort
Natural ventilation system used in Ganendra art house is slightly different from
what traditional Malay house had, the passive design strategies have been applied in
Ganendra Art house are more advance, but the building design do adapt the passive
design strategies of traditional Malay house such as high ceiling, cross-ventilation, built
form orientation and shallow floor plan.

Figure 5 location of wind chimmey in Ganendra Art house

Ganendra Art house has a most iconic passive design of itself, it is an innovative
wind chimney (Figure 5) that never been used before in Malaysia. It is a shaft has 360
degree opening on the top of the roof to catch the winds from all direction without
mechanical system and internally partitioned to channel the wind down the shaft, with
directed flow into the spaces below to provide comfort cooling and natural ventilation to
the interior.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Figure 6 Wind chimney outlet in ground floor exhibition area

The extent of wind flow is manually controlled by operable glass louvers at the base of
the shaft, so the occupant can adjust it depends on the comfort level they desired. “The
wind chimney is effective because it minimize the use of fan during daylight and
mechanical ventilation system is not really needed during monsoon season.” the owner
of the Ganendra art house, Miss Shalini said.

Figure 7 section of Ganendra Art House showing the cross-ventilation

In Ganendra art house, both of the ground and first floor levels are featuring
with openings at both sides of the gallery. It is similar to traditional Malay house of
having opening in every wall to enhance the performance of cross-ventilation.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Figure 8 perspective view from east

However, the sizes of opening In Ganendra art house are not as large as
traditional Malay house do, except those openings facing east and where the courtyard
and balcony (Figure 8) located. Figure 9 shown sizing openings for cross-ventilation,
the size of the opening required to remove heat from a building, as a percentage of
floor area, assuming a temperature difference of 1.7 Celsius between inside and
out.(Brown and DeKay). At public spaces such as family hall and lounge, partial stack
ventilation is incorporated at these spaces by having different height of openings in the
external wall inlet to provide airflow at occupant level. And the shallow floor plan
facilitates natural ventilation in all area. To be concerned, the Ganendra art house is
located in housing area, the amount of passage wind is actually reduced by the barriers
of the site, and so playing with the sizes of opening seem to be effective in catching the
wind to achieve thermal comfort in contemporary residential house.

Figure 9 sizing opening for cross ventilation system

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Figure 10 Ground floor plan

Figure 11 First floor plan

As the importance of location of the house is mentioned above, the built-form
orientation has certain relationship with it. The house is oriented based on the solar
path of location; north and south in order to avoid solar heat gain affect the internal
temperature of the house. The front of the house is facing towards east while the back
of the house are aligned towards the west hot side and the noisy main road.
Landscaped central courtyard, external patios and study room are arranged facing the
east.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Figure 12 perspective view of south

The bedroom and bathrooms face the south to maximize the cool air from the direction
with low radiant intensities. The minimum openings are installed in west wall in order to
prevent large solar heat gain from west setting sun. All windows (Figure 13) in
Ganendra Art are shaded using a combination of horizontal and vertical sun shades.
These shading device serve to reduce glare to the internal spaces and reduce the heat
enter the interior to affect thermal comfort..

Figure 13 outlet of windows In Ganendra Art House

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

5.0 Comparison of natural ventilation system in Ganendra Art

House and Traditional Malay house
After study on natural ventilation system in traditional Malay house and Ganendra
Art house, the size of openings, location of openings, built-form orientation and
surrounding structure on site are to be considered into building design, depending on
design and function to provide an efficient natural air exchange for ventilation in order
to achieve thermal comfort.

A comparison of the characteristic of the natural ventilation system in traditional

Malay house and Ganendra art house to achieve thermal comfort is shown in the
following table.

Traditional Malay House Ganendra Art House

(vernacular architecture) (contemporary architecture)

Large opening, usually are Size and location of Different size of opening,
full length open able opening depends on the site location
windows on opposite walls and the area of the space.

Layout

Randomly arranged, there

Rigid pattern in the
is no barrier to reduce the
arrangement of housing area
wind velocity
create barriers and the
barriers block the passage of
wind to house in the latter
path of wind

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

Wind velocity gradient

As it is built on stilts, sitting Receives low velocity

on higher level capture winds as the solid fences

high velocity winds and hedges built around

reduced the wind velocity

Ventilation of roof space

Ventilated by the provision High ceiling, ventilated by

of ventilation joints and trapped air but the windows
panel in the roof allowed the air exchange
construction

Wind velocity gradient

As it is built on stilts, sitting Receives low velocity

on higher level capture winds as the solid fences

high velocity winds and hedges built around

reduced the wind velocity

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

5.0 Conclusion
In a nut shell, the passive design strategies used in traditional Malay house and
Ganendra Art house contributed different result, although they are located in Malaysia,
where have similar climate conditions. However, the environmental factors such as air
temperature, air speed and radiation intensities, affect the thermal comfort of
residential house in Malaysia, are responded and solved in these two case studies but
the strategies applied are way different.

Furthermore, in order to achieve thermal comfort with natural ventilation system,

the size of openings, location of openings, built-form orientation and surrounding
structure on site are to be considered into building design. Not to mention, the
surrounding environment as known as site content is playing the most important role in
designing a residential house. For example, the traditional Malay house can be
randomly built on a land as long as it could have high velocity of wind. Unfortunately,
for contemporary residential house in city such as Ganendra Art house, it must follow
the grid pattern of surrounding building, so there are some restriction that caused the
passive design strategies in Ganendra Art house cannot achieve the same
effectiveness as traditional Malay house do.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

6.0 References
Abdul Malek Abdul Rahman.,. Development Of Passive Solar Design And Technology
In Tropical Climates. [Minden], Pulau Pinang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2002.
Print.

Bougdah, Hocine, and Stephen Sharples. Environment, Technology And

Sustainability. London: Taylor & Francis, 2009. Print.

Brown, G. Z, and Mark DeKay. Sun, Wind & Light. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.

'Climatic Design Of The Traditional Malay House To Meet The Requirements Of

Modern Living'. N.p., 2015.
http://anzasca.net/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/ANZAScA2004_Kamal.pdf. 7 June
2015.

Gbtech.emsd.gov.hk,. 'Green Building Tech - Natural Ventilation'. N.p., 2015. Web. 6

June 2015.

Hyde, Richard. Climate Responsive Design. London: E & FN Spon, 2000. Print.

Pythonians.wordpress.com,. 'Thesis Proposal: Issue'. N.p., 2009.

http://gbtech.emsd.gov.hk/english/utilize/natural.html. 20 May 2015.

Vernacular Architecture,. 'Malay Houses'. N.p., 2011.

https://vernaculararchitecture.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/hello-world/. 7 June 2015.

Yeang, Ken, and Arthur Spector. Green Design. London: Black Dog, 2011. Print.

Yeang, Ken. Ecodesign. London, UK: Wiley-Academy, 2006. Print.

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A comparison study of the passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort
between the Ganendra Art House and Traditional Malay house

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