FCL Magazine Special Issue Natural Ventilation Revisited Eth 49661 01

FCL MAGAZINE SPECIAL ISSUE
Natural Ventilation, Revisited

Edited by Sascha Roesler | Research Module of Territorial Organisation, Prof. Dr Marc Angélil | Future Cities Laboratory
Pioneering a New Climatisation Culture

FCL MAGAZINE SPECIAL ISSUE
Natural Ventilation, Revisited

Pioneering a New Climatisation Culture
Edited by Sascha Roesler
Preface Editorial
The ‘Territorial Organisation’ research unit of the When it comes to cooling and heating buildings,
Future City Laboratory addressed the following ques- many parts of the world are still imitating 20th century
tion: What are the contemporary mechanisms at work practices. As a discipline, architecture continues to
in the production of territory and what are their effects be bound to a paradigm of comfort whose emergence
on the make-up of the human habitat? In order to tack- was closely connected with the use of oil. The familiar
le this question, the research focused on the relation result − while providing homogeneously air-condi-
between forms of collective organization (social, politi- tioned rooms and improved technical understanding
cal, and economic) and forms of territorial organisation of climate control – has all too often, however, disre-
(the material reality of the man-made environment). garded sustainable solutions. In Southeast Asia, mod-
Interdependencies between social and physical space ernisation of the built environment still largely entails
were considered in view of conceptual frameworks that a proliferation of air-conditioning units, a preference
mark prevalent political economies, whether operating that simply rejects natural ventilation as an outdated
at the global, national or local level. practice.
The inquiry was structured according to a twofold Against that background, this special issue of From left to right: Ani Vihervaara, Karoline Kostka,
method, framing a dialogue between in vitro and in vivo FCL Magazine aims to underscore the relevance of Marcel Jäggi, Katja Jug, Sascha Roesler
research, moving concurrently within the domains of natural ventilation within the contemporary urban
theory and practice. The theoretical component of the Asian landscape. Given the current requirements for in the cities of Medan (Indonesia) and Singapore by
work addressed the question of knowledge produc- energy-saving methodologies, a sustainable future looking at the urban mass housing system, typologies,
tion, i.e. the construction of models of thought pertain- will rely on more than mechanical cooling strategies housing policies, and their implications for the venting
ing to the making of territory. Specific subject matters alone. Urgently needed are urban-relevant ventilation systems. In doing so, we identify the critical obstacles
pertaining to current challenges – poverty, informal- concepts that address the interrelationships among cli- and, conversely, the potential inherent in using natural
ity, governance, ageing, logistics, food systems, climate mate, territory, and architecture, concepts that give far ventilation in an urban context. Our ultimate goal is to
change, etc. – were probed and their impact on rural greater attention to natural ventilation, which, even as pioneer a new climatisation culture in the Southeast
and urban territories investigated. The practical com- an age-old cultural practice, still has relevance to dense Asian region.
ponent of the work – situated in the context of real case urban areas today.
studies in practice – concentrated on the pragmatic This special magazine issue is the product of a
conditions of territorial production: the de facto mak- The specific focus of the research we present here collaboration among three architects: Marcel Jäggi,
ing of territory. Conceived as real-life experiments en- then, is on natural ventilation in urban environments. Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara; a landscape archi-
gaging in the production of space in situ, projects were We pose new questions − regarding air pollution, for tect, Karoline Kostka; and a visual artist, Katja Jug.
launched in Ethiopia, Brazil and Egypt. example − and give insights into the ‘fine art’ of natu- Its publication marks the completion of the research
ral ventilation, such as by drying tobacco leaves. The module ‘Territorial Organisation’ that was conducted
The essays in this special issue of FCL magazine findings are based on both fieldwork and comparative from 2010 to 2015 at the Future Cities Laboratory in
highlight the research on ‘climate-led construction’ in study: We assess the current state of natural ventilation Singapore.
Southeast Asia’s building culture.
Sascha Roesler, Editor, August 2015
Marc Angélil
2 FCL Magazine Preface Editorial FCL Magazine 3

CONTENT
36 CASE STUDY MEDAN
38 EMERGENCE OF NEW BUILDING INDUSTRIES

Marcel Jäggi
50 LACK OF COMFORT
Marcel Jäggi, Dr. Sascha Roesler
58 CYCLIC VENTING SYSTEMS

02 PREFACE Dr. Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka
Prof. Marc Angélil
74 A MONUMENT FOR NATURAL VENTILATION
03 EDITORIAL Dr. Sascha Roesler
Dr. Sascha Roesler
82 CASE STUDY SINGAPORE

06 MONSOON CLIMATE AND THE
ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA 84 EVOLUTION OF NEW TOWNS
Ani Vihervaara, Dr. Sascha Roesler
08 MAN-MADE WEATHER
115 HDB INSIGHTS
Dr. Sascha Roesler
Katja Jug
14 WHAT THE CLIMATE IS AND WAS

142 ABUNDANCE OF ENERGY
Karoline Kostka
Dr. Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara
24 WHAT THE CLIMATE DOES

148 ENTANGLED VENTING SYSTEMS
Dr. Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka
Dr. Sascha Roesler
154 A NEW COOLING MANUAL FOR HDB

Ani Vihervaara
164 CONTRIBUTORS
166 COLOPHON
4 FCL Magazine Content Content FCL Magazine 5

MONSOON CLIMATE AND THE is, in fact, the point of departure for this
ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA research project on ‘man-made weather’.
To consider natural ventilation as an inher-
ent part of Southeast Asia’s cultural heritage
Natural ventilation represents a significant would not mean, as it would with a temple,
cultural heritage for Southeast Asia. Largely to place it under protection; rather, the
unrecorded by experts and social elites, this intention is to actively promote its realisation
cultural technology awaits an awakening in contemporary urban building practice.
to new life. Historically, the incorporation of
natural ventilation in building concepts
generated a heritage in Southeast Asia that −
as anthroplogist Roxana Waterson suggests −
can generally be considered ‘the Architecture
of Southeast Asia’. The Indonesian architect
Topane-petra Pandean, on the other hand,
made the summary observation that while
the numerous ethnic groups in Indonesia had
‘developed different forms of houses’, these
still all had ‘relatively identical characteristics
in relation to natural climatisation’, largely
owing to the ‘identical climatic circumstances’
in many regions of the country. This trans-
ethnic finding can be understood as a common
base for contemporary climatic research in
architecture in that region of the world, and
6 Monsoon Climate and the Architecture of Southeast Asia Monsoon Climate and the Architecture of Southeast Asia 7
Man-Made Weather
Toward new climatic research in architecture
Sascha Roesler Being responsible for 50 per cent of worldwide energy

consumption, the building sector is one of the primary causes
of CO2 emissions, and as such, is one of the key drivers of
climate change. The concept of ‘man-made weather’ has
developed − at least since the turn of the millennium − a
second and uncanny meaning, and one which grew out of the
first: the control of indoor microclimates by air conditioning
and central heating has contributed to the genesis of a new
global macroclimate. Increasingly, the climate is becoming
a hybrid between nature and culture and can no longer be
seen as a variable independent of mankind.
‘Man-made weather’, the working title of this research project on

natural ventilation, refers to an expression coined by the supposed inven-
tor of air conditioning for his novel discovery; American engineer Willis
Carrier made use of the phrase for decades in order to promote his patented
technology.1 His 1906 patent, A Method for Heating and Humidifying Air 2 ,
represents a seminal treatise of the 20th century, and its significance is com-
parable to Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, a book published
in the same period.3 Just as for Freud, the Interpretation of Dreams represent-
ed the key to the unconscious, air conditioning for Carrier was the key to
the weather. In both cases, an unromantic attempt was made to bring what
is in fact uncontrollable – the unconscious, the weather – under man’s con-
trol. In Carrier’s phrase ‘man-made weather’ connotes both the hopes of
the engineer and the rainmaker to add artificially created weather to some-
thing naturally given. Since Carrier, that artificial creation of weather has
meant harnessing four interdependent parameters of an overall system:
1) Controlling temperature
2) Controlling humidity
3) Controlling air circulation and ventilation
4) Cleansing the air 4
Fig. 01 Illustration of Willis Carrier’s patent, ‘A Method for Heating and Humidifying Air,’ 1906
8 Monsoon Climate: Man-Made Weather Sascha Roesler Sascha Roesler Monsoon Climate: Man-Made Weather 9
Control as ‘hegemonic model’ 5 My hypothesis is that the concept of ‘control’ represents the centre 1900
One might say with some justification that architectural modernity is of gravity in today’s climate-discourse in architecture. ‘Control’ is a para- Man-Made Weather
the tradition that ultimately brought the (interior) climate to heel. The no- digm of building services engineering that increasingly dominates the
= Air Conditioned
tion of heating or cooling entire buildings homogenously and independent- way architecture is considered in relation to climate. I would offer that the
control-paradigm’s demand for a homogenous indoor climate’ 7 has caused Building
ly of their external climatic conditions simply did not exist until around the
end of the nineteenth century. Since the middle of the twentieth century, many other aspects of climate relevant to architecture to be neglected. To
this need for control in both workplace and housing design has been ac- cite Bruno Latour, ‘the work of purification’ 8 in the climate-discourse in
companied by an increasing standardisation of indoor temperature, and architecture correlates outdoor climate again and again (even against bet- 2000
meantime, this has emerged a powerful global standard. We are striving ter knowledge) with nature, and the indoor climate with culture. Yet the Man-Made Weather
all over the world to maintain air temperature at 20°C and with 50 per cent majority of all structures remain excluded from this discourse, inasmuch = New Global
relative humidity. As architects, we are called upon to develop alternative as nature still governs the interiors of these buildings! Over and beyond the
global standard of comfort, numerous other forms of climate, architecture
Macroclimate*
energy concepts for new building models; we do so with an awareness of
where this global standard has brought us over the past hundred years. and individuals’ interaction have existed. ‘What used to be diverse, season-
Fig. 02 Willis Carrier Today, climate change spurs us once again to address, and in greater depth ally sensitive, “local” indoor weather patterns accompanied also by local * The Age of Anthropocene
than hitherto, the complex relationship between architecture and climate, conventions and competences in modifying and varying patterns of activity
in hopes of achieving a more sustainable way of building.6 and clothing, are being replaced by a highly uniform indoor climate, itself
an outcome of a universalising mode of scientific enquiry.’9 Architects today
would do well to investigate, and more thoroughly, this diversity outside of
the cognisance of building physics and building services engineering.
Climatic research in architecture

Today, climate change spurs us once again to address, and in greater
depth than hitherto, the complex relationship between architecture and
climate, in hopes of achieving a more sustainable way of building. I call
this preoccupation the climatic research in architecture (or of architects); and
I recently coined the term microclimate ethnography 10 for the empirical ele-
ment of the research. In this research project we have investigated thermal
structures, thermal practices and thermal regimes that either support or
neglect the use and re-use of natural forms of ventilation. Allow me to set
out, in three brief points, my view of how architects could approach con-
temporary climatic research.
Fig. 04 Book cover, 1969
(1) Thermal structures
The first point concerns what I would refer to as thermal structures.
Related to the concept that has been termed ‘passiveness’ 11 since the 1960s,
these structures take a place under the heading of vernacular and infor-
mal construction. Until the mass proliferation of central heating and air
conditioning, built structures always featured an inherent thermal dimen-
sion. Reyner Banham rightly speaks of ‘structure as prime controller of
environment’.12 Thick walls in a hot-dry climate also serve as thermal
reservoirs, absorbing the incident heat and keeping interiors cool. Only
since the epistemological divergence of buildings into the separate entities
of ‘structure’ on the one hand and ‘building services’ on the other, have
structures lost their thermal significance, becoming pure load-bearing enti-
ties accompanied by non-load-bearing elements such as thermal, acoustic
and other supplementary functions. By investigating approaches that once
again conjoin structural and (building services) technological thinking in
the construction field, this epistemological separation between structure
and building services is likely to be abandoned. Thus, my first point of cli-
Fig. 03 Romanticising the climate of the island of Bali (Indonesia). Walter Spiess’s ‘The Landscape and Her Children’, 1939 matic research in architecture is the investigation of thermal structures.
(2) Thermal practices (3) Thermal regimes
The second point concerns what I would call thermal practices. An un- The third point ultimately relates to what I would call thermal regimes.
derstanding of climatisation informed by vernacular architecture is based This concept connotes the complex relationship that societies form with
upon the awareness of the constant and inevitable interplay between body their climates in different periods. Indeed, architecture is one fundamental
and building, between corporeal and building ‘technologies’, between ways territory of thermal regimes, but certainly not the only one. With increas-
of life and ways of building. Thermally relevant activities that take place ing frequency, modern thermal regimes are superimposed upon naturally
near and inside buildings are traditionally an integral part of any climati- given environmental conditions. Only the reflection of this new artificial cli-
sation culture. An example of thermal practices would be the way people matic order (=thermal regimes) fosters architects’ interrogation of climate-
inhabit their houses according to the season or the time of day, or how they related epistemologies. The relationship between architecture and climate
vary their manner of dress relative to the changing outdoor temperature. is socially preconditioned, evident when one considers the thermal regimes
One might concur with architectural theorist James Fitch, who states, ‘our of diverse societies. How do, for example, thermal regimes in Switzerland
very concepts of warmth and coolness are relative and highly subjective’.13 compare with those in Singapore? That thermal regimes acquire their po-
Today’s architects have to learn alongside their clients to design buildings litical and legal dimensions through governance and norms must be taken
whose climate control strategies make a foundation for the thermal prac- into consideration. This is the third point of a climatic research in archi-
tices of their future users. This is my second point of a climatic research in tecture – the investigation of thermal regimes.
architecture – the investigation of thermal practices.
We are striving all over the world to maintain air temperature

at 20°C and with 50 per cent relative humidity.
References Roesler, Sascha (2013) ‘On the Use of Slots 8

Latour, Bruno (1993), p. 11.
and Shafts. Informal Cooling Strategies
Altomonte, Sergio (2008) ‘Climate as Indicators for New Cooling Concepts – 9
Shove, Elizabeth (2009), p. 38.
Change and Architecture: Mitigation and Microclimate Ethnography in the Ard el
Adaptation. Strategies for a Sustainable Lewa Informal Quarter of Cairo (Egypt)’, 10
Roesler, Sascha (2013).
Development’, Journal of Sustainable FCL Magazine, N° 1, Sept., Singapore.
Development, Vol. 1, N° 1, March.
11
See: Bowen, Arthur et al. (eds.) (1981).
Shove, Elizabeth (2009) ‘Manufacturing
Banham, Reyner (1969) The Architecture of weather: climate change, indoors and out’, 12
Banham, Reyner (1969), p. 25.
the Well-tempered Environment. Chicago: The in Jankovic, Vladimir/Barboza, Christina
University of Chicago Press. (eds.), Weather, Local Knowledge and 13
Fitch, James Marston with William
Everyday Life, Rio de Janeiro. Bobenhausen (1999 [1949]), p. 37.
Bowen, Arthur et al. (eds.) (1981). Passive
Cooling, Proceedings of the International Soper, Kate (1995) What is Nature? Culture,
Passive and Hybrid Cooling Conference, Politics and the Non-human, Blackwell
Publishers Limited. Image Credits
Miami Beach.
de Dear, R J/Leow, K G/Foo, S C (1991) Fig. 01: Unites States Patent and Tradmark
‘Thermal comfort in the humid tropics: Office.
Endnotes
Field experiments in air conditioned and
naturally ventilated buildings in Singapore’, Fig. 02: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol.
1
See: Banham, Reyner (1969), p. 172. File:Willis_Carrier_1915.jpg
34, Number 4.
2
US Patent 854270. Fig. 03: chaari.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/
Fitch, James Marston with William walter-spies-orientalist-painter-of-magical-
Bobenhausen (1999 [1949]) American
3
Freud, Sigmund (1900). bali/
Building (2). The Environmental Forces that
Shape It. Oxford University Press, New York.
4
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Carrier Fig. 04: Architectural Press.
[accessed 24.01.2014].
Freud, Sigmund (1900) Die Traumdeutung, Fig. 05: Department of Special Collections,
Franz Deuticke: Leipzig und Wien.
5
Shove, Elizabeth (2009), p. 39. Stanford University Libraries.
Latour, Bruno (1993) We Have Never

6
Altomonte, Sergio (2008), p. 97.
Been Modern, Harvard University Press:
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
7
de Dear, R J/Leow, K G/Foo, S C (1991),
Fig. 05 Proposal for a new thermal regime for the borough of Manhattan, New York. p. 264.
Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao. Dome Over Manhattan, 1960
What the Climate
Is and Was
The monsoon of Southeast Asia
Karoline Kostka One reason to consider the larger region of Southeast Asia as
a whole is its climate. The climate of this Asian sub-region is
‘noticeably uniform, characterised by constant temperatures,
high relative humidity, heavy precipitation and regular
recurrence of the monsoon winds.’ 1 Southeast Asia’s tropical
climate is dominated by the rhythm of an alternating wet
season, the ‘summer season’ starting around June with
heavy precipitation and a dry season, the ‘winter season’
beginning in December with little rainfall. Over the course
of one year, both monsoon seasons are interrupted by an
inter-monsoon period. In the recent past, this weather pattern
has increasingly lost its stability, such that monsoon in
Southeast Asia is significantly less pronounced.
Today, the term ‘Southeast Asia’ refers to those landmasses and archi-
pelagos that are covered by the states of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.2
Numerous small islands and island clusters, constituting the Archipelago
of Southeast Asia as the world’s largest, dominate the area.3 The unity of
the larger region of Southeast Asia in terms of its common climate suggests
a research method that transcends purely local approaches. By referring to
‘nations’ alone, one is not capable of re-imagining the relationship among
architecture, territory and climate, without confronting the pitfalls of re-
gionalism. Modern climatic research in architecture, therefore, has to move
between different scales (from XL to S) and between different territories.
Today, ‘monsoon’ has three major definitions, as listed below.
Fig. 01 In August, the landmass of the island of Singapore heats up more quickly than the surrounding waters of the Singapore Straits;
accordingly, clouds drift over the island, resulting in heavy rainfall
14 Monsoon Climate: What the Climate Is and Was Karoline Kostka Karoline Kostka Monsoon Climate: What the Climate Is and Was 15
East- Asian
Monsoon
Indian
American Monsoon
Monsoon
North American Monsoon

Tropics of Cancer
West- African
Monsoon
Monsoon Territory
Equator South- American

Monsoon
South- Asian
Monsoon
North-West Pacific
East African Monsoon
Tropics of Capricorn Monsoon
Asian-Australian Monsoon
African Monsoon
South- American
Monsoon
Decisive phenomenological Monsoon Indicators
Change of prevailing Wind direction

Wind direction July
Wind direction December
lenght of the wind arrow
indicated a Windspeed of 2 m/s
Fig. 02 The area stretching from central
Surface Temperatures West Africa all the way to India, Japan,
18˚ Isotherm demarcates the land area and Australia in the south is defined as the
where temperatures never fall below than 18˚ major global monsoon territory. The major
Steady cold Water Streams and Currents monsoon indicators are defined by criteria
Water SurfaceTemperature of 29˚ such as prevailing winds, surface tem-
peratures, and overall pressure areas along
Water SurfaceTemperature of 27˚
the equator. As a system, the planetary
monsoon joins 3 major regions affected (the
ITC (Intertropical Convergence), a wide the low pressure
belts near the equator where the north and south trade winds Northeast-American, the African and the
clash resulting in generally strong convective cloud. Asian-Australian Monsoon Regions) into
Due to different surface temperatures during the seasons, one highly vulnerable ‘patch’, and defines
the ITC shifts along the equatore to the tropics of cancer 9 other sub-regions, each of which meets
and capricorn. the same criteria of monsoon indication.
Within the planetary monsoon system, the
July Southeast Asia Monsoon is a sub-region in
December the Asian–Australian Monsoon Zone
Fig. 03 Summer Monsoon > 1250 mm 500 mm Fig. 04 Winter Monsoon
(southwest wind and 1000 mm 250 mm (northeast wind
heavy precipitation) 750 mm 125 mm and precipitation)
500 mm 25 mm
Indicated are both the 250 mm 12,5 mm In December and January,
mean monthly precipitation 125 mm 6.25 mm the mean precipitation is
for June and July, and the 25 mm 0 mm lower than in summer, and
monsoonal wind directions. no precipitation information no precipitation information is marked by pronounced
In summer, a large conti- Monsoonal Winds Monsoonal Winds winds from the Northeast.
nental landmass heats up In winter, while the large
more quickly than the ocean Asian landmass cools down,
water that surrounds it. This the surrounding ocean water
makes a lower pressure along the equator stays
area above the sea, and relatively warm. Cold, dry
draws humid and moist air air flows from the land out
in a southwesterly direction over the ocean, heats up,
where, ultimately, it reaches rises, and then releases
the warmer land, and con- moisture over the ocean
denses into rain and islands
Monsoon definitions
(1) Prevailing surface winds (3) Geographical area
The Indian Monsoon is the most pronounced and, at same time, the Finally, the phenomenon ‘monsoon’ is often equated with the geograph-
one credited with the word’s origin. ‘Monsoon’ derives from the Arabian ical description of monsoon regions. Regional monsoons are described over
‘mausim’, the word for ‘season’. The term was first used in British India six sectors: Africa, Asia-Australia, North America, South America, Pacific
and neighbouring countries to refer to the heavy seasonal winds blowing and Atlantic oceans, thereby collectively configuring the global monsoon
in from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in the southwest, both of system. The two major monsoon sub-systems of the world are the West
which brought heavy rainfall to the area. Primarily, the term refers to very African and Asian-Australian monsoons. Within these two systems, com-
direction-stable regional winds, in conjunction with a two-time reversal of mon climate conditions determine the different monsoon regions and their
the most common wind direction over southern Asia and the Indian Ocean tropical ecology, the landscape of each region having a specific and unique
in the course of a year. Monsoon winds are accompanied by regular heavy identity.7 The understanding of the global monsoon system is of major im-
precipitation occurrences, caused by those seasonal changes in lower atmos- portance given that today, more than 50 per cent (3.9 billion) of the world’s
pheric circulation that is typically associated with the asymmetric heating population live in monsoon regions, which cover one quarter of the earth’s
of land and sea. landmass.8 In addition to their climates, monsoon regions have a growing
urban population in common, as evidenced by major urban densities such
(2) Global climate system as Hong Kong, Macao, and Singapore.
More and more, ‘monsoons’ refer to very large-scale wind circulations
that can simultaneously affect − and be affected by − global climate. They
are notorious weather incidents with annual ‘metronomic’ regularity. The
monsoons (reversal surface winds) are mainly caused by a) the migra-
tion of the zenith position of the sun between the tropics of Cancer 22.5° N
and Capricorn 22.5° S; b) different heating and cooling properties of wa- ‘Monsoons’ refer to very large-scale wind circulations that
ter and land; and c) corresponding windage. The chain reactions affecting can simultaneously affect − and be affected by – global climate.
weather patterns throughout the world are collectively known as ‘global
tele-connection’.4 The global tele-connection explains causes by other geo-
graphic events in the area of trade winds. More recently proposed, the
‘global monsoon’ 5 hypothesis interprets monsoon systems as ‘part of one
global-scale atmospheric overturning circulation, implying a connection
between the regional monsoon systems and an in-phase behaviour of all
northern hemispheric monsoons on annual timescales.’ 6
Southeast Asian monsoon
The Southeast Asian monsoon region is located in the centre of the
Asian-Australian monsoon system. Asian-Australian monsoon affects
East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Australasian islands and north-
ern Australia. According to climate types, Southeast Asian monsoon is a
‘Tropical Monsoon Climate’ (Am) and a ‘Tropical Wet / Rainforest Climate’
(Af ).9 Throughout the year average temperatures exceed 18° C, while the
mean precipitation ranges from 1500 to 2500 mm: three times the world’s
average rainfall. For the most part, monsoon tropical areas are situated
within the realm of developing countries. Since many of their societies
rely on rain-fed agriculture, prediction of the amount, timing and loca-
tion of monsoon winds and rains is crucial to their communities’ interest.
Although some 60 per cent of the region’s population still lives under rural
conditions, the Asian-Australian monsoon system also affects some of the
world’s largest cities. This raises the need to understand monsoon as an
urban design phenomenon, and one that must be treated in the context of
‘city climate’ theory.
Monsoon prediction and climate change

Current spatial strategies in the context of climate change in Southeast
Asia embrace risk-based land-use planning initiatives. These include the
Fig. 05 Average annual rainfall role of green spaces and environmental buffers such as large-scale man-
in Sumatra (map published 1981)
grove planting for protection against eroding coasts and future sea-level
rise.10 In 2009 the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change identified the regions most vulnerable to climate change impacts by
overlaying climate hazard (called ‘Climate Change Vulnerability Mapping
for Southeast Asia’). Climate hazards are thus defined as the frequency of
droughts, floods, and cyclones over about 20 years (1980–2000), physi-
cal exposure to landslides, and inundation zones of a five-meter sea level
rise. ‘Based on this mapping assessment, the most vulnerable regions in
Southeast Asia include’:
– Cambodia (almost all regions)

– Indonesia (West and East Java): exposure to droughts, floods, landslides,
sea level rise
– Indonesia (West and South Sumatra): exposure to droughts, floods, land-
slides, sea level rise
– Lao PDR (North and East regions)
– Philippines (all the regions): exposure to tropical cyclones, landslides,
floods, droughts
– Thailand (Bangkok region): exposure to sea level rise, floods
– Vietnam (Mekong River Delta): exposure to sea level rise
– Vietnam (Eastern coastal areas): exposure to tropical cyclones, droughts 11
Fig. 06 Overview of the winds

in Sumatra
Since the 1950s, the presence of El Niño (or El change, the temperatures of ocean water increase,
Niño Southern Oscillation) has intensified. From resulting in a decrease of temperature difference (as
East Africa to the United States, droughts and regards land and ocean surface). At the same time
floods have increased in number the overall pressure areas lose
markedly, and represent phe- their intensity, resulting in lower
nomena that could start a chain
For some years, equilibrium forces and weaker
reaction throughout the atmos- monsoon in Southeast Asia winds. For some years, monsoon
phere, causing stronger lows and has been significantly in Southeast Asia has been sig-
heavier rain. By acknowledging less pronounced. nificantly less pronounced. As
the global monsoon system, the a result, heavy rains during the
overall planetary influence on monsoon season will occur with
wind, rain, temperature, vegetation and air circula- increasing regional impact and with higher frequency
tion became an important focus in climate under- over the course of time. In some regions however, the
standing. With the rising water level caused by climate rain fails almost entirely.
Fig. 07 Ethnic groups in Southeast Asia
References Endnotes 8
de.slideshare.net/lschmidt1170/
chapter7-10793606 [accessed 21.05.2015].
Jha, A K and Brecht, H (2011) ‘Building 1
Villiers, John (1984 [1965]), p. 13.
Urban Resilience in East Asia’, in An Eye on Translation by the author.
9
On the basis of moisture regime and tem-
East Asia and Pacific, No. 8. The World Bank. perature, the humid tropics are also termed
2
Source: asean.org [accessed 11.08.2015]. ‘warm humid tropics’. Exceptions within this
Kottek, M et al. (2006) ‘World Map of zone are the highlands of this geographical
Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification 3
See: Tomascik, Tomas (1997). area. The Köppen and Geiger climate clas-
updated’, in Meteorol. Z, 15. sification uses temperature, precipitation
4
Wang, B and Q Ding (2008). and elevation information to indicate high
Ramage, C (1971), ‘Monsoon Meteorology’, altitude climate types and links additionally
in International Geophysics Series, Vol. 15, San 5
See Wang and Ding (2008) and Trenberth to natural vegetation patterns. See Kottek,
Diego: Academic Press. et al. (2000). M et al. (2006), p. 259–263.
Tomascik, Tomas (1997) ‘The Ecology of the 6

Trenberth et al. (2000), p. 13.
10
Jha, A K and Brecht, H (2011), p. 12.
Indonesian Seas’, in The Ecology of Indonesia
Series, Part One, Vol. 7. 7
East Asia with mountain ranges, plateaus
11
Yusuf, A A and Francisco, H A (2009), p. 6.
and basins; South Asia with lower moun-
Trenberth, K E et al. (2000), ‘The global tain ranges, deltas and river plains; and
monsoon as seen through the divergent at- Southeast Asia with mainly archipelagos Image Credits
mospheric circulation’, in Journal of Climate. and sea. Monsoon regions are determined
Potential areas of major by: ‘Prevailing wind shifts by a minimum
Sea level rise Fig. 01–04, 08: Karoline Kostka.
Villiers, John (1984 [1965]) Südostasien vor 120° between July and January’; ‘Average
High probability of der Kolonialzeit, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer frequency of prevailing wind direction
Potential areas of major vulnerability by hazard of Fig. 05: Ministriy of Interior, Republic of
droughts and warmth Weltgeschichte Vol. 18. in January and July that exceeds 40 %’;
Sea level rise
‘Mean resultant wind in at least one of the Indonesia, Land Use Planning Directorate
High probability of Medium probability of Wang, B and Ding, Q (2008) ‘The global month exceeds 3 m sec-1’; ‘Fewer than one and General Agrarian Directorate.
vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of
Potential areas of major
droughts and warmth
monsoon: Major modes of annual variations cyclone-anticyclone alternation occurs
Sea level rise droughts and warmth Fig. 06: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT),
in the tropics’, in Dynamics of Atmos. and every two Years in either month in a 5°
High probability of Medium probability of Ocean. latitude-longitude rectangle’. See Ramage, C University of Leiden.
Low probability of
vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of (1971), p. 6.
Potential areas of major
Sea level rise
droughts and warmth droughts and warmth droughts and warmth Yusuf, A A and Francisco, H A (2009) Fig. 07: Roxana Waterson, The Living House.
Potential areas of major High probability of Medium probability of Low probability of Center and scope of empirical Climate Change Vulnerability Mapping for
Sea level rise vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of probability of vulnerability by Southeast Asia, Economy and Environment
droughts and warmth droughts and warmth droughts and warmth Hazard overlay sea-level rise Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA).
High probability of
vulnerability by hazard of and floods
Medium probability of Low probability of Center and scope of empirical
droughts and warmth
vulnerability by hazard of vulnerability by hazard of probability of vulnerability by
Fig. Medium
08 Southeast
probabilityAsia
of is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change impact
droughts and warmth droughts and warmth Hazard overlay sea-level rise
and floods
vulnerability by hazard of Center and scope of empirical
Low probability of
droughts and warmth probability of vulnerability by
vulnerability by hazard of
droughts and warmth Hazard overlay sea-level rise
Low probability of andWas
floods
22 vulnerability
Monsoon Climate:
by hazard of What the Climate Is and Karoline Kostka Karoline Kostka Monsoon Climate: What the Climate Is and Was 23
Center and scope of empirical
droughts and warmth probability of vulnerability by
Hazard overlay sea-level rise
Center and scope of empirical
and floods
probability of vulnerability by
What the Climate
Does
Climate, culture, and construction
Sascha Roesler, Indigenous, or more generally spoken, vernacular building

Karoline Kostka
can be understood as the evolutionary result of precise − albeit
pre-scientific − observations of the environment. Research
into vernacular architecture has amassed a tremendous
amount of evidence that indicates a close correlation between
climate, culture, and construction. In vernacular cognition,
architecture relies on climate, and climate is perceived by
means of architecture and construction. Natural ventilation
is set up at the intersection of climate, tropical ecology,
and architecture.
James Fleming and Vladimir Jankovic have recently argued that

there are ‘index- and agency-based readings of climate’.1 From their point
of view, the ‘definition of climate’ as a ‘statistical index’ is a relatively new
phenomenon. By conceiving of it as an index, ‘climate has been eroded to
an abstract three-dimensional geophysical system, rather than an intimate
ground-level experience.’ 2 Historically, ‘climate has more often been de-
fined as what it does rather than what it is. This means that climate has not
usually been seen as an indicator of weather trends, but as a force − and
a resource – informing social habits, economic welfare, health, diet, and
even the total “energy of nations”. In these domains of social life, climate
as agency has helped translate matters of concern into matters of fact. […]
Early modern scholars […] saw climate prescriptively as the norm that con-
nected environmental features with social potentials. In this sense, climate
literally produced seasons and endemic disease, vegetation and diet, soil
and vernacular architecture, customs and political organisation. Climate
was considered as agency organising social experience as a result of the
material circumstances of life.’ 3
Fig. 01 Courtyard of the premises of Chinese businessman Tjong A Fie (1860–1921), Medan (Indonesia)
24 Monsoon Climate: What the Climate Does Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka Monsoon Climate: What the Climate Does 25
Monsoon landscapes
500 km 15 km 2 km 50 m 2m
LAYER During the six-year journey he took through the Malaysian archipel-
ago between 1854 and 1862, Alfred Russel Wallace kept a diary, in which,
Atmosphere among many other things, he describes
Troposphere the island of Singapore.Canopy
Boundary layer 4
His
layerde- Suface layer
scriptions give the modern reader insights into how the flora and fauna,
as well as the climate of Singapore, presented themselves to a European
traveller. Wallace describes a forested island, one still significantly shaped
500 km 15 km by its natural parameters:2 km ‘The island of Singapore 50 m consists of a multitude 2m
of small hills, three or four hundred feet high, the summits of many of
which are still covered with virgin forest. The mission-house at Bukit-tima
ere Troposphere Boundary layer Canopy layer Suface layer
was surrounded by several of these wood-topped hills, which were much
frequented by woodcutters and sawyers, and offered me an excellent col-
lecting ground for insects. […] Several hours in the middle of every fine
day were spent in these patches of forest, which were delightfully cool and Fig. 04 Monsoon rainforest. Secondary tropical rainforest Fig. 05 Monsoon rainforest. Secondary tropical rainforest at Bukit
2 km 50 m 2m
shady by contrast with the bare open country we had to walk over to reach at the MacRitchie Nature Trail & Reservoir in Singapore, 2015 Lavang, Sumatra, Indonesia, 2013
them. The vegetation was most luxuriant, comprising enormous forest
Boundary layer
trees, as well as a variety
Canopy layer
of ferns, caladiums, and other undergrowth, and
Suface layer
abundance of climbing rattan palms.’ 5
The tropical rain-forest is the climax vegetation of the humid tropics. A Although the long-term planetary climate has shaped the landscapes
2 km 50 m wide
2m range of vegetation types grows in the humid tropics, with numerous of the Southeast Asian monsoon region, these landscapes are both object
tree species of varying height, canopy structure, and biomass.6 Three types and subject, both effect and cause of climatic phenomena. Over time, and
of forest can be distinguished: tropical rain-forests in the lowlands, moist with their distinct characteristics, they became the visible indicator of ex-
yer Canopy layer Suface layer
deciduous forests in regions with a pronounced dry season, and montane treme climate and temporary weather conditions. Southeast Asia’s land-
forests in the high lands.7 The tropical rain-forest vegetation is diverse and scape consists of disproportional solids and fluids with different heating
complex and characterized by the following: high biodiversity (comprising and cooling properties, voids and barriers for wind circulation and dense
50 m 2m 40−50 per cent of Earth’s five to ten million species); high plant biomass high vegetation that creates wind-friction, but at the same time, enables
(ranging from 200 to 400 Mg/ha, with most of the biomass accumulat- wind velocity and bundles moisture and humidity. The islands and archi- Fig. 06 A Section (AA’) in main
ing in the first eight to ten years); a concentration of a large proportion of pelagos are determined by three major characteristics that can only be iden- wind SW – NE directions reveals a
nopy layer Suface layer
the total nutrient capital within the plant biomass; a rapid rate of nutrient tified as the monsoon landscape of Southeast Asia: sequence of main landscape ele-
ments that impacts the monsoon
Fig. 02 Different monsoon layers recycling; a multi-storey canopy of mature tropical rainforest containing climate (voids and barriers):
determine the climate conditions numerous species in different strata; and a virtually closed ecosystem for 1) land-water relation of vast sea with relatively large islands and long the Pacific Ocean, the Island of
and scale of weather phenomena most nutrients and water within the mature or high (tropical) rainforest.8 coastlines Sumatra, the Straits of Singapore
and Malacca, the Peninsular of
2) islands with high altitudes in relation to the sea water level and Malaysia, and the Gulf of Thailand
3) tropical rainforest vegetation on volcanic soils.
Fig. 03 The Southeast Asian (island) monsoon landscape is characterised by a disproportion of solids (landmass) and fluids (sea water)
Southwest monsoon during the summer season (June to September): Humid air from the pressure high of the Pacific Ocean reaches the Northeast monsoon during the winter season (December to early March): Dry air from the pressure high of the Malay Peninsular crosses
warmer Sumatran mainland. As the air stream develops over the vast ocean surface, the elevated island topography (highlands of Leuser the Straits of Malacca and reaches the lowlands of Sumatra in the east. There, the stream is blocked again by the highlands of Leuser
National Park) act as a barrier for air stream movement, and as a result, heavy precipitation occurs. The winds approaching Singapore from the National Park. The moisture is released in moderate precipitation
direction of Sumatra are called ‘Sumatras’. They are common in this season, which is also known as ‘hazy period’ in Singapore
Monsoon landscapes of Southeast Asia are determined by three major landscape elements; topography, vegetation, and soil types Built heritage
Exactly 100 years after Wallace, the American architect Dorothy Pelzer
travelled through the Malaysian archipelago with no less a systematic ap-
proach. In contrast to Wallace, however, who had set out to study the natu-
ral history of the region, Pelzer documented the vernacular architecture of
Southeast Asia – just before sweeping transformations in it took effect. In
the eight years following 1963, Pelzer travelled alone and even under ad-
verse socio-political conditions through Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand,
Fig. 08 Topography Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.9 She wrote
In Southeast Asia, the area covered by the that her ‘project was a book on traditional house types of Southeast Asia, to Fig. 11 Recurring symbols in the
sea is approximately four times the land house building of the Sa’dan Toraja,
area. Over 90 % (app. 2 million km2 ) of be recorded in photographs and measured drawings. The most interesting
Sulawesi, Indonesia, 1965.
the total land area is Islands, but less than of these houses everywhere were fast becoming lost – built as they were in Dorothy Pelzer
25 % of the total archipelago area (appr. perishable wood, bamboo, and thatch, in a physical climate taking heavy
8 million km2 ) is land. This disproportion of
(is)land – ocean distribution, with big islands toll on such materials, and in a mental climate fast abandoning old forms
and high altitudes, sets a regional founda- in the rush for imported “progress”’.10
tion for an extremely pronounced monsoon
climate
The principles of stilt house construction and permeability

Deciduous
comprise the two central climate-related constructional
Fig. 12 Village of the Sa’dan Toraja,
Evergreen
Mixed trees
approaches in the indigenous architecture of Southeast Asia. Sulawesi, Indonesia, 1965.
Gras- and shrub land Dorothy Pelzer
Numerous observations can be found in Pelzer’s notes that offer in-

formation on how construction − before the beginnings of modern archi-
tecture − dealt with climatic factors in the region. The tropical, hot-humid
Fig. 09 Vegetation conditions had (for reasons easily grasped) led to filigree models: air-
The tropical rainforests (TRF) is the climax permeable and elevated building structures. Indeed, the principles of stilt
vegetation of these soils. Many lianas house construction and permeability comprise the two central climate-relat-
(woody vines) and herbaceous epiphytes Fig. 13 Completion of a column
(air plants), such as orchids, are present. ed constructional approaches in the indigenous architecture of Southeast
in a village of the Sa’dan Toraja,
Monsoon forests’ evergreen forests are Asia.11 Pelzer summarises the constructional peculiarity, shaped by timber Sulawesi, Indonesia, 1965.
especially well developed all over Southeast building techniques, of this larger region as follows: ‘This whole study is a Dorothy Pelzer
Asia, and are typified by tall teak trees and
thickets of bamboo study of construction without nails. When there are nails, there is already
Western influence – except possibly Chinese influence, Chinese Nails.’ 12
Timber, bamboo and natural fibres were the materials most suited for use
under such averse conditions. Pelzer describes, for instance, how the cen-
Utisols
tral element of the ridge of the roof was chosen: to find the necessary mate-
Oxisols
rial meant having to go find it in the forest. She writes, ‘Ridge: Construction
of ridge very important. Judge quality of house by it. From djior wood
Inceptisol
(Indonesian: djuhar). One piece. Its length limits size of house. Search the
forest very long to find the best. Djior wood very long and flexible.’ 13
Climate (and with it, the tropical ecology) was a transcendent variable,
Fig. 10 Soil types to which humans were subordinate, and they had to adapt as precisely as
Similar to vegetation, the soils of the humid possible to it by means of their architecture. Yet the gods had been granted
tropics are also diverse and highly variable. the ability to manipulate the climate according to their own interests. The
The predominant soil types are the groups
of Utisols and Oxisols, soils that occur in godly Hindu king of the Batak ethnic group in Sumatra, Singa Mangaradja,
regions without a marked dry season. They for example, possessed ‘no secular power, but was seen as someone who
are primarily loaded with clay minerals with held sway over the weather’ 14 ; his power to rule the climate was an expres-
or without plinthite or laterite. Air-dried Fig. 14 Illustration of William
laterite (lat. ‘brick’) is used as brick in the sion of his godly status. Marsden’s The History of Sumatra,
regional construction industry 1784
Fig. 15 Section of a Toba Batak village. Drawing by Gaudenz Domenig Fig. 16 Typical Toba Batak house
M: Monsoon M: Monsoon
T: Tropical Ecology T: Tropical Ecology
A: Architecture A: Architecture
Fig. 21 Vernacular Model of Climate, Tropical Ecology and Architecture Fig. 22 Urban Model of Climate, Tropical Ecology and Architecture*
* The Age of Anthropocene
Fig. 17 Axonometric projection of Fig. 18 and interior of a shophouse in Urban traditions of natural ventilation
a shophouse in Singapore Medan (Indonesia)
The governing question of this research project is how the cultural
heritage of natural ventilation might today − under conditions of wide-
spread social and environmental change and advancing urbanisation − be
renewed and reintroduced into the urban architecture of Southeast Asia.
How to gear, for instance, the (horizontal) vernacular architecture of the
shophouse towards the (vertical) high-rise building? Beside the indigenous
filigree construction techniques of the villages (stilt buildings), the urban
heritage of the Chinese massive construction (shophouses), and the colo-
nial and postcolonial style known as Tropical Architecture are the histori-
cal points of contact for today’s concepts of natural ventilation. An urban
practice of climate control, familiar throughout Southeast Asia since the
11th century, was established by Chinese settlers. Shophouses are courtyard
houses in a hot-humid climatic zone, which fundamentally influenced ur-
banisation in Southeast Asia.15 We can distinguish two basic principles of
natural ventilation at work in courtyard houses; both kinds are also of the
greatest relevance for the natural ventilation of high-rise buildings today:
‘The architectural design can ensure such natural air movement through
two principles. In the first, differences in wind velocity produce a pres-
Fig. 19 Front elevation of the former Deli Maastschappji headquarter building, Medan's largest Fig. 20 The two-storey masonry building is sure differential that results in air flowing from the higher to the lower air
tobacco company at the time, at Jalan Tembakau Deli. Designed by Dutch architect D. Berendse elevated from the ground mainly for reasons pressure region. In the second, air is warmed, causing convection, with the
in 1910 in a British-colonial classicistic style, the building incorporates some typical tropical of flooding and natural ventilation. The base warm air rising and being replaced by cooler air.’ 16
climate architecture features opening below the balustrade brings in fresh
air to the inner laying rooms
Medan Singapore Medan and Singapore
Population (urban: city of Medan, not the metropolitan area) Population (total) An urban culture of natural ventilation brings together the aforemen-
6 Mio.
tioned heritage and the demands of modernisation. For reasons of sus-
tainability and cost, the question arises today as to how natural forms of
5,469,700
5 ventilation could once again be considered an option more often for the
Southeast Asian housing sector. The two case studies following address
4 Mio. 4,000,000? 4
the underlying mechanisms of ‘man-made weather’ in the cities of Medan
3.5
3
(Indonesia) and Singapore, and also explore how the city’s macroclimate
3
2.5
and the individual microclimate interact. To reconsider natural ventilation
2
2,046,973 2 in these cities means to acknowledge the interdependency of the various
1,898,093
1.5 Population (metropolitan) scales. In contrast to (horizontal) Medan, with its unregulated mass hous-
1
4,144,583 1 ing sector, (vertical) Singapore is strongly regulated. Singapore’s hous-
0.5 568,000
200 17,500 80,000
ing agency HDB is responsible for 85 % of all housing units on the island,
0 0
1823 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 while in Medan, almost two-thirds of all buildings are erected without any
governmental regulation. In the Indonesian city’s residential sector, this
is largely attributable to informal building industries and profit-orientied
Area (urban) Area (metropolitan) Area developers. Medan’s urban mass housing is economy-driven, whereas
265 km2 2739 km2 718.3 km2 Singapore’s urban mass housing is based on a rigid political program that
was set up as early as in the 1960s.
Density (urban) Density (metropolitan) Density
7912/km2 1500/km2 7615/km2 While the monsoon climate in the two cities is almost identical, their
urban developments and − relative to that − their urban climates are dissim-
Pollution (Annual mean PM 10 ug/m³) Pollution (Annual mean PM 10 ug/m³)
ilar. Medan and Singapore each attach a different status and connotation
111 27 to natural ventilation. A comparison of the two locations, in fact, reveals
fundamental differences in the dynamics of their climate, culture and
Average salaries Medan (in USD): Average salaries Singapore (in USD):
methods of construction. While natural ventilation in Medan is challenged
by the conditions of poverty and high air pollution, natural ventilation in
maximum 2286 maximum 63,092 Singapore is confronted by the unprecedented victory of air-conditioning
average 1088 average 5574 and the abundance of sheer energy. Whereas Singapore’s energy-intensive
modern lifestyle dictates a new housing policy of diversified cooling con-
median 571 median 4194
cepts, Medan’s response has been simply to ensure a basic demand of com-
minimum 304 minimum 751 fort for large parts of the population.
Average monthly rainfall in mm Mean annual rainfall Average monthly rainfall in mm Mean annual rainfall
350
300
2125 mm 350
300
2340 mm
250 250
200 200
150 150
100
Days of rain/year 100
Days of rain/year
50 50
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D 146 0
J F M A M J J A S O N D 179
wet days wet days
dry days dry days
Mean max. and min. NW SE winds Mean max. and min. NNE SSW winds
temperatures in °C temperatures in °C Singapore (Changi)
August
N
NNW NNE
J F M A M J J A S O N D July J F M A M J J A S O N D
NW NE
10
33 33
32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 WNW ENE
31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31
30 30 30 30
29 29 W 0
E
January
WSW ESE
December
25
24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24
23 23 23 23 SW SE
22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 SSW SSE
S
Wind direction distribution in (%)
References Endnotes Image Credits
Brown, S, A J R Gillespie, and A E Lugo, 1989. 1

Fleming, James R/Jankovic, Vladimir Fig. 01, 03, 05, 16: Sascha Roesler.
Biomass estimation methods for tropical (2011), p. 3.
forest with applications to forest inventory Fig. 02, 04, 06–10: Karoline Kostka.
data. Forest Science. 2
Fleming, James R/Jankovic, Vladimir
(2011), p. 4. Fig. 11–13: Dorothy Pelzer Collection,
FAO (1992), Forest Resource Assessment Institute for Southeast Asian Studies,
1990 Project. Third Interim Report of the 3
Fleming, James R/Jankovic, Vladimir Singapore.
State of Tropical Forests. (Tenth World (2011), p. 2.
Forestry Congress), 17–26 September 1991. Fig. 14: Unknown.
Paris, France. 4
Wallace was no mere traveller, but rather
one of the most important naturalists of Fig. 15: Gaudenz Domenig.
Fathy, Hassan (1986) Natural Energy and the 19th century, independently conceiving
Vernacular Architecture, Chicago. the theory of evolution alongside Charles Fig. 17: Urban Redevelopment Authority
Darwin. See Wallace, Alfred Russel (2010 (URA) of Singapore.
Feriadi, Henry (1999). Natural Ventilation [1869]), p. 20.
Characteristics of Courtyard Buildings in Fig. 18, 20: Marcel Jäggi.
Tropical Climate, Dissertation National 5
Wallace, Alfred Russel (2010 [1869]),
University of Singapore. p. 23. Fig. 19: Sumatran Heritage Trust, Medan.
Fleming, James R/Jankovic, Vladimir (2011), 6

Holdridge, 1967; Lanly, 1982; Whitmore, Fig 21, 22: Sascha Roesler.
Revisiting Klima, in: Osiris, Vol. 26. 1984; Brown et al., 1989; Grainger, 1991)
Page 32: Ani Vihervaara. Sources: About
Grainger, A (1991), The Tropical Rain Forests 7
(Holdridge, 1967) Medan – The advent of a North Sumatran
and Man. New York: Columbia University Modern City, Johannes Vidodo, 2011;
Press. 8
The TRF vegetation as characterised Ensiklopedi Umum, Penerbitan Jajasan Kanisius,
by the report of the Forest Resource 1973; NEA, Records of Climate Station
Holdridge L R (1967), Life Zone Ecology, San Assessment Project (FAO, 1992) with refer- Mean; Singapore Ministry of Environment
Jose, Costa Rica: Tropical Science Center. ence to Grainger (1991), Holdridge (1967), and Resources, Key Environment Statistics,
Fig. 23 Medan Whitmore (1984) Air Quality, 2011; The World Bank, World
Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (1986) Development Indicators; WHO; Wikipedia;
Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage – Images of 9
According to: Institute for Southeast Asian www.salaryexplorer.com
Traditional Communities. Singapore. Studies (1986), p. 17.
Fig 23: Aulia Nasution.
Lanly, J P (1982), Tropical Forest Resources. 10
Pelzer, Dorothy (1982), p. 2.
Forestry Paper No. 30. Rome: Food and Fig 24: Ani Vihervaara.
Agriculture Organization of the United 11
Or with words of the early British-colonial
Nations. orientalist William Marsden: ‘In their
buildings neither stone, brick, nor clay, are
Marsden, William (1784) The History ever made use of, which is the case in most
of Sumatra: Containing an Account of the countries where timber abounds, and where
Government, Laws, Customs and Manners of the warmth of the climate renders the free
the Native Inhabitants, with a Description of admission of air, a matter rather to be de-
the Natural Productions, and a Relation of the sired, than guarded against.’ See: Marsden,
Ancient Political State of That, London. William (1784).
Pelzer, Dorothy (1982) Trek Across Indonessia, 12

Institute for Southeast Asian Studies:
Singapore. Dorothy Pelzer Collection, DP 1b, Common
Factors.
Villiers, John (1984 [1965]) Südostasien vor
der Kolonialzeit, Fischer Weltgeschichte Vol. 13
Institute for Southeast Asian Studies:
18, Frankfurt am Main, Dorothy Pelzer Collection, DP 1b, Common
Factors.
Wallace, Alfred Russel (2010 [1869]) The
Malay Archipelago, Beaufoy Books, Oxford. 14
Villiers, John (1984 [1965]), p. 89.
Translation by Sascha Roesler.
Whitmore, T C (1984), Tropical Rain Forests
of the Far East. Oxford: Oxford University 15
See: Feriadi, Henry (1999).
Press.
16
Fathy, Hassan (1986), p. 52.
Fig. 24 Singapore
CASE STUDY MEDAN one scale have unexpected effects at other
scales which cannot be ignored. Looking
at Medan’s urban development one has to
Medan is infamous for being the Southeast question traditional epistemologies of climate
Asian city with the highest air pollution levels, and consider adjustments of natural venti-
and whose air quality is tainted by traffic, lation strategies.
manufacturing, and plantation industries. The
middle and upper classes want to be shielded
from the environmental reality of smog, haze
and dust by inhabiting and working in air-
conditioned buildings. In this case study we
will explore aspects of a fundamental climate
dilemma triggered by rapid economic develop-
ment and the public’s desire for enhanced
living conditions; a serious and multi-faceted
issue that requires long-term study. Nowadays,
natural ventilation has a vanishingly low
profile when it comes to the design of cooling
techniques and ventilation systems in newly
erected buildings. Air pollution not only
alters expectations of housing, but also
contributes to the vulnerable dependency of
urban mass housing on the regional electrical
infrastructure. The various scales of the city
are interconnected: processes occurring at
36 Case Study Medan Case Study Medan 37

Emergence of New
Building Industries
From wood to soil-based construction
Marcel Jäggi Extensive deforestation has led to the scarcity of what was
once Southeast Asia’s most important building material, so
nowadays, other construction materials are being substituted
for timber. Bricks are obviously cheaper, while large-scale
use of valuable timber is frequently prohibited in the effort to
protect the remaining forests. Anthropologist Christian Pelras
sums up this fundamental development in the construction
sector of Southeast Asia − from timber to bricks − with the
view that ‘the main architectural change occurring nowadays
[…] is not evolution but technical change’.1 Accordingly,
the knowledge of how to construct a wooden house is slowly
fading away, such knowledge that would include skills for
cooling a building without mechanical means, for example.2
Fig. 01 Digger dredging for soil at ‘Pantai Lau Puyuh’ in Namo Ukur (south of Binjaj city, Medan area)
38 Medan: Emergence of New Building Industries Marcel Jäggi Marcel Jäggi Medan: Emergence of New Building Industries 39
Fig. 04 The plantation belt around the
city of Medan
Fig. 02 Chopped forest and drainage canal under construction at a tobacco plantation. Circa 1890–1905
Fig. 05 The five most important plantation

crops in East Sumatra. Adapted from ‘Atlas
van Tropisch Nederland’, 1918
In the mid-19th century, the east coast of Sumatra East Sumatra underwent a radical transformation.
was still ‘an unknown and inhospitable jungle of no According to Stoler, the territory today has a specific
economic significance’.3 Fifty years later, however, ‘colonial imprint’ that is shaped by ‘the juxtaposition
the so-called plantation belt along the east coast had of trees and factories’ and the settlements on the edges
become a global centre of colonial extraction of raw of plantations.6 ‘Subsistence farming and wage labour
materials: ‘rubber, tobacco, oil are part of a single economic
palm, tea, and fiber became the Knowledge of and expertise in system;’ 7 Century-old agri-
five most important plantation cultural technologies (such as
constructing with wood and using
crops in East Sumatra, both ‘shifting cultivation, swidden
in regard to export value and natural ventilation practices is agriculture, or slash-and-burn
the acreage the covered.’ Yet
4
becoming obsolete. cultivation’ 8) exist alongside
‘over the past century North the intensive industrial use of
Sumatra has been the site of one of the most inten- the land, or are even integrated within it. Nowadays,
sive and successful pursuits of foreign agricultural the rainforests are mere remnants between settle-
enterprise in the Third World’, writes the American ments, transport infrastructures and plantations. In
anthropologist Ann Laura Stoler.5 After the first to- the last 30 years Sumatra has lost ‘over 50 per cent of
bacco plantations in the mid-1860s the landscape of its natural forest’ through deforestation.9
Fig. 03 Dutch school plate: a tobacco plantation in Deli, Sumatra. Before 1945
Fig. 07 A 200 × 200 m rain forest Fig. 08 A 200 × 200 m palm oil plantation
near Telagah, Medan, North Sumatra near Lubukpekam, Medan, North Sumatra
From timber …
The spatial extension of the plantation belt into forests. Not surprisingly, this limited supply of tim-
a plantation carpet covering the entire Sumatran ber has driven up the price and narrowed the options
lowlands triggered the disappearance of domestic of materials for most building developers and archi-
trees such as Jati (teak), Damar, Nyatoh, Merbau and tects. Further, these restrictions have accelerated the
Meranti,10 ‘proper kinds of timber having almost dis- decline in the use of traditional building materials;
appeared from the forests or becoming too expen- for a vast majority of Medan’s growing middle class,
sive.’ 11 As a result, the shortage of affordable good materials such as bamboo and wood are increasingly
quality timber has created a highly competitive niche associated with either retrogressive building prac-
market in second-hand timber (kayu bekas). Many of tices or poverty.13 In the urban context of Medan tim-
Medan’s remaining small-scale carpenters around ber remains in use in low-income households and is
Jalan Brigjen Katomso or Jalan Sentosa Lama 12 source assembled from industrially produced wood-based
their raw material in demolished, colonial build- panels (and other inexpensive building materials
ings around the downtown. Alternatively, often il- and components). Yet knowledge of and expertise in
legally logged timber is imported to Medan and the constructing with wood and using natural ventilation
North Sumatra Province from remaining Indonesian practices is becoming obsolete.
1985 1990 2000 2009
Fig. 06 Storage area for secondhand timber at Mr. Fuat’s carpenter shop, Jalan Brigjen Katomso, Medan. “We can’t find affordable new wood Fig. 09 Natural forest cover change in Sumatra 1985–2009
in North Sumatra”, says Mr. Dede, the company’s managing director. Since import is expensive (ca. 30 % higher in cost), the firm relies on an
agent-based, small scale, and informal model of sourcing timber in Medan’s old town. Like many other companies, they also transform used wood
(primarily damar, merbau, and meranti) into new building and construction elements. According to Mr. Dede, it’s difficult to find secondhand
timber even today, and there are no timber-based alternatives foreseen for the future
1 Entrance
2 Clay depot
9 3 Compression moulding
4 Drying depot
5 Kiln
6 Depot
7 Housing
7
8 External housing/
3 2 3 Other facilities
7
9 Palm oil plantation
6 4
5
7
5
5
8 1
Fig. 10 The ‘Kilang Batu’ brick factory site at Jalan Kebun Sayu, Lubukpekam. With a total area of 3 hectares,
the factory has 1 large clay depot, 2 compression moulds, 2 diggers, 3 kilns, 16 storage barns, dedicated worker housing
and a total of 50 employees. As such, it is one of the key players in the area
… to brick
Introduced by the Dutch, bricks (batu bata) have What happens to the practice of natural ventila-
become the most important building material for tion if the former preconditions − regularity of weather
Medan’s construction industries. Since the post-inde- patterns, tropical ecology, filigree building materials,
pendence boom of the 1970s Indonesian economy, the constructional skills etc. – vanish? Although the cau-
use of bricks in construction has become inextricably salities are hard to identify, the outcomes of this thor-
linked to a modern lifestyle − a status symbol on par ough transformation are clear in the case of Medan. The
with air conditioners. Compared to timber structures, city’s urbanisation leaves an epistemological void in its
brick buildings are faster and easier to build and are wake: the traditional interplay among climate, culture
more affordable. As the exploitation of the rich local and construction is no longer in force; and a new con-
clay soils on the eastern outskirts of Medan has in- sistent thermal regime hasn’t yet take the place of the
creased, small plantation villages − Lubuk Pekam and old. The traditional model of adaptation is no longer
Perbaungan, for example − have turned into veritable suited to providing solutions for how the largely popu-
brick cities, where almost everyone seems to be in- lated areas could be better adjusted to tropical condi-
volved in brick production. Clay-carrying trucks, semi- tions. The transformation of East Sumatra is a perfect
formal factories, smoking kilns, and open-air drying example of how intensive production and modernisa-
fields dominate these suburbs, while the clay itself is tion necessitate the adaptation of traditional concepts
sourced nearby, from plots in between the palm oil of the natural.15 Climate in particular is greatly affected
plantations. From a socio-economic point of view, the by this − it no longer suffices to conceive of it as an ex-
minimal initial investment needs, coupled with rudi- ternal influencing variable. Rather, climate represents
mentary mechanisation, lower the bar to entry for even a hybrid relational object; part of a system made up of
small-scale family-run companies. Moreover, brick natural and social agents.
production relies on manual work, which translates to
Fig. 11 Worker in a small-scale brick factory at Pasar 5 Kebun Kelapa, on the outskirts of Lubukpekam.
a high number of jobs for low-skilled workers in the Heavy manual work is demanded by the local brick industry, which offers many jobs to people otherwise unqualified.
region.14 Innovation capacity is linked to basic motor- and mechanisation steps throughout the whole production process
Fig. 12 Trucks waiting for a clay load in a palm oil plantation near a clay pit in Penara, which is close to Kuala Namu International Airport. Fig. 15 Industrial-scale kiln building, on the outskirts of Lubukpekam. The quality of the bricks depends the following parameters:
Due to its rich clay sources, Lubukpekam (25 km from Medan) and Perbaungan have become regional centers for clay sourcing and brick type of firewood (rubber wood or palm oil fruits), type and amount of clay used, type of drying (air or fire), exposure to rain, mechanical
production in the Medan area or manual work (standardisation). A single brick in Medan costs ca. 300 INR (= 0.3 SGD)
Fig. 13 Motorised compression mould and brick cutting equipment at Fig. 14 Small-scale wood-fired kiln building at Pasar 5 Kebun Kelapa, Fig. 16 Open-air drying field with bricks covered by plastic at Fig. 17 Drying hall, part of the brick factory at Jalan Kebun Sayu,
the ‘Kilang Batu’ brick factory, Lubukpekam on the outskirts of Lubukpekam. The illustrated ‘Kayu Karet’ (rubber) a small – medium scale brick factory in Jalan Pondok Kuala Lubukpekam. Brick factories are often double as multi-generation
firewood comes from a nearby plantation. It requires roughly 9m3 of Namu. It takes some 2 weeks to produce a ready to use brick social spaces, since workers live with their families in rudimentary
wood to fire 10,000 bricks (one week’s production). Generally said, stone housing on site
roughly twice as much wood is needed to fire the bricks for a brick
house than is needed to build a wooden house
Fig. 20 Building industries
in Medan area – brick
and concrete have become
the predominant building
materials in North Sumatra
Building Industries
Concrete Intact Forest

Soil Degraded Forest
Timber Plantation Area
Bricks Tobacco
Settlement Timber
Street Palm Oil
River
References Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]) Capitalism 11

Nas, Peter J M and van Berkel, Martin
and Confrontation in Sumatra’s Plantation Belt, (2003), p. 477.
Arnold, David (1996), The Problem of Nature. 1870–1979, The University of Michigan Press.
Environment, Culture and European Expansion,
12
From interview conducted by Marcel Jäggi
Oxford. Thee Kian-Wie (1977) Plantation Agriculture with Mr. Dede, managing director of Fuat’s
Land Cover and Export Growth. An economic history of Carpentry, Medan, 30 May 2014.
Intact Forest (Primary) Geertz, Clifford (1963) Agricultural East Sumatra, 1863–1942, National Institute
Degraded Forest (Secondary) Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change of Economic and Social Research, Jakarta. 13
From interview conducted by Marcel Jäggi
Plantation Area
in Indonesia, University of California Press. with Tavip Kurniadi Mustafa, chairman of
Tobacco board of education and Indonesian Institute
Land Cover Timber
Latour, Bruno (1993), We have never of Architects, and member of the Sumatra
Intact Forest (Primary) Palm Oil Endnotes Heritage Trust, Medan, 4 June 2014.
Degraded Forest (Secondary) Settlement been modern, Harvard University Press,
Plantation Area Street Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Tobacco River
1
Pelras, Christian (2003), p. 276. 14
See Röhling, S et al. (2009).
Timber Nas, Peter J M/van Berkel, Martin (2003)
Palm Oil ‘Small town symbolism – The making of
2
This text is a modified and shortened 15
See Soper, Kate (1995). What is Nature?
0 Settlement 25
version of an article originally published in Culture, Politics and the Non-human, Blackwell
50 75 km 50 75 km Sources: Corinna Land Use, GIS Data NASA, 2011; Google Maps, 2014;Sources:
Dutch Colonial
CorinnaMaps,
Land Use,
MapsGIS
University
Data NASA,
of Leiden, Google Maps, 2014; Dutch Colonial Maps, Maps Universitythe
2011; 2014 built
of Leiden, environment in Bukittinggi and
2014
Street
Payakumbuh’, in Indonesian houses – Tradition Scapegoat, edition 08, Weather, p. 70–80, Publishers Limited.
River
Fig. 18 The spatial presence of the ‚Plantation Belt’ in the North Sumatran lowlands around Medan today and Transformation in vernacular Architecture, 2015.
edited by Schefold, Reimar et al., Leiden.
3
Thee Kian-Wie (1977), p.1.
Image Credits
Pelras, Christian (2003) Bugis and
Makassar houses, in Indonesian houses –
4
Thee Kian-Wie (1977), p. 29.
Tradition and Transformation in vernacular Fig. 01, 06, 11–18: Marcel Jäggi.
Architecture, edited by Schefold, Reimar et
5
Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]), p. 1.
al., Leiden. Fig. 02, 03: Collection Royal Tropical
6
Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]), p. 2. Institute KIT, Leiden NL.
Röhling, S et al. (2009), ‘The Brick Clays
from Northern Sumatra, Republic of
7
Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]), p. 12. Fig. 04, 05: Ann Laura Stoler, Capitalism and
Indonesia’, in Ziegelindustrie International Confrontation in Sumatra’s Plantation Belt.
9, 44–52. www.zi-online.info/en/
8
Thee Kian-Wie (1977), p. 3.
artikel/zi_2009-09_The_ brick_clays_ Fig. 07, 08, 10: Google Earth.
from_Northern_ Sumatra_Republic_of_
9
earthenginepartners.appspot.
Indonesia_311300.html com/science-2013-global-forest Fig. 09, 18: Karoline Kostka.
[accessed 01.02.2013].
Soper, Kate (1995) What is Nature? Culture, Fig. 19: Dirk Buiskool.
Politics and the Non-human, Blackwell
10
From interview conducted by Marcel
Publishers Limited. Jäggi with Ms. Juliana, PR manager of PT Fig. 20: Ani Vihervaara, Marcel Jäggi.
Fig. 19 Growth of Medan – from linear city to urban sprawl souces: tours through historical Medan and its surroundings / google maps. Sumatera Timberindo, Medan, 30 May 2014.
Lack of Comfort
Dysfunctional building stock and air pollution
Marcel Jäggi, Almost without any kind of restrictions, developers, specu-

Sascha Roesler
lators and the informal construction sector are currently
reshaping the city of Medan. The city hardly adheres
to any institutionalised climate adaption plan for guidance
alongside the growth of its urban fabric. As Chao Ren et al.
have suggested, the development of urban climatic guidelines
and the implementation of mitigation measures (such as
increasing greenery, creating air paths, controlling building
morphologies, etc.) are vital, especially in the rapidly
expanding cities of developing and emerging countries and
regions in the global South. Nevertheless, if any proposed
solution reduces Medan’s urban climate issues to a mere
technical problem, then the issue’s complexity will have been
gravely misunderstood.1
Fig. 01 Workers’ house in Lubukpekam, built with timber, bricks, bamboo, cardboard, cement and corrugated sheet metal
50 Medan: Lack of Comfort Marcel Jäggi, Sascha Roesler Marcel Jäggi, Sascha Roesler Medan: Lack of Comfort 51
The anthropologist Christian Pelras defines a ventilation, they are hermetically sealed by windows
very real gap in the modern adaptation of Indonesian that are seldom opened, so that the air inside is often
housing to climatic requirements, and he addresses stifling. Unfortunately, little if any effort has been made
the domain of the architect quite directly: ‘Suffice it to to adapt this new kind of architecture to local condi-
say that [today’s houses] often have features that are tions and lifestyles, or to come up with satisfactory so-
much less well suited to the climate than those of the lutions by adapting time-honoured techniques to the
former wooden houses. For instance, instead of having new situation.’ 2 In the heat of tropical nights, people
elevated floors, they are built at ground level, and often take their mattresses out into the open, no longer able
have no crawl space and may even lack a foundation. to bear being inside. The general shift in construction
Because they are frequently located in areas susceptible from timber and bamboo to brick and concrete has had
to flooding, many of them are flooded every year during a profound influence on the microclimate in the build-
the rainy season. Likewise, instead of having natural ings and the comfort of any who live in them.
Shop houses Fig. 05 ‘Rumah Umpak’ (a ‘ped-

estal house’), a ca. 50 year-old
The disregard of climate (and other natural agencies) is reflected traditional family house close to
in the widespread climatic inadequacies of the houses large parts of the Polonia, Medan. In former times,
the stones for the pedestal founda-
population live in. Like elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the contemporary tion were taken directly from the
incarnation of the Chinese shop house, traditionally equipped with a cen- river. The floors and walls were
tral courtyard used for air circulation, dominates the city. However, the fashioned from locally available
coconut tree wood
increasing demands of urban density had eroded this specific natural
ventilation feature by the early 1970s. Now, these easy-to-build, walkable, Fig. 06 Mattress at the outside of
three-to-four-storey, long rumah toko (literally ‘house shop’) are almost a house
exclusively built with brick-infilled concrete frames to form walls accord- Fig. 07 Street view of shophouses
ing to a ‘one-brick lengthways’ method of construction. The simplicity of in Medan. The ca. 5 × 20 m, 2–4
this method does not require sophisticated experience in bricklaying and storey high contemporary shop-
houses are almost completely
is fuelling Medan’s real-estate boom as a result. The old interplay of macro- sealed climatic boxes, often with
Fig. 02 View of the ‘Perumnas’ in Martubung, Medan. Fig. 03 Sketch of initial Perumnas (grey) and microclimates has been replaced by a new self-referential thermal little interaction between interior
05 06 Pictured are the original Perumnas built in ‘batako’, a and their informal extensions (pink). and exterior climate. Since their
regime. Speculative developers are producing half-abandoned spaces (as
locally produced cement brick that is light grey in color. The decreasing open areas around the dependency on air-conditioning
02 03 07 08 The extensions in clay bricks were added by the owners. buildings affect wind circulation and sun most shop houses are often only used on the street level). exposes them to failures in the
Perumnas or ‘Perumah Nasional’ (national housing) radiation, so as a result, indoor climate energy supply system, shophouses
04
is a state-run housing scheme/typology that was first and temperature is often hotter than are often left behind owing to their
introduced in the 1970s. It targets mainly low- and middle outdoors inhospitable interior climate
income, rural-to-urban migrants. People can apply for
a variety of sizes: 36 m2 , 45 m2 , or 54 m2 . Construction Fig. 04 Longitudinal and cross section Fig. 08 View of a new gated com-
time is about 3–4 months and building costs run between of a Perumans house, 36 m2 type, munity facing a street in Polonia,
130–160 SGD/m2 stage 2, built in Martubung / Medan Medan
Electricity blackouts
Given Medan’s tropical environment, air-conditioning has become one
of the most desirable assets in the real-estate market. While these devices
add to the property value, they boost ever-increasing energy consumption,
as well. As such, a major threat to the cooled and refreshed spaces is the se-
curity of the country’s energy supply. The recently coined Indonesian term
biarpet describes the repeated turning on-and-off of electricity supply by
the local power plants due to supply shortages.6 Often occurring daily, the
six-hour (or longer) rolling blackouts in Medan cause problems of all kinds,
switching on the air-conditioner being just one.7 The blackouts also con-
tribute to the rising number of house fires in the city, as many residents rely
on candles as light sources, and the use of private diesel generators is on the
rise. According to the BPS Indonesia (the Department of Statistics), only
16.18 per cent of North Sumatran households with an air conditioner turn
their devices off when the temperature outside drops below 25° Celsius.
Not surprisingly, when paired with dysfunctional building stock, the

failure of existing centralised, state-owned electrical infrastructures and
technological systems has ultimately created a forbidding environment in
which to live. Since the rising energy demands of the local industrial and
building sector have not been met, many people are left trapped in build-
ings with unbearably hot, humid and stagnant air. Using private electricity
generators to keep the machines running or sleeping on the veranda (rath-
Fig. 09, 10 New generation public housing scheme in Martubung, Medan. It recalls the early HDB typologies in Singapore. er than inside the house) are simply short-term solutions to the problem.
As migration towards the city increases, the municipality, the province, and the state are addressing the issue with concepts Today, many buildings in Medan have become microclimate traps, provid-
for different, often parallel-running housing schemes ing no real shelter from hazardous man-made weather for a large portion of
the population. Access to air-conditioning has become a symbol of class di-
vision and cultural homogenisation, as in many regions in the global South.
It is not surprising, that today’s shop houses contribute to a large ex-

tent to an estimated 60 per cent of the buildings erected without any prior
approval by a designated authority in Medan.3 Meanwhile, the advisory
role of architects and academics in this overheated and rapidly developing
city has decreased to a minimum.4 Only a few nominal efforts at techni-
cal innovation and the implementation of air-quality standards have been
made to better adapt shop houses and other relatively new building typolo-
gies such as the Perumahan Nasional (a state-run mass housing program) to
local conditions and lifestyles.5 Fig. 11 Demonstration against PLN, the
national electricity provider held responsible
for the power cuts in Medan. The banner
reads: ‘Perusahaan Lilin Negara (PLN) −
Rakyat bayar terus listrik padam’, which
translates: ‘National candle organisation
− Although people continue to pay, there is
The recently coined Indonesian term biarpet describes still a power outage’. Compensating for the
the repeated turning on-and-off of electricity supply by lack of electricity, ignited candles are the
main cause for the increasing number of
the local power plants due to supply shortages. fires in Medan
Medan is infamous for being the Southeast Asian city with the high-
est amount of air pollution in terms of particulate matter.10 Air emissions
from industrial production and motor vehicles are the key sources of air
pollution, while cross-border smoke from forest fires in the region (namely
Sumatra and Borneo) is another major problem that impacts air quality and
escalates the greenhouse effect. A total of 3,270 confirmed fire hotspots in
June 2013, most of them concentrated in the Riau province on the east coast
of Sumatra, were caused largely by slash-and-burn land-clearing practices
for profit-driven agricultural use.11 The province is Indonesia’s most pro-
ductive palm-oil producer, accountable for 1/6 of the country’s total an-
nual production. Major parts of the land affected belong to Malaysian- and
Singaporean-owned palm-oil conglomerates, circumstances that lead to
mutual allegations of causation between Indonesia and its neighbouring
countries.12
Fig. 13 View of Chinatown
during the Southeast Asian Haze
in Singapore. June, 2013
References World Health Organisation (2012), ‘Burden 7

Gunawan, Apriadi (2010 ).
of Disease from Ambient and Household Air
Ekadinata, Andree et al. (2014), Pollution’, www.who.int/phe/health_topics/ 8
National Environment Agency Singapore
‘Replication data for: Hot spots in outdoorair/databases/en (NEA).
Riau, haze in Singapore: the June 2013 [accessed 01.07.2015].
event analyzed’, ASB Policybrief No. 33, 9
Burden of Disease from Ambient and
Fig. 12 Satellite Map of the Southeast Asian Haze, June 2013, showing the fire https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset. Household Air Pollution, World Health
hotspots in Riau province on the east coast of Sumatra, North to Pekanbaru xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/ Organisation, www.who.int/phe/health_
DVN/25194 [accessed 01.07.2015]. Endnotes topics/outdoorair/databases/en
[accessed 01.07.2015].
Gunawan, Apriadi (2010 ), ‘PLN Criticized 1
This text is a modified and shortened
for Medan’s Ongoing Blackouts’, The version of an article originally published in 10
World Health Organisation (2012).
Jakarta Post, 23 July, thejakartapost.com/ Scapegoat, edition 08, Weather, p. 70–80,
news/2010/07/23/pln-criticized-medan 2015. 11
Ekadinata, Andree et al. (2013).
%E2%80%99s-ongoing-blackouts.html.
2
Pelras, Christian (2003), p. 278. 12
Teng, Amelia (2013).
National Environment Agency Singapore
(NEA), ‘About Haze’, www.haze.gov.sg/ 3
From an informal interview conducted
Air pollution (interconnecting Sumatra and Singapore) about-haze [accessed 01.07.2015]. by Marcel Jäggi with representatives of
the Department of Spatial Planning and Image Credits
Over the last few decades, in the times of prevailing winds of the Ren, Chao/Ng, Edward Yan-yung/ Buildings of Medan (Dinas tata ruang dan
Southwest Monsoon between May and October, coupled with dry seasons Katzschner, Lutz (2011), ‘Urban Climatic bangunan), Medan, 4 June 2014. Fig. 01–03, 05, 08–10: Marcel Jäggi.
Map Studies: A Review’, in International
and poor precipitation, conditions have made the arrival of haze in cities Journal of Climatology 31, no. 15: 2213–2233. 4
From an interview conducted by Marcel Fig. 04: Perumnas, Krispitoyok Dreyer.
a regular occurrence.8 In June 2013, large parts of Southeast Asia were Jäggi with Tavip Kurniadi Mustafa, Chairman
shrouded in a cloud of record-breaking haze pollution. In Singapore, the Pelras, Christian (2003), ‘Bugis and of the Board of Education and Indonesian Fig. 06, 07: Sascha Roesler.
Makassar Houses’, in Indonesian houses Institute of Architects, and member of the
haze exceeded the hazardous limit for air quality close to threefold. The – Tradition and Transformation in vernacular Sumatra Heritage Trust, Medan, 4 June Fig. 11: www.harianandalas.com.
World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that in 2012, low- and middle- Architecture, edited by Schefold, Reimar/ 2014.
income countries in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific Regions suf- Domenig, Gaudenz/Nas, Peter, Leiden. Fig. 12: NASA Satellite Images.
5
Pelras, Christian (2003), p. 278.
fered a total of 3.3 million deaths that were linked to indoor air pollution, Teng, Amelia (2013), ‘3 Websites Defaced Fig. 13: Joe Nair, Memphis West.
and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.9 Exposure to haze with Haze Message’, in The Straits Times, 28 6
‘Menyala dan padam secara berulang-
from fires, for instance, is more carcinogenic than smoking cigarettes. It is June, www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/ ulang (tentang lampu)’, ‘turning the lights
asia-report/indonesia/story/3-websites- on and off repeatedly’, Wiktionary.org,
no surprise that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmen- defaced-haze-message-20130628 https://id.wiktionary.org/wiki/biarpet
tal health risk. [accessed 01.07.2015]. [accessed 01.07.2015].
Cyclic Venting
Systems
Large scale drying barns
Sascha Roesler, Tobacco barns are large-scale drying equipment that is

Karoline Kostka
designed to enable the curing of tobacco leaves by modifying
microclimatic conditions. Based on fieldwork conducted in the
plantation belt around the city of Medan,1 the article describes
the structure and mechanisms of these passive houses. By
making use of the local monsoon winds, tobacco barns are
architectural symbols of a climate control system based on
natural ventilation. Four intersecting cycles are providing
the set-up of a succesful venting system (five years, one year,
half a month, one day). The study of tobacco barns might
inspire greater consideration of passive house concepts and
the attendant passive climate control mechanisms that involve
both natural and cultural agents.2
The region around ‘the plantation city’ 3 of Medan is shaped by storage

structures where harvested plants are temporarily stored, refined or pro-
cessed. Among the many different types of storage structures, the so-called
tobacco barn represents a particularly distinctive building type in which
tobacco leaves are hung to dry. The leaves undergo curing, a biochemical
refinement process in which water and farina are drawn out of them in
a drying procedure of between 17 and 21 days. Tobacco barns enable this
process by capturing and modifying the monsoon winds. The key factor in
setting up the desired climatic condition inside of the barn is the control of
the winds. Without exception, all tobacco barns have the same orientation,
one that follows the angle of incidence of the Southeast Asian monsoon
winds (NE – SW). The barns are at once subjects and objects of natural con-
ditions, simultaneously representatives and victims of the winds, and are
made permeable in order to collect, channel and moderate the winds. By
the end of its life cycle, however, the physiognomy of a barn has undergone
a thorough transformation, being battered or even partially destroyed by
the constant monsoon winds.
Fig. 01 Tobacco barns are built entirely of the natural materials teak (tree trunks), bamboo (rods) and sago palm (leaves)
58 Medan: Cyclic Venting Systems Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka Medan: Cyclic Venting Systems 59
Fig. 02, 03 Tobacco is prepared from the leaves of the tobacco plant Fig. 04 Tobacco barns in the outskirts of Medan (Indonesia) Fig. 06, 07 A tobacco barn undergoing maintenance in the outskirts of Medan (Indonesia), 2014
in a process of curing which lasts from 17–21 days. The tobacco barns’
main purpose is to produce a relatively uniform climatic condition
for those leaves during that drying process. The three main climatic
parameters – air temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity –
must be brought under control
Orientation Distances Disposition Ratio Circulation

The barn is rotated Positioned at a right The barns are always Each barn measures With a life cycle of five
45° to the north. This angle with respect to the situated along a major 25 × 70 m (height years, the barn plot be-
orientation of the façade plot, any single barn is network of single rows 13 m). The harvest of comes a productive field
allows optimum handling more than 100m from so as to avoid wind four standard-sized over time. By using a
of the monsoon winds its nearest neighbour, a shadows fields (100 × 100 m) slash-and-burn method-
from the northeast placement which enables can be dried in one large ology, the organic mate-
and the southwest. wind velocity tobacco barn rial of the barn becomes
Caretakers who open fertiliser for the tobacco
and close the front production. Another
window, control the formerly productive
incoming winds manu- field becomes a plot,
ally, depending on the whereby the movement
monsoon strength of architecture creates
a distinctive landscape
cluster
Fig. 05 The life cycle of these large barns reaches its stress limit after a maximum of 5 years. Within a time frame of 3 months, and Fig. 08 Dimension: Acreage 25 × 70 m, Ridge height 13 m. Cross-ventilation and convection occur owing to the sheer volume of the sturucture
using only manpower and basic tools, a new barn is constructed. The structure of each tobacco barn is at once typical (thus repeatable)
and singular (thus non-repeatable). Without regular maintenance, the delicate construction might threaten to collapse
the end of the 19th century, an extensive corpus of co- and 32.1° C and 64 % relative humidity (at 3 p.m.) – the
lonial tropical literature has been published on the temperature and humidity inside the barn remained
topic of drying tobacco.6 The research report Over relatively uniform: 28.8° C and 76 % relative humid-
het drug van tobacco (On the ity (at 3 a.m.) and 29° C and 79 %
Drying of Tobacco), for ex- relative humidity (at 3 p.m.).8
ample, published in 1929 by tobacco barns’ main objectives These data show the tempering
a Dutch laboratory in Medan are the production and maintenance effects of large-scale tobacco
(Sumatra), clearly illustrates of relatively uniform climatic barns. This tempering capac-
the climate regulating capaci- ity is achieved by considering
conditions inside.
ties of tobacco barns.7 In one six basic principles (in order
of the examples given, the of decreasing significance): 1.)
conditions in the exterior and interior of a barn were Orientation of the building 2.) Structure of the building
measured and compared. While the humidity and the 3.) Volume of the building 4.) Materialisation of the
temperature outside varied widely during the day – facade 5.) Windows of the façade, and 6.) Fireplaces
between 23.6° C and 92 % relative humidity (at 3 a.m.) within the building.
09 11 To uniform climatic conditions

To understand the complexity of the curing pro-
10
cess adequately, it might be helpful to consider Michel
12 13 Foucault’s concept of ‘dispositive’ or ‘apparatus’. These
14
terms can be brought to bear when using specialised
knowledge about the interlocking of agricultural sci-
Fig. 09 Longitudinal section of a large scale tobacco barn ence, architecture, local human practices and natural
conditions that determine the success of the tobacco
Fig. 10 Ground plan leaves’ curing process.4 The curing has to be understood
Fig. 11 Cross Section as an apparatus in and of itself, of which tobacco barns
are a part; indeed, the air curing of the leaves meets the
Fig. 12, 13 Loose manner of hanging of the leaves allows the desired quality standards only if the requisite climatic
desired air-drying
conditions inside the barns are maintained. Therefore,
Fig. 14 The drying process – for which the barn is used only twice a tobacco barns’ main objectives are the production and
year − lasts between 17 and 21 days. Illustrated are the average outdoor maintenance of relatively uniform climatic conditions
and indoor conditions of day 12–17 in the drying process in April–May
or in October–November. The finest drying process occurs when the inside. As such, tobacco producers must bring the
relative humidity is about 80 % in the barn. During dehydration, the three principal climatic parameters – air temperature,
tobacco leaves are highly sensitive to changes in their surroundings, relative humidity and wind velocity – under control.5 A
which boosts the importance of consistency during the whole drying
cycle. At the same time, the dehydration process should be as short as successful curing process protects the leaves from larg-
possible. Over some 10 days, the leaves lose 90 % of their moisture er fluctuations among these three parameters. Since
Fig. 15 Flaps and shutters on the front façades provide cross ventilation, and regulate temperature and humidity
Fig. 18, 19 The structural design is a superimposition of two structures: A teak frame serves as the primary weight-bearing support for the roof,
and a bamboo-grid forms the secondary support structure that is used for hanging the tobacco leaves. The axonometric view illustrates the three
basic components of each lattice structure
A cyclic logic
Tobacco barns are built entirely from the natural materials of teak
(trunks), bamboo (rods) and sago palm (leaves). Their main tectonic
characteristics – as rod-based, wind permeable, organically comprised,
re-locatable systems – make them an ingenious and exemplary type of
Fig. 16 The fragile bamboo structure serves as a hanger for the tobacco leaves Fig. 17 Simple ropes are used to connect the Southeast Asian architecture. As archaic as the buildings appear with their
suspension rods to the supporting structure sago palm shutters, their sheer scale (the great number of buildings and the
size of the halls) points to their industrial standards. The dimension of the
tobacco barns are significant: an acreage of 25 × 70 m and a ridge height of
13m speak to the demanding harvest rates, which this building type must
accommodate.
A single barn can be constructed in two months; two to four weeks
are required for the construction of the teak structure and four weeks for
the construction of the bamboo structure. During the construction of the
teak and bamboo structure, the shutters and the other wall elements are
crafted on-site. Approximately four weeks are needed for the roofing, the
installation of the shutters and the cladding of the exterior walls. The en-
tire surface of the building is composed of woven palm fronds of the sago
palm that are freshly braided and installed on site where they are dried.
No machinery and very few tools are used. Instead, only human labour is
employed to construct the barns along with a few locally available tools:
wire, pliers, saws, knives and machetes, as required.
Whereas this building type as such has survived all social, economic,
political, cultural and natural changes in Sumatra in this time as largely
unchanged itself, the individual (realised) building is erected for flexibil-
ity and to facilitate change. The crop rotation system of the plantations
requires variable buildings that can be temporarily erected and rebuilt a
few years later elsewhere. Today’s tobacco fields must be prepared annually
and have their new seedlings sown twice a year. After one year of tobacco
cultivation, any field must lay idle for five years. Intermediate crops serve
– by slash-and-burn cultivation – as fertiliser and they grade up the soil as
black anthrosol. After a maximum of five years, tobacco barns reach their
stress limit and are replaced by new buildings in a new location. Without
regular maintenance, the delicate constructions may collapse even earlier.
25 Fig. 20 Typical truss Fig. 25, 26 Making of a tobacco barn

20 21
26
27 Fig. 21 Elevation of the front facade Fig. 27 Former location of a barn
22 23 24
Fig. 22 Shutters composed of woven sago Fig. 28 The rhythm of the tobacco crop
28 palm fronds and the construction of the large barns is
ultimately ‘tailored’ to the annual climate
Fig. 23, 24 The 19 alternating teak cross conditions and periods. Time frames for
sections and 6 longitudinal sections maintenance work on the barn, planting
and harvesting, and the requirement
for the tobacco growth and yielding are
optimally used. The harvesting period starts
either around April or October during the
inter-monsoon season, and right before the
advent of fierce monsoon showers
Fig. 29 The overview map of the area illustrates the position of the plantation area, and Medan in the lowland area of North East Sumatra in Fig. 31 Besides the tobacco fields, other annually rotating changing crops (such Fig. 32 Although barns change position within the
its close proximity to the Malacca Straits. Climatically strategic positioned, the Helvetia tobacco plantation has been a part of the Medan (Deli) as sugar cane) or multi-annual crops (such as rubber and coconut palms) make up course of a life cycle (5 years), their orientation
plantation belt since the mid-1860s the well-used and regular landscape carpet. Within this patchwork, the alignment remains. There are changes, however, in land use
and barn orientation to a northeast-southwest direction is significant and planting. The illustration shows the varying land
use stages of 2009, 2011, and 2014
Fig. 30 Longitudinal section through two barns
Fig. 35 View of the shutters Fig. 36 A shutter system offers the possibility of regulating
temperature and humidity levels
Fig. 33 Following the angle of the Southeast Asian monsoon winds (northeast – southwest), all tobacco barns have the same orientation
Caretakers
The venting system has both a physical (building) component and a
practical (user-driven) component. Structures and thermal practices of the
users are mutually reinforcing. The curing process requires a knowledge
and intuition on the part of those who hang and monitor the tobacco leaves.
These ‘caretakers’ have the necessary know-how to adjust the temperature
and amount of moisture when required. Accordingly, they operate the
shutters depending on fundamental changes in the weather. Despite the
thermodynamic inertia of the barns, the shutters enable the caretakers
to respond quickly to ever-fluctuating conditions. A shutter system with
a total of 110 flaps (approximately 30 along the longitudinal facades and
roughly 25 along the front facades) offers the possibility of regulating tem-
perature and humidity levels through cross ventilation. The flaps of the
two front facades can be opened at a 60° angle by pulling bamboo rods. By
and large, the overall success of the curing process owes much to the ‘skill
and instinct of these tobacco caretakers’.9 The 24-hour monitoring require-
ment of the tobacco leaves means that the caretakers must actually stay on
site and inhabit the tobacco barns, which is reflected in the wide range of
facilities: the measured tobacco barn contains a bedframe, tables, benches,
racks for kitchen utensils (all constructed of bamboo) and a cooking hearth.
A lavatory and washing area are located outside the barn. A garden is also
provided. During the on-site research, the caretaker’s wife, their daughter
and three children all lived in the tobacco barn. Throughout the day, visi-
tors came either for a quick chat or for a longer stay. In this respect, tobacco
barns are remarkable places of cohabitation.
Despite the thermodynamic inertia of the Fig. 37 Layout of the everyday functions
barns, the shutters enable the caretakers to respond

Fig. 34 The shutter system with a total of 110 flaps.
Pulling on bamboo rods will open the flaps of the two front façades at a 60° angle quickly to ever-fluctuating conditions
labour conditions and skills of the local construction worker- and building
traditions of Indonesia. And if Pierre Bourdieu introduced the idea of a bi-
nary, gender-based spatial order of indigenous building and housing with
his concept of the ‘Kabyle House’ 11 , then the tobacco barn, again in contrast,
must be described as a building enabling fluid transitions. Specifically,
this implies transitions between inside and outside, between building
process and building, between labour and home, between humans and
non-humans (plants, animals). In this sense, tobacco barns confirm Ann
Laura Stoler’s dictum of the Sumatran ‘plantations’ as ‘virtual laboratories
for technical and social experimentation’.12 One could cite the formation of a
Fig. 39 Family members of
new cross-cultural body of knowledge, the venting system of tobacco barns the caretaker
in Sumatra offering a model for devising resilient passive house systems in
other contexts. These tobacco barns are born of change and are designed
to bear change through their very architecture, and as such, are of timely
relevance to current debates about sustainable methods of construction.
References Van Gorkom K W (1919) Oost-indische 6

See: De tabakscultuur Deli (1889),
cultures, opnieuw uitgegeven onder dedactie Amsterdam: J H de Bussy; Westerman,
van H C Prinsen Geerligs. Amsterdam. Willem (1901) De tabakscultuur op Sumatra’s
Bourdieu, Pierre (1979) Algeria 1960: The oostkust, met medeweking van deskundigen,
Disenchantment of the World: The Sense Westerman, Willem (1901) De tabakscultuur Amsterdam: J H de Bussy; Van Gorkom K W
of Honour: The Kabyle House or the World op Sumatra’s oostkust, met medeweking van (1919) Oost-indische cultures, opnieuw
Reversed: Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge deskundigen, Amsterdam: J H de Bussy. uitgegeven onder dedactie van H C Prinsen
Fig. 38 Given the need for 24-hour University Press. Geerligs. Amsterdam: J H de Bussy; Rowaan,
monitoring of the tobacco leaves, P A (1929) Over het drogen van tabak.
caretakers may choose to live in the barns Burger, Herman (1989) Brenner I, München: Mededeelingen van het Deli proefstation te
Nagel & Kimche 2014. Endnotes Medan – Sumatra, Tweede Serie No. LXII.
De tabakscultuur Deli (1889) Amsterdam: 1

In May 2013 and April 2014. 7
Rowaan, P A (1929).
J H de Bussy.
2
This text is a modified and shortened 8
Ibid, 34.
Dirk A Buiskool (2004) Medan. A plantation version of an article originally published in
city on the east coast of Sumatra 1870–1942. the newspaper Spaces of Change, edited by 9
Burger, Herman (1989): p.175–176.
Marc Angélil. See Roesler, Sascha (2014).
Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1962) La Pensée 10
See: Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1962).
sauvage. Paris: Plon. 3
See: Dirk A Buiskool (2004).
11
See: Bourdieu, Pierre (1979).
Michel Foucault (1978) Dispositive der Macht. 4
Foucault described a dispositive/apparatus
Über Sexualität, Wissen und Wahrheit. Berlin: as ‘a decidedly heterogeneous ensemble, 12
Stoler, Ann Laura (1985): p. 1.
Merve Verlag. that comprises discourses, institutions,
architectural facilities, regulating decisions,
Cross-cultural body of knowledge Roesler, Sascha (2014) ‘How to use the laws, administrative measures, scientific
Winds. On the Venting System of large scale statements, philosophical, moral and phil- Image Credits
A first impression of these structures can be misleading. Sumatran Tobacco Barns in East-Sumatra (Indonesia)’, anthropic propositions, in short: it includes
tobacco barns are not simply ‘vernacular’. On closer inspection these in Spaces of Change, Newspaper edited by what is said as well as unsaid’. Translation Fig. 01, 04–39: Sascha Roesler,
Marc Angélil, exhibition of the Future Cities by the author. See: Michel Foucault (1978): Karoline Kostka.
structures reveal just as many architectural features that are of modern Laboratory, ETH Zurich, August. p. 119.
European provenance. If Claude Lévi-Strauss depicts ‘bricolage’ 10 as the Fig. 02: Picture library ETH Zurich.
construction method of the savage-layman, which differs sharply from the Rowaan, P A (1929) Over het drogen van 5
In striving for controlled, uniform indoor
tabak. Mededeelingen van het Deli proef- conditions, tobacco producers in the late Fig. 03: Rowaan, P A (1929),
constructional rationality of the engineer and physicist, then the tobacco station te Medan – Sumatra, Tweede Serie 19th century developed a climate control Over het drogen van tabak.
barn derives from a fluid rationality that mediates between logic and fuzzy No. LXII. system that anticipated the 20th century
logic concepts and interconnects the two distinct dispositions of the engi- architecture and engineering paradigm for
Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]) Capitalism control of homogenous interior climates.
neer and the savage-layman. Indeed, while the static structure of tobacco and Confrontation in Sumatra’s Plantation Belt,
barns is optimised by the skills of the civil engineer, it is also adapted to the 1870–1979. The University of Michigan Press.
A Monument for
Natural Ventilation
Re-presenting the tangible and
intangible heritage of natural ventilation
Sascha Roesler With the exhibition ‘For Sumatra (Man-made Weather)’ a

monument for the venting system of the Sumatran tobacco
barn shall be erected. The monument comprises three parts
– a model, a manual, and a film. The brass model shows the
timber structure, the projected manual the making, and the
film the use of the tobacco barns. The monument for natural
ventilation was a contribution to the Swiss Art Award
Exhibition. The Swiss Art Awards offer insight into current
art and architecture making in Switzerland. 2014, one of the
nominated architects was Sascha Roesler, researcher at FCL.
Based on fieldwork in the former Swiss colonial plantation
‘Helvetia’, in the outskirts of the city of Medan, the exhibition
presents the structure and the mechanisms of these passively
ventilated houses.
39 Slides: 2.4 × 3.6 cm format

Brass Model: 70 × 25 × 13 cm
Video: HD-Film 3' Loop
Fig. 01 Manual ‘How to use the winds’, Swiss Art Award Exhibition, Fair ’Art Basel‘, 17–22 June 2014 image credit: Sascha Roesler
74 Medan: A Monument for Natural Ventilation Sascha Roesler Sascha Roesler Medan: A Monument for Natural Ventilation 75
1 Brass model
2 Diascope projection
3 Loudspeaker
4 Video projection
5 Tabacco leaves
3 4 5
Fig. 02 Plans of the monument for natural ventilatio, horizontal sections image credit: Sascha Roesler Fig. 03 Plans of the monument for natural ventilation, vertical sections image credit: Sascha Roesler
Fig. 4 Casting of the brass model in the foundry ‘Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen’, Switzerland image credit: Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen, Switzerland Fig. 05 Views of the Swiss Art Award exhibition in Basel. Mix media (brass model, diascope, projector, loudspeaker, mdf) image credit: Sascha Roesler
Fig. 06 Cured tobacco leaves image credit: Sascha Roesler Fig. 07 Model and film image credit: Sascha Roesler
CASE STUDY SINGAPORE The gap in Singapore’s housing policy gener-
ates ‘wicked problems’ (Horst Rittel) – design-
wise, problems that are increasingly difficult
While for almost 50 years, Singapore’s govern- for planners and architects to solve on their
ment has promoted natural ventilation in own. How to design flats pertaining to urban
public housing, some 80 % of today’s inhabit- mass housing, where one might enjoy spend-
ants have access to air-conditioning, and that ing time, while outside temperatures of 32° C
percentage is increasing. In this case study and 80 % humidity prevail?
we will initially reconstruct the natural venti-
lation system of HDB and the emergence
of residential air-conditioning. In a second
step we will analyse the architectural contra-
dictions that evolve from the entanglement
of these two venting systems. Finally, we will
examine the implications of housing policy
and address the architecture of HDB. At the
very centre of our analysis is the conceptual gap
between housing provided by the state and
flats that are owned by residents. Our thesis
is that for an understanding of current venti-
lation practice in Singapore’s HDB settlements,
this conceptual gap between the state and the
resident-owners is crucial. By privatising the
flats, HDB concedes responsibility for large
parts of the energy supply to the residents.
82 Case Study Singapore Case Study Singapore 83

Evolution of
New Towns
New domestic landscapes of HDB and
popular cultures of natural ventilation
Ani Vihervaara, The vast majority of the approximately 11,000 public

Sascha Roesler
housing buildings of Singapore’s housing sector are organised
into 23 New Towns across the country. Ventilation was
certainly not the only factor that determined the layouts of
the public spaces and flats of these new satellite cities. But
ventilation was certainly a crucial parameter for the design of
the buildings and neighbourhoods, inasmuch as the tropical
climate of Singapore is rarely bearable in badly ventilated
flats. Over the years, a New Town-specific popular culture
of natural ventilation emerged, inheriting and transforming
vernacular ventilation practices of both the Malay
Archipelago and China.
In Singapore, the state plays a key role as ‘provider’ and ‘social engi-
neer’ in the field of public housing. By combining all such housing efforts
under one single authority – the so-called Housing Development Board
(HDB) – the highest possible degree of authority over all the dimensions
of the social housing sector was attained. Historically, social housing was
‘the prime mover in the formulation of a national identity’ 1 , a phenomenon
that can be readily observed by traveling across the Singaporean terri-
tory, which is laced with HDB settlements. The visual appearance of this
city-state is, in fact, marked by its mass housing programme. Science fic-
tion author William Gibson has cited that in Singapore, ‘somehow it’s all
infrastructure’ – which is to be understood against the backdrop of these
New Town facilities’ sheer presence.2 According to the city’s Annual Report
2013, 83 per cent of the resident population lives in HDB apartments and
some 95 per cent own the flat they occupy.3
Fig. 01 A community garden in Bukit Batok New Town
84 Singapore: Evolution of New Towns Ani Vihervaara, Sascha Roesler Ani Vihervaara, Sascha Roesler Singapore: Evolution of New Towns 85
In the development of the HDB settlements, four main parameters
can be identified: a) economic parameters (such as low-cost housing etc.),
b) constructional parameters (such as prefabrication etc.), c) sociocultural
parameters (such as individualisation etc.), and d) climatic parameters
(such as orientation etc.). Even up to the present, HDB flats are officially
Fig. 02 The New Town ‘designed to be naturally ventilated’,4 a basic assumption that has a far-
structural model
reaching impact on the architectural envelopes and the city’s level of energy
consumption. Two aspects are crucial to consider in designing naturally
ventilated blocks:
1) Their climate-related typologies, comprising both architecture and
green spaces
2) Thermal practices of the residents, including both seasonal and daily
behaviours
Even up to the present, HDB flats are officially ‘designed

to be naturally ventilated’, a basic assumption that has a
Fig. 03 The New Town structural far-reaching impact on the architectural envelopes and the
model applied to the design of
Tampines New Town city’s level of energy consumption.
Fig. 04 A facade with public access corridors in Toa Payoh

HDB New Towns are designed Typologies
based on the New Town Structural
Model. In addition to defining a There are certainly general modifiers of HDB indoor microclimates on
programmatic layout, the structural an urban design scale, including the greenery between buildings, double-
model defines: the overall density, sided buildings; the height and the orientation of the buildings; the dis- Practices
the relationship between built and
open areas, the layout of main tances between the buildings; the void decks. And on a building design A whole range of HDB elements potentially affect the microclimate in
arteries and the general orientation scale there are modifiers such as the façade design; construction materials; the settlements. Thought these elements are partly provided by HDB and
of buildings as well as the distances window size; shading, or the volume and layout of the flats. designed by architects, the thermal effects largely depend on usage by the
between buildings – all of which
have a significant impact on the residents. To mention just a few of these microclimatic hybrids, comprising
microclimatic conditions at the New Towns dating from different periods, however, have distinctive objects and practices: a) Doors with metal grids allow to keep the entrance
urban scale. (Source: Housing a characteristics in the arrangement of the blocks. These in part relate to dif- door to the apartments open in order to benefit from entering breezes. b)
Nation. 25 Years of Public Housing
in Singapore) ferent bio-climatic design strategies and, more generally, to varying sen- The access corridor is a widely-distributed bio-climatic element that pro-
sibilities regarding climate and natural ventilation. It is important to note vides shade for the residential units. c) Plants along the access corridor ab-
that there has been no linear development from sufficiently to insufficiently sorb the heat and provide additional shade. d) Adjustable louvres ‘to stay
or from insatisfactorily to satisfactorily ventilated HDB blocks and flats. open for ventilation without undue loss of privacy.’ 7 e) Clothes-drying pole
‘From the 1960s to 1980s the nation was built almost only in the East–West holders provide shade by the garments hanging and cool the air by evapo-
direction’. 1960s estates were ‘composed only by linear slab blocks (corri- rating water.
dor style) in most common heights of 10 storeys’. 1970s generation estates
were dominated by ‘big slab blocks in most common heights of 12 to 16’ sto- The task to ventilate large-scale blocks of urban mass housing by natu-
reys and ‘point blocks of 20 and 25 storeys’. 1980s generation estates were ral means is not an easy one, and fundamentally differs from practice in ru-
‘composed by slab blocks in most common heights’ of 10 to 16 storeys, ‘plus ral settlements. The high-density population of mass housing leads savvy
25-storey point blocks’. ‘Compared with previous decades, 1980s block designers to recurrent trade-offs between privacy and cross-ventilation re-
corners were bent to give […] a sense of enclosure.’ 5 Estates built since the quirements.8 Many HDB flats have difficulties in coping ‘with noise prob-
1990s reflect the growing demand for privacy and individuality. There are lems, privacy necessities and thermal comfort for different activities.’ 9 The
no corridor-facing units after 2004. The new blocks ‘tend to be around access to units along the single-loaded building mass, for example, results
40-storeys high’. ‘Today, HDB blocks “amalgamate the point and slab block in reduced privacy since the windows open out to the common corridor.
designs, featuring taller blocks.” The Pinnacle@Duxton is the highest HDB Especially the bedrooms lack any cross-ventilation as doors are usually
settlement in Singapore ‘with seven connected 50-storey towers.’ 6 closed during the night to protect people’s privacy.
Completed HDB dwelling units by year
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
source: HDB Annual Reports, 1960–2013
Source: HDB Annual Reports 1960–2013

Completed public housing units (1927–2013)
1927–1960 1960–1970 1970–1975 1975–1985 2013

Singapore Improvement Trust HDB 1st and 2nd 5-year plan HDB 3rd 5-year-plan HDB 4th 5-year-plan Completed HDB flats by 2013
Evolution of New Town Urban Layout (1965–2000)
1965–1970 1970–1975 1975–1980 1980–1985 1985–1990 1988–1996 1990 (ongoing) 2000 (ongoing)
Construction of Toa Payoh, HDB’s In early 1970s four New In the second half of 1970s In the early 1980s seven In the late 1980 four more – Pasir Ris – Senkang – Punggol
first New Town, started in 1965. Towns were started: construction commenced for: New Towns were started: New Towns were started: (built 1988–1996)
– Queenstown (SIT) – Bedok – Ang Mo Kio – Bukit Batok – Bishan

– Toa Payoh – Marine Parade – Clementi/West Coast – Hougang – Bukit Panjang
– Marsiling – Hougang – Jurong – Choa Chu Kang
– Telok Blangah – Serangoon – Pasir Ris
– Tampines
– Woodlands
– Yishun
Evolution of Toa Payoh (1967–1976)
1967 1968 1970 1971 1976
1 room I mproved
196 6 -1974
3 room new g eneration

y 4 room improved 1974-79, 1980-/
196 7-1975

1 room I mproved
1974-79, 1980-/
om improved
7-1975 Evolution of HDB building types throughout
196 6 -1974 the years
5 -room model 'A'
1991-1992 5 room improved
cy 4 room improved model 'A' 1993-1994
1974-79, 1980-/
om improved 1960–1966 1-room Emergency 1974–79, 1980– 3-room New Generation 1993-1994 1991–1992 5-room model ‘A’ 2009 The Pinnacle
7-1975
5 -room model 'A'
cy 1991-1992
5 room improved
4 room improved model 'A' 1993-1994
5 room model 'A'/4 room model 'A'
1993-1994
( prefab ) 1979-?
executive maisonette
1991-1992 executive apartment
1960–1962 2-room Emergency 4- Room N 4/5 ew G room Model 'A'
eneration 1974–79, 1980– 4-room New Generation 1991–1992 Executive maisonette 1991-1992
cy 5 room model
1979-1981'A'/4 room model 'A'
1974-79, 1980-
om simplified/ 5-room ( prefab ) 1979-?
plified 1982 5 room improved
1 room I mproved 4 room improved model 'A' 1993-1994
executive maisonette
196 6 N -1974
Room ew G eneration 5 room model 'A'/4 room model 'A' 1993-1994
1991-1992 executive apartment
4-79, 1980- ( prefab ) 1979-? 1991-1992
5 room improved point plock Executive apartment
1993-1994 1993-1994
cy N ew G eneration
oom 2 room improved 196 9
4-79, 1980- 1972-1975 4/5 room Model 'A' 5 room improved
1979-1981 1993-1994
om simplified/ 5-room 4 room simplified 4/ 5room
roomimproved model 'A'
plified 1982 1960–1969 2-room Standard 1979–1981 4-room Model ‘A’ improved 1982- 1993-1994
4/5 room Model 'A' 1993–1994 5-room improved model ‘A’ 2014 The Waterfront Terraces HDB by Group8Asia
1979-1981
4 room simplified/ 5-room 5 room improved point plock Executive apartment
simplified 1982 1993-1994 1993-1994
4 room simplified / 5 room
improved
4/5- Room Model 'A' Composite Block1982-
of
13,9, 4 storeys
2 room improved 196 9
1972-1975
4 room simplified / 5 room
4-room Model 'A' improved 1982-
om improved 1979-80, 1981-
4- 3 room improved 5 room improved point plock Executive apartment
196 7-1975 1993-1994
1960–1967 3-room Standard 1982– 4-room Simplified / 5-room Improved
4/5 room Model 'A'
1993–1994 5-room improved point block1993-1994
om Model 'A' 1979-1981
9-80, 1981- 2 room
4 roomimproved 196 5-room
simplified/ 9 Executive maisonette
4/5- Room Model 'A' Composite Block of 4 room model 'A'
1972-1975
simplified 1982 1993-1994
13,9, 4 storeys 1995-1996
om Model 'A' 4/5- Room Model 'A' Composite Block of

9-80, 1981- 13,9, 4 storeys 5 room improved point plock Executive apartment
1993-1994 1993-1994
1 room
om I mproved
improved
4-196 6 -1974 Executive maisonette/Executive apartment
om 1980-1983
ation 5 room improved Executive maisonette 4 room model 'A'
1984- 1993-1994 1995-1996
1966–1974 1-room Improved 1980–1983 Executive Maisonette / Executive Apartment 1993–1994 Executive maisonette 2015 Skyville at Dawson HDB by Woha
4/5- Room Model 'A' Composite Block of

Executive maisonette/Executive apartment 13,9, 4 storeys Executive maisonette 4 room model 'A'
om 3 room new g eneration
1980-1983 1993-1994 1995-1996
ation 1974-79, 1980-/
Executive maisonette/Executive apartment
m improved 196 9 5-room 1980-1983
975 5 room improved variation executive/ executive maisonette
1984- 1995-1996
1969, 1972–1975 2-room Improved 1984– 5-room Improved, 5-room Variation 1995–1996 Executive / executive maisonette
3 room improved
196 7-1975 Executive maisonette 4 room model 'A'
executive apartment point b lock 1993-1994 1995-1996
1989-1990
executive/ executive maisonette The evolution HDB building types presents an array of public housing
1995-1996 adapted to tropical climate conditions, demonstrating the interplay
Executive maisonette/Executive apartment between economic, sociocultural and construction parameters. All
5-room
m improved variation 5 room improved
1980-1983 HDB buildings are officially designed for cross-ventilation.
975 1967–1975 3-room Improved 1989-1990 1989–1994 Executive apartment point block 2000 onwards generic HDB building type
executive apartment point b lock
( prefab ) 1979-? HDB buildings typically consist of only one or two different unit
1989-1990
om model 'A' executive/ executive maisonette types per building. After the double-loaded corridor (as used in the
9-90 1995-1996
neration
early HDB generation emergency units) was found to be ineffective
in terms of both ventilation and noise problems, HDB switched to
single-loaded slab blocks with a common access corridor.
5 room model 'A'
5 room improved
3 room new g eneration 1989-1990
1967–1975 4-room Improved 1974-79, 1980-/ 1989-1990 1989–1990 Executive apartment executive/ executive maisonette 2000 onwards generic HDB building type Since the 2001 introduction of BTO (Built-to-Order) HDBs, no
1995-1996
5 room improved
corridor-facing units have been constucted. Cross-ventilation often
Executive apartment
om model 'A' 1989-1990 1989-1990 tends to be compromised in these units – especially in the bedrooms
9-90
m improved 196 9
1975
(largely due to privacy concerns). The recent HDB typologies tend to
4 room4simplified
room model 'A'
/ 5 room follow the slab-point block hybrid typology.
1989-90
improved 1982-
ew g eneration 5 room model 'A'

1980-/ 1989-1990
Executive apartment
1989-1990 5 room improved
1989-1990
4 room model 'A'
( prefab ) 1979-?
1989-90
neration
Climate statistics and HDB New Towns
23 New Towns and the surrounding water bodies and greeneries Singapore long term precipitation map and the 23 HDB New Towns
Annual mean surface temperature in Singapore 1950–2010 Annual mean rainfall (mm) in Singapore 1950–2010 Mean Annual Rainfall: 2340 mm Mean max. and min. NNE SSW Winds
Average monthly rainfall (mm) temperatures in °C
N
NNW NNE
350 NW NE
J F M A M J J A S O N D 10
300
WNW ENE
250
33 33
32 32 32
200 31 31 31 31 31 0
30 30 W E
150
100 WSW ESE
50
25
0 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 SW SE
23 23
J F M A M J J A S O N D 22 SSW SSE
S
source: NEA, Records of Climate Station Mean source: NEA, Records of Climate Station Mean Singapore (Changi)
Wind direction distribution in (%)
The average daily mean temperature There is a high humidity through the whole Surface wind speeds are generally low in
thorough the year is 26.98° C, with yearly year, with the average yearly humidity of Singapore. The long term annual mean wind
average high and low temperatures ranging 84.2 %, humidity and abundant rainfall speed is 2 m/s.
between 31.0° C and 24.1° C. throughout the year.
A chronology of HDB orientations and environmental conditions
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
N
330º 10º 30º
20º
30º
40º
300º 60º
50º
June 21 60º 06:17
18:37 09
15 70º
80º
W E
18:21
December 21 15 12
09 06:26
Toa Payoh Ang Mo Kio Bukit Batok Pasir Ris Sengkang
240º 120º
210º 150º
N
NNW NNE
NW NE
10
WNW ENE
W 0
E
WSW ESE
Marine Parade Tampines Punggol
SW SE
SSW SSE
S
N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
N N N N N
W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W WW W W W W
W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W
W W W W W
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
E E E E E
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
S S S S S
N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
N N N N N
W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W WW W W W W
W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W
W W W W W
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
prevailing prevailing E prevailing E prevailing
prevailing prevailingprevailing E prevailing E E E
prevailingprevailing E prevailingprevailing E prevailingE E E prevailing
prevailing E prevailingprevailing E E E prevailing
prevailing E Eprevailing
prevailingprevailing E E E
E prevailing
E prevailingprevailing E E E
wind wind wind windwind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind windwind wind wind wind wind
prevailing prevailing prevailing prevailing
prevailing prevailingprevailing prevailing prevailingprevailingprevailingprevailing prevailing prevailing
prevailing prevailingprevailing prevailing prevailing prevailing
prevailingprevailing prevailing prevailingprevailing
wind wind wind windwind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind
wind wind wind wind wind
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
S S S S S
From 1960’s to 1980’s the nation 1970s generation estates were 1980s generation estates The estates since the 1990s reflect 2000 estates are built increasingly
was built almost only in the East– dominated by large, linear slab were composed of slab blocks in the growing demand for privacy taller with varying layouts of point-
West direction in order to minimise blocks, commonly at the height of most common heights of 10 to and individuality. The so-called slab hybrid blocks. The majority
the solar gain of the facades. 12 to 16 stories and point blocks of 16 storeys, plus 25-storey point point-slab hybrid blocks start to of blocks are built in the height
20 and 25 storeys. blocks. evolve and blocks tend to continue of 16 storeys, such as in Punggol.
1960s estates were composed only the enclosed block design. Multistorey carparks are built
by linear slab blocks with a shared- Compared with previous decades, within the blocks.
access corridor, commonly at the 1980s block corners were bent to
N N N N N
height of 10 storeys. give a sense of enclosure. Bending
N N N N N
the block corners affects the venti- NNE NNE NNE NNE NNE
W W NNE NNE W W W NNE NNE NNE
lation properties negatively on the
W W W W W
block scale.
E E E E E
E E E E E
SSW SSW SSW SSW SSW
96 Singapore: Evolution of New Towns Ani Vihervaara, Sascha Roesler SSW AniSVihervaara, S
SSW Sascha Roesler Singapore: S SSW SSW
Evolution
SSW S
of NewS Towns 97
S S S S S
Evolution of the buiding heights and the basic building typology
The single-loaded slab block replaced the double-loaded building type in the 1970’s due to insufficient ventilation and noise problems in the
double-loaded emergency units (even despite the fact that the double-loaded is the most economical typology). The open ground floor emerged
in the 1970’s and has remained a general HDB building design principle to this day. Later, with the emergence of the point-slab hybrid block, 50
the double-loaded typology is making a comeback – now with a more permeable building mass and no corridor-facing units for privacy. Due to
economic reasons, the overall height of New Towns, such as in Punggol, has stayed around 16 storeys. However, the tallest HDB projects reach up
to 40–50 storeys. 40
25 25 25 25
20
16 16 16 16
12 13 12 12
10 10 10 10
max. max.
1960 1970 1980 1985 1990 2000 2010 2020
double-loaded slab 1960–1974 point-block point-slab hybrid block
single-loaded slab (improved cross-ventilation) 1960–2000
1960s estates composed only by linear 1970s generation estates were dominated 1980s generation estates are composed by
slab blocks (corridor style) in most com- by big slab block in most common heights slab blocks in most common heights of 10,
mon height of 10 storeys and usually with of 12, 13 or 16 stories and usually with 14 12, 16 storeys, usually with 10 or 12 units per
12 units per floor, but several blocks were or 18 units per floor, most were over 100 floor, plus the well known 25-storey point
very long metres long, plus point blocks of 20 and blocks which dominate skyline.
25 storeys
Minimal distance between facades was By unknown reasons, after 1985 only few
not regulated, usually 15–30 metres. Minimal distance between facades was blocks were built with more than 12 storeys.
30 metres.
Minimal distance between facades was 24
metres
10 storey 10 storey 10 storey 12 storey 13 storey 16 storey 20 storey 25-storey 40-storey 50-storey
double-loaded single-loaded single-loaded slab single-loaded slab single-loaded slab single-loaded slab point block point block point/slab hybrid block point/slab hybrid block
slab block slab block block with ground block with ground block with ground block with ground with ground level with ground level with ground level with ground- and mid-
level void deck level void deck level void deck level void deck void deck void deck void deck level void deck
Variety of different HDB unit types throught the years
Fig. 05 Interior view of a living room in a typical three room improved unit
Modified line drawing originally from Architecture and Urbanism, Special Edition in English / Chinese, Singapore – Capital City for Vertical Green 2012
public access All units are planned for passive cross-ventilation. The units follow a similar programmatic and Fig. 06 Interior view of a living room in a five room family unit
organisational logic. The living room and one of the bedrooms are typically located adjacent to
service space the access corridor. Here, a trade-off is established between the need for ventilation required
and need for privacy. The kitchen, bathrooms and, occasionally, a yard are located on the other
living space side of the unit. The second bedroom is often pulled deeper within the building mass
Wind topographies of typical blocks from HDB New Towns
Toa Payoh Bukit Batok

(late 1960s, early 1970s) (1980s)
Seen from the SSE Seen from the SSE
10:00 a.m. morning sun, at summer equinox, June 21 10:00 a.m. morning sun, at summer equinox, June 21
Summer Monsoon winds from prevailing wind direction Summer Monsoon winds from prevailing wind direction
from southwest winds at a wind speed of 2 m/s from southwest winds ad a wind speed of 2 m/s
2-room standard unit slab blocks, 4/5-room Model ‘A’ composite block
(void ground fl.) 10 storeys 13,9,4 and 25,4 storeys
3-room Improved slab blocks, 4-room New Generation slab block
(void ground fl.) 10 storeys ground fl. void deck + 12 storeys
3-room New Generation slab blocks
ground fl. void deck + 12 storeys
Marine Parade Punggol

(late 1970s) (2000s)
Seen from the SSE Seen from SSE
10:00 a.m. morning sun, at summer equinox, June 21 10:00 a.m. morning sun, at summer equinox, June 21
Summer Monsoon winds from prevailing wind direction Summer Monsoon winds from prevailing wind direction
from southwest winds ad a wind speed of 2 m/s from southwest winds ad a wind speed of 2 m/s
5-room point blocks, 5-room hybrid point-slab blocks

ground fl. void deck + 25 storeys ground floor void dect + 16 storeys
4-room New Generation slab blocks, 6 storey multistorey carparks
ground fl. void deck + 13 storeys
Toa Payoh New Town wind topography Toa Payoh New Town storeys
8 16 25
6 14 24
4 13 22
HDB buildings Typical block study selection
3 11 20
Toa Payoh A-A
Toa Payoh B-B
2 9 18
Wind flow is simulated from the prevailing wind direction during summer – a SSW wind brought by the Sumatras monsoon.
The air tends to move and gain speed along the roads, and along paths of larger openings. Notice how the wind tends to follow
the circular road network in Toa Payoh
Marine Parade A-A
Marine Parade B-B

Marine Parade New Town wind topography Marine Parade New Town storeys
8 16 25
6 14 24
Toa Payoh A-A
4 13 22
Toa Payoh B-B
3 11 20
Marine Parade A-A
Marine Parade B-B
2 9 18
Marine Parade New Town was the first residential project to be built on reclamed land. Its location next to the sea and East Coast Park
makes it one of the breeziest (and most popular) HDB New Towns in Singapore. Marine Parade consists of 12-storey slab blocks and 25-storey
tower blocks. Slab blocks are mainly oriented east-west for the ideal solar angle. With the prevailing wind direction from the SSW – NNE or
NNE – SSW, the slab blocks are oriented perpendicular to the wind direction
Bukit Batok A-A
Bukit Batok B-B

Bukit Batok New Town wind topography Bukit Batok New Town storeys
8 16 25
Toa Payoh A-A
6 14 24
Toa Payoh B-B
Marine Parade A-A
4 13 22
Marine Parade B-B
3 11 20
Bukit Batok A-A
Bukit Batok B-B
2 9 18
In principle, it is advantageous to lay main roads parallel to the the main wind direction (in Singapore this would dictate a SSW
or NNE orientation) and secondary roads perpendicular to the wind. It is also highly recommended to create corridors for the wind,
taking advantage of long continuous patches of greenery, water bodies or open fields to make highways for the wind
Punggol A-A
Punggol New Town wind topographies Punggol New Town storeys
Toa Payoh A-A
5 12
Toa Payoh B-B
Marine Parade A-A
4 11 17
Marine Parade B-B
Bukit Batok A-A

3 9 16
Bukit Batok B-B
Sea
2 7 14
Punggol A-A
Punggol New Town is the newest of all 22 New Towns in Singapore. observed from the wind simulation that the main roads fuction as air
Most buildings are 16-storey hybrid tower-slab blocks. Punggol is corridors for the majority of air flow. However, the large, dense building 1 6 13
denser in comparison to many previous New Towns and features large, clusters block the winds from entering inside the courtyards. Turning
multistorey parking garages in the centre of the quarter. The blocks the building clusters 90 degrees and leaving the block ends open
are layed out in a NW – SE orientation, in contrast to the earlier HDBs would be a more favourable orientation, enabling the prevailing wind
which aligned with the ideal solar orientation of east – west. It can be to enter the courtyards
References Endnotes Image Credits
Gibson, William (2012 [1993]) ‘Disneyland 1

Seng, Eunice (2014), abstract. Fig. 01, 04, 07–09: Ani Vihervaara.
with the Death Penalty’, in Distrust That
Particular Flavor, Putnam Adult. 2
Gibson, Wiliam (2012 [1993]). Fig. 02, 03: HDB (Housing a Nation. 25
Years of Public Housing in Singapore).
Liping, Wang/Hien Nyuk, Wong (2006) 3
See: Yuen, Belinda (2005).
‘The impacts of ventilation strategies and Fig. 05, 06: Yeh, H K (ed.) (1975), Public
facade on indoor thermal environment for 4
Liping, Wang/Hien, Wohng Hyuk (2006), Housing in Singapore. A Multi-disciplinary
naturally ventilated residential buildings in p. 4006. Study, Singapore University Press for
Singapore’, in Building and Environment 42. Housing and Development Board.
5
All information given according to:
Liu Thai Ker (1975) ‘Design for better Living www.teoalida.com/singapore/hdbfloorplans Fig. 06 Yeh, H K (ed.) (1975), Public Housing
Conditions’, in Yeh, Stephen H K (ed.), Public [accessed 08.12.2014]. in Singapore. A Multi-disciplinary Study,
Housing in Singapore. A Multi-disciplinary Singapore University Press for Housing and
Study, Singapore University Press for 6
All information given according to: Development Board.
Housing and Development Board. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_housing_in_
Singapore [accessed 08.12.2014].
Seng, Eunice (2014), Habitation and the
Invention of a Nation, Singapore 1936–1979, 7
Liu Thai Ker (1975), p. 137.
Dissertation Colombia University, New York.
8
See: Liu Thai Ker (1975), p. 138; Wong,
Tenorio, Rosangela (2007), Enabling the Aline K/Yeh, Stephen (ed.) (1985), p.71.
Hybrid Use of Air Conditioning: A Prototype
on Sustainable Housing in Tropical Regions, 9
Tenorio, Rosangela (2007).
Building and Environment 42(2): 605–613.
Wong, Aline K/Yeh, Stephen (ed.) (1985),

Housing a Nation. 25 Years of Public Housing
in Singapore, Maruzen Asia for Housing &
Development Board.
Fig. 07 3-Room New Generation units in Yishun New Town Fig. 08 Public access corridor in Toa Payoh www.teoalida.com/singapore/hdbfloorplans
Yuen, Belinda (2005), Squatters no more:

Singapore Social Housing, in Third Urban
Research Symposium: Land Development,
Urban Policy and Poverty Reduction, April 4–6
2005, Brazilia.
Yeh, H K (ed.) (1975), Public Housing

in Singapore. A Multi-disciplinary Study,
Singapore University Press for Housing and
Development Board.
Fig. 09 3-Room New Generation units in block 734, Yishun Avenue 5
H D B
G H T S
IN S I
BEDOK SOUTH AVE 3
BLOCK 157
HENDERSON CRESCENT
BLOCK 106
YISHUN STREET 61
BLOCK 633A
Katja Jug
Abundance of Energy
The proliferation of residential air conditioning
Sascha Roesler, Between 1978 and 2008, the number of Singaporean

Ani Vihervaara
apartments fitted with air conditioning grew by 70 per
cent, a convention that laid the foundation for a broad
societal coverage with this technology. As air conditioning
has increasingly infiltrated not only workspaces in factories
and offices, but has also become something like ‘domestic
furniture’ 1 in private dwellings, an all-encompassing
man-made weather has, in recent years, begun to take the
place of what was a diversity in microclimates. Since the
paradigm of control of (indoor) climate has ousted the
traditional adaptation towards (outside) climate, a new
thermal regime − made in Singapore − has emerged.
Residential air conditioning is a very young phenomenon in Singapore.

In the decades following the founding of the state, architects were still asked
to consider the thermal relevance of floor plan design and the inhabitants’
various modes of behaviour as they planned new housing. Architects could
expect that residents would know how to make use of the architectural of-
fering of cross ventilation. By the proliferation of residential air condition-
ing however, new cultural patterns of cooling have emerged and with them,
new sociocultural norms of comfort.2 Against the widespread dichotomy
of ‘natural ventilation’ versus ‘air conditioning’, or low tech versus high
tech, architects and planners have to approach ‘cooling’ as complex cultural
systems that involve a variety of agents, each of which has huge potential
for experimentation. Nowadays however, two aspects are in the very centre
of the debates around residential air-conditioning:
1) The population’s productivity
2) Growing energy consumption
Fig. 01 Marine Parade New Town, Marine Drive
142 Singapore: Abundance of Energy Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara Singapore: Abundance of Energy 143
Share of total primary energy supply Reside
Weighted Energy Consumption Profile across All housing types (AveragekWh) in 2012 in Singapore in 2012
Weighted
Weighted Energy
Energy Consumption
Consumption Profile
Profile across
across All
All housing
housing types
types (AveragekWh)
(AveragekWh)
Biofuels /Waste
Air-Conditioner units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.7 % 2.4 % Natural gas
Air-Conditioner
Water heater . . .units 36.7 %
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.9 Natural gas
Air-Conditioner units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.7 % 8%
Water heater +
Refridgerator . . Freezer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.9
18.5 29.2 %
Water heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.9
Refridgerator
Computers & +Peripherals Freezer . . +. . Modem/Router
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.5
5.0
Refridgerator + Freezer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.5
Computers & Peripherals + Modem/Router
Lightings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.0
4.3
Computers & Peripherals + Modem/Router . . . . . . . . . . 5.0
Lightings 4.3
TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0
Lightings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3
TV. . . . . air
Electric . . .pots
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0
2.3
TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0
Electric
Washingairmachine pots . . .+. .Electric
. . . . . . .iron
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0
2.3
Electric air pots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3
Washing
Fan . . . . . machine
. . . . . . . . .+. .Electric
. . . . . . .iron
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0
1.0
Washing machine + Electric iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0
Fan . . . top
TV set . . . .box
. . . .+. Entertainment
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . consoles
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0
Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0
TV set top box
Microwave oven+ +Entertainment
Electric oven consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0
1.6
TV set top box + Entertainment consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0
Microwave
Clothes Dryer. oven ..+ . . Electric
. . . . . . . .oven
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
1.1 Oil 68.4 %
Microwave oven + Electric oven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
Clothes
Dish washer Dryer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <1.11
Clothes Dryer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1
Dish washer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . < 1
Dish washer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . < 1
source: http: Household Consumption Survey 2012 source: OECD/IEA 2014, IEA Energy Statistics, source: OE
source: http: Household Consumption Survey 2012
app.e2singapore.gov.sg www.iea.org/statistics/ www.iea.o
source: http: Household Consumption Survey 2012
app.e2singapore.gov.sg
app.e2singapore.gov.sg
Interdependence thesis of productivity of labour and

distribution of air-conditioning
Share of total primary energy supply Residential final energy consumption
End-use Electricity Consumption in Singapore in 2012 in Singapore in 2012 in Singapore
‘The humble air-conditioner has changed the lives of
End-use Electricity Consumption in Singapore
people in the tropical regions. [...] Before air-con, Biofuels /Waste Others
2.4 % Natural gas 3%
mental concentration and with it the quality of work Natural gas
29.2 %
8%
deteriorated as the day got hotter and more humid … Singapore

Singapore consumed 3,863 kTtoe
consumed 3,863 kTtoe of
of Electricity
Electricity in
in 2013
2013
Singapore consumed 3,863 kTtoe of Electricity% in 2013

Historically, advanced civilisations have flourished in Industrial-related
Industrial-related .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 42
Commerce
Commerce and and Services-related
Services-related .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37
42 %
37
Industrial-related
Households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %
Households .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 15
the cooler climates. Now, lifestyles have become com- Commerce
Transport-related and Services-related . . . . . . . . 37
Transport-related .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5,3
15
5,3
Households
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Others .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 0.8
0.8
parable to those in tempereate zones and civilisation in Transport-related . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,3
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.8 Oil 68.4 % Electricity 89 %
the tropcal zones need no longer lag behind.’
source:
source: Singapore
Singapore Energy source:
Energy Statistics
Statistics OECD/IEA
2014,
2014, Research2014,
Research and IEA Energy
and Statistics
Statistics Statistics,
Unit,
Unit, source: OECD/IEA 2014, IEA Energy Statistics,
Lee Kuan Yew, Air-Con Gets My Vote, Straits Times, Singapore, 19th of January 1999, p. 1. Energy
Energy Market
Market Authority, www.iea.org/statistics/
Authority, Singapore
Singapore www.iea.org/statistics/
source: Singapore Energy Statistics 2014, Research and Statistics Unit,
Energy Market Authority, Singapore
(1) Productivity (2) Energy consumption

The integration of climate in what Michel Foucault termed ‘govern- According to McNeil and Letschert, there is a change, demanding better comfort levels. Sales of A/C
mentality’ 3 denotes the way modern societies deal with their climate. In a continuous ‘trade-off between climate, and financial equipment have increased considerably over the past
Foucauldian reading, mastering the climate means hot-wiring a nation’s considerations’ in developing countries.8 Although few years […] especially small packaged A/C systems
weather with its political economy. Air-conditioning is ‘a way of losing less, ‘recent history has shown that air conditioner owner- that can be easily installed by homeowners’.11 Due
or making more, money’4, by ‘increased productivity’ 5 on the part of the ship can grow more rapidly than economic growth’,9 to the proliferation of air-conditioning, Singapore is
population. In this respect, air conditioning is not only the result of grow- comparative data from developing countries suggest among the countries with the highest per capita ener-
ing income levels but one of the preconditions for them. For Lee Kuan Yew, an availability rate below 20 per cent until such time gy consumption worldwide.12 In 2012, the residential
the first prime minister of Singapore, air conditioning was the most im- as the GDP reaches USD 3,300 on average. As soon final energy consumption was based on 89 per cent
portant invention of the 20th century. Along with other opinion-makers, as this level of wealth has been reached, the availabil- electricity, 37 per cent of that percentage being ap-
he saw the productive capacity of labour in great interdependence from ity rate of air conditioning correspondingly ‘climbs plied for air conditioning purposes. Natural forms of
climatic conditions. ‘The humble air-conditioner has changed the lives of steeply’ 10 and development and sustainability begin ventilation rely both on knowledge and architecture.
people in the tropical regions. […] Before air-con, mental concentration to diverge. The growing energy consumption that the As air conditioning became more affordable, less and
and with it the quality of work deteriorated as the day got hotter and more proliferation of air conditioning causes is the flip side less attention has been paid to other cooling strate-
humid… Historically, advanced civilisations have flourished in the cooler of economic development and low prices for energy, gies. Natural ventilation is incorporated both in the
climates. Now, lifestyles have become comparable to those in temperate however. ‘Over the last years the high demand in the layouts, the structures, and the materials of buildings
zones and civilisation in the tropical zones need no longer lag behind.’6 The use of air conditioning […] in the residential sector has as well as the bodies and the behaviour of the resi-
Fig. 02 ‘Singapore,
The Air-Conditioned Nation’ Singaporean journalist Cherian George saw the widespread proliferation contributed to the increase in energy consumption lev- dents. Meanwhile, the blueprint of the smooth, ‘closed
by Cherian George of residential air-conditioning as a political metaphor for ‘comfort and con- els. This is basically due to the low costs of electricity exterior envelope’ is replacing the highly structured,
trol’, and cited Singapore as ‘the air-conditioned nation’.7 and household A/C systems allied to a social lifestyle air-permeable façade.13
Population in millions Estimated percentage of resident population Experimentations in venting culture
living in HDB flats
The triumphant success of mechanical cooling comfort’ once again.16 Further, with the increasing af-
6 100 in Singapore is typically correlated with the grow- fordability of residential air-conditioning units, the
86%
83% ing GDP, without any reference to popular culture. technology changed its character from an amenity to
5 80 87% 86%
81%
82%
However, the proliferation of residential air-condi- a necessity. Arsenault’s statement about the United
4 60 67% tioning has a major impact on this nation’s popular States, applies meanwhile also to Singapore: ‘In vary-
culture. ‘Over the past […] years, extraordinarily var- ing degrees virtually all […] have been affected, directly
3 40 47%
35%
ied methods of living with heat, of calibrating cloth- or indirectly, by the technology of climate control. Air
2 20 23% ing, of adjusting social and seasonal rhythms and fine conditioning has changed […] [the] way of life, influ-
9% tuning the built environment have been eroded and encing everything from architecture to sleeping hab-
1 0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 increasingly replaced by a resource-intensive […] cul- its’.17 Although the residential sector’s contribution to
ture of mechanical cooling’.14 Today’s residents, but the growing energy consumption of Singapore is only
source:The World Bank, World Development Indicators source: Research & Planning Group, HDB
also the responsible authorities and the designing ar- secondary, housing is indeed the most important ex-
chitects, are all unlearning these former thermal prac- perimental field where the scope and the diversity of
tices. The American historian Raymond Arsenault contemporary and future cooling practices are tested.
speaks of an ‘air-cooled privatism’ 15 , or the notion of Therefore planners and architects should consider
keeping people inside their flats. By entering the priva- venting systems, not just as a mere technological prob-
Electric power consumption in selected countries Electric power consumption in Singapore
(kWh per capita) (GWh) cy of the living space, air-conditioning transformed the lem to solve, but much more as a cultural potential with
public discourse ‘from efficient production to human which to experiment.
20000 50000
kwh Gwh
Canada
40000
15000
USA
30000
10000
Australia References Shove, E/Walker, G/Brown, S (2014) 9
McNeil, Michael A and Virginie E Letschert
Singapore 20000
‘Transnational Transitions: The Diffusion and (2008), p. 1311.
Germany
Arsenault, Raymond (1984) ‘The end of the Integration of Mechanical Cooling’, in Urban
5000 UK
10000 long hot summer: the air conditioner and Studies 51(7): 1506–1519. 10
southern culture’, in The Journal of Sourthern (2008), p. 1316.
Indonesia
0 History, Vol. 50, No. 4, Nov. Tenorio, Rosangela (2007) ‘Enabling the
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1960 1980 1990 2000 2010 Hybrid Use of Air Conditioning: A Prototype 11
Tenorio, Rosangela (2007).
Banham, Reyner (1969) The Architecture on Sustainable Housing in Tropical Regions’,
source: World Bank, World Development Indicators source:The World Bank, World Development Indicators of the Well-tempered Environment, The in Building and Environment 42(2): 605–613. 12
According to World Bank. See ‘Energy use
University of Chicago Press. (kg of oil equivalent per capita)’,
Yew, Lee Kuan (1999), Air-con gets my vote, data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.PCAP.
Feriadi, Henry (1999). Natural Ventilation in Straits Times, Jan. 19, p. 1. KG.OE [accessed 30.06.2015].
Characteristics of Courtyard Buildings in
Tropical Climate, Dissertation National
13
Feriadi, Henry (1999), p. 1.
University of Singapore Endnotes 14
Shove, E/Walker, G/Brown, S (2014).
Foucault, Michel (1994 [1978])
‘Governmentality’, in Ibid., essential works of
1
Banham, Reyner (1969), p. 185. 15
Arsenault, Raymond (1984), p. 625.
GDP per capita (US$) Percentage of air-conditioners in households Residential electricity consumption
(Mwh per capita) Foucault 1954–1984, vol. 3, Penguin Books.
2
See Shove, E, Walker, G and Brown, S 16
George, Cherian (2000) Singapore, the air (2014).
60000 %100 2.0
conditioned nation. Essays on the politics of
17
50000 (74.7%) comfort and control, 1990–2000, Singapore:
3
Foucault, Michel (1978).
80 (72%)
(58%)
1.5 Landmark Books.
40000 4
Banham, Reyner (1969), p. 174.
60 Image Credits
30000 1.0
McNeil, Michael A/Letschert, Virginie E
(35%)
(2008) ‘Future air conditioning energy con-
5
40
20000 sumption in developing countries and what Fig. 01: Ani Vihervaara.
(19%)
0.5 can be done about it: the potential of ef-
6
Yew, Lee Kuan (1999), p. 1, quoted accord-
20 (11%)
10000 (7%) ficiency in the residential sector’, Lawrence ing to: George, Cherian (2000), p. 14. Fig. 02: Cherian George.
(3%)
0 0 0.0
Berkely National Laboratory.
www.eceee.org/library/conference_
7
George, Cherian (2000).
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 1980 1990 2000 2010
proceedings/eceee_Summer_Studies/2007/
source:The World Bank, World Development Indicators source: www.singstat.gov.sg, Household Expenditure Survey 2012/2013 source: IEA, www.iea.org/sankey Panel_6/6.306/paper
8
(2008), p. 1312.
Entangled
Venting Systems
The superimposition of natural ventilation
and air conditioning
Sascha Roesler Natural ventilation and air conditioning presuppose

two completely different design strategies: In theory,
air-conditioned buildings require airtight envelopes whereas
naturally ventilated buildings require permeable ones. In
HDB flats, however, rather than two separate systems of
climate control, there are only entangled and hybrid ones.
Increasingly natural ventilation and air conditioning are
superimposed on one another. The question of how to lower
energy consumption cannot be solved by optimisation of
the mechanical cooling systems alone. As such, there is a
need to rethink the architectural envelope newly.
The ways a passively ventilated and a mechanically cooled building

operate their energy balances differ widely. A passively ventilated build-
ing in the tropics wants as much atmospheric exchange with its surround-
ing environment as is possible, while the mechanically cooled building
aims at creating and maintaining a temperature difference. Maintaining
this temperature difference between the inside and the outside requires
either insulation or a constant input of energy.1 Interestingly, though, ‘for
naturally ventilated buildings in Singapore, there are no clear façade design
guidelines.’ 2
Fig. 01 Cooling elements in the original 3-room New Generation unit type
148 Singapore: Entangled Venting Systems Sascha Roesler Sascha Roesler Singapore: Entangled Venting Systems 149
U-value = 2.97 Wm2K U-value = 1.5 Wm2K* U-value = 0.8 Wm2K*
2 mm paint 5 mm ceramic tile
3 mm cement
112.5 mm one leaf 114 mm concrete 229 mm concrete 125 mm (prefabricated) 200 mm (prefabricated)
solid brick, plaster hollow block hollow block concrete concrete
13 mm cement plaster 13 mm cement plaster
Fig. 02 HDB wall structures
Fig. 05 Objects with microclimatic properties developed in the Fig. 06 HDB air-conditioner ledge drawing
trade-off between ventilation needs and privacy. A metal grid door
and an aluminium window louvre along the common access corridor
Semi-permeable envelope
We refer to the current architectural answer to specification for non-air-conditioned buildings is that
the superimpostion of the two climate control systems its walls should not exceed an U-value of 3.5 W/m2 K.5
(natural ventilation and air conditioning) as the ‘semi- This regulatory value is one completely unheard of in
permeable envelope’. Architecturally, the semi-perme- Europe. The majority of regulatory values in Europe
U-value = 0.20 Wm2K U-value = 0.19 Wm2K U-value = 0.20 Wm2K able envelope reflects the contradictions between the range between 0.25 and 0.40.6 In other words, com-
2 mm paint 2 mm paint two climate control systems. In terms pared to Singapore’s, the European
Fig. 03 HDB approved
aluminium louvre window 112.5 mm one leaf 114 mm concrete 125 mm (prefabricated)
of regulations, the semi-permeable Compared to Singapore’s, values are 8 to 14 times lower. The
solid brick hollow block concrete envelope is stipulated by approv- current u-value regulation explains
the European U-values
100 mm insulation 100 mm insulation 100 mm insulation ing high U-Values. The ‘U-value’ is and legitimises the growing energy
‘the overall heat transfer coefficient are 8 to 14 times lower. consumption of HDB flats. In hous-
13 mm cement plaster 13 mm cement plaster 13 mm cement plaster
that describes how well a building ing policies, natural ventilation con-
element conducts heat […] across the structure.’ 3 In tinues to be the state’s concept, and air-conditioning
Fig. 04 HDB suggested improved wall structures Singapore there are no regulations for the thermal the venting system of the single owner. It is up to the
transmittance of passively ventilated buildings. HDB owner to install air-conditioning units under HDB
buildings are still supposed to be naturally ventilated guidelines. Only very recently has the HDB started to
despite the fact that around 80 per cent of house- provide ledges for window units, an acknowledgement
holds now have access to air-conditioning.4 The only of the reality in itself.
Wicked problems
In 1973, design theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber coined the References Endnotes 6
See: www.eurima.org/u-values-in-europe
[accessed 08.12.2014];
term ‘wicked problems’ in the context of ‘social policy planning’.7 A wicked www.ecofys.com/files/files/ecofys_2007_
Arsenault, Raymond (1984) ‘The End of 1
See: Tenorio, Rosangela (2007).
problem is ‘a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of in- the Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and uvaluesenergyperformancebuildings.pdf
complete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult Southern Culture’, in: The Journal of Southern 2
Liping, Wang and Wong Nyuk Hien (2007). [accessed 08.12.2014];
History, Vol. 50, No. 4, Nov. www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/
to recognise. The term “wicked” is used to denote resistance to resolution.’ 8 publication/Building_Codes.pdf
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-
Ventilation in Singapore’s mass housing today is typical example of a wick- Building and Construction Authority (2004) value_%28insulation%29 [accessed [accessed 08.12.2014];
ed problem. In HDBs, the two entangled climate control systems are rid- Guidelines on Envelope Thermal Transfer Value 26.11.2014]. www.iea.org/efficiency/CD-Energy
for Buildings. Singapore. EfficiencyPolicy2009/2-Buildings/2-Build
dled with contradictions, gliding transitions and mutual references which ing/20Codes/20for/20COP/202009.pdf
4
See Wang, Liping et al. (2007); Housing &
can no longer be resolved by conventional bio-climatic design. Instead, Development & Building Control Division Development Board (2012). [accessed 08.12.2014].
approaches both by the social sciences and cultural studies are needed to Singapore (1979) Handbook on Energy
Conservation in Building and Building Services. 5
‘In Singapore, the current façade construc-
7
Rittel, Horst W J/Webber, Melvin M
shed light on the current venting practices. There’s a ‘scholarly neglect’ 9 (1973).
Singapore. tion material standard for air-conditioned
in ethnographic description and architectural analysis of the entangled buildings is envelope thermal transfer
venting system of today’s HDBs. Such a description and Housing & Development Board (2012) value (ETTV), which should not exceed
8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_
General Technical Requirements, HDB(ARCH). 50W/m2 . […] Building regulations in problem [accessed 01.12.2014].
Still outstanding are the innovative concepts analysis of the current state of ventilation would be the Singapore only specify that the U-value of
precondition for future architectural concepts and new 9
that would determine how naturally and Rittel, Horst W J/Webber, Melvin M (1973) any external wall in non-air conditioned
building regulations. Still outstanding are the innovative ‘Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning’, building should not be more than 3.5W /
artificially ventilated blocks can be realised concepts that would determine how naturally and artifi- in Policy Sciences 4, p. 155–169. m2 K. Wong investigated the effects of
10
Rittel, Horst W J/Webber, Melvin M
U-value of construction materials for (1973), p. 161.
in a more sustainable combination. cially ventilated blocks can be realised in a more sustain- Tenorio, Rosangela (2007) ‘Enabling the naturally ventilated buildings in Singapore.
able combination. Or to cite Rittel and Webber: ‘To find Hybrid Use of Air Conditioning: A Prototype It was recommended that U-value for the
the problem is thus the same thing as finding the solution; the problem on Sustainable Housing’, in Tropical Regions, east- and west-facing facade should be Image Credits
Building and Environment 42(2): 605–613. no more than 2W/m2 K and for north and
can’t be defined until the solution has been found. The formulation of a south should be no more than 2.5W/m2 K.
wicked problem is the problem! The process of formulating the problem Wang, Liping/Wong, Nyuk Hien (2007). However, in the study, the effects of WWR Fig 01, 04, 05: Ani Vihervaara.
and of conceiving a solution (or re-solution) are identical, since every speci- ‘The Impacts of Ventilation Strategies and on indoor air velocity for naturally ventilated
Facade on Indoor Thermal Environment for buildings are not considered.’ In Wang, Fig 02: Ani Vihervaara (redrawn from image
fication of the problem is a specification of the direction in which a treat- Naturally Ventilated Residential Buildings in Liping/Wong Nyuk Hien (2007); Building by Wong Nuyk Hien).
ment is considered’.10 Singapore’, Building and Environment 42(12): and Construction Authority (2004); The
4006–4015. development & building control division Fig 03: Ani Vihervaara (redrawn from image
Singapore (1979). by Housing and Development Board).
Wang, Liping et al. (2007) ‘Facade Design
The state and the resident-owner Optimization for Naturally Ventilated Fig 06: Housing and Development Board.
Keeping the complexity of the (wicked) problem in mind, we’d like to Residential Buildings in Singapore’, in Energy
and Buildings 39(8): 954–961.
end with two short tips that point to the connecting factor for sustainable
cooling strategies in public housing: 1. Relative to Building regulations, the
conceptual gap between the state and the resident-owner has to be at the
very centre of a contemporary analysis of the two entangled climate control
systems. Energy consumption in HDB flats can no longer be a privatised is-
sue. Sustainability is a public endeavour which requires political and pub-
lic decisions based on suitable housing policies and building regulations,
and not only for Singapore. But especially there, the government should
acknowledge its responsibility to rethink a sustainable venting system for
urban mass housing. 2. Relative to Architecture, it’s time to question the
concept of the semi-permeable envelope. Passively and actively ventilated
spatial areas must be disconnected to more often than has been done hith-
erto. Disentangling entangled climate control systems by a clear separation
of active and passive venting systems make a case for partial insulation
of air-conditioned rooms, centralisation of air-conditioning in HDB build-
ings and above all: a conscious mixed-mode use of active and passive venting
systems. Today’s urban ventilation culture should anchor itself within the
different ventilation traditions of Southeast Asia – noting that air-condi-
tioning is also part of Singapore’s cultural heritage.
A New Cooling
Manual for HDB
Towards a conscious mixed-mode use 1
Added prefabricated private balcony
2
Perforated metal shading
3
Large shaft for improved ventilation.
of passive and active ventilation Increased airflow from permeable building mass
Ani Vihervaara In this manual we are showing thermal renovation

strategies for an HDB building consisting of 3-room New
Special thanks to Generation units. That’s a single loaded slab block typology
Marcel Bruelisauer
and Zuliandi Azli and one of the most common HDB unit types in Singapore.
Low Exergy
Research Module Although we are showing the example of just one unit type,
the same principles of renovating can be appplied on all HDB
single loaded slab block building types, as other unit types 4 5 6
most often repeat a similar logic of spatial organisation. Large window openings Green facade Added new access balcony (and converting
the old access balcony into a private balcony)
We are suggesting renovation as an option instead of tearing
down and building new HDB buildings to replace. Balconies
on both sides of the building provide shading and lower
the indoor temperature; accordingly temperature inside the
unit stays cooler than the outside temperature. The centrally
(chilled water) air-conditioned bedroom core is insulated
with 100 mm insulation.
7 8 9
Perforated interior bricks Added 100 mm insulation around Central chilled water air conditioning
a centrally cooled bedroom core a. Cooling Tower
b. Pump
c. Central Chiller
d. Fan Coiled Unit
Elements for improving liveability and minimising energy consumption of exsisting HDB buildings with entangled ventilation strategies
154 A New Cooling Manual for HDB Ani Vihervaara Ani Vihervaara A New Cooling Manual for HDB 155
Two Options for … Different temperature zones inside the units
0 1 5m
Original 3-room New Generation unit Original 3-room New Generation unit
Access Balcony Living Room Kitchen 29.5 C

Before the renovation the public space access space is the only outdoor space connected to the units. It’s use is
28 C
linited as it is a fully public circulation space. The living room and the one of the bedrooms open to this public side.
All the service spaces are located on the other facade side of the building. There is no shading on this side nor
26.5 C
contact to the outdoor, although this side is naturally more private. In the tropics, one is dreaming of a big balcony!
25 C
Option A Added new private balcony Option A Added new private balcony
Access Balcony Bathroom Kitchen Dining Living Private balcony
Keeping the circulation on the access balcony as it is but shifting the service spaces on this more public side and the
living spaces more towards the private side of the building. (Only the common room still faces the access balcony)
Attaching a prefabricated 3m wide private balcony and opening the living room to the balcony with large sliding windows
Option B Old access balcony converted into private balcony, new access balcony Option B Old access balcony converted into private balcony, new access balcony
Private Balcony Living Dining Kitchen Access balcony
Turning the access balcony into a private balconies for each unit, makes the outdoor space usable. Privacy is Balconies on both sides of the building provide shading and lower the indoor temperature.
increased in the bedrooms as neither of the bedroom is no longer located along a public corridor. Thus the bedroom Temperature inside the unit stays cooler than the outside temperature. The centrally (chilled water)
windows can be more easily kept open, improving both privacy and possibility for natural ventilation. The 2m wide air-conditioned bedroom core is insulated with 100 mm insulation
new access balcony is taken 1m off the facade to improve the privacy of the units. The new access balcony provides
shading for the facade and improves the energy balance of the building
Design option A Renovation of 3-room New Generation 67 m 2 + balcony Design option B Renovation of 3-room New Generation 67 m 2 + balcony
− A new private balcony is added − Access balcony turned into private balcony
− The old access balcony stays as it is − New access balcony provides shading to the building
− The living spaces and the service spaces switch places, so that the and creates a private living room and bedrooms
living room can open to the new private balcony
12 1 12 1
Added private balcony Added new access balcony
11 11
10 10
2
9 9 The old access balcony is
turned into a private balcony
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
01 5m 01 5m
By rearranging the spatial organisation Turning the common access balconies into
of the unit it is possible to open the living private balconies and adding a new access
spaces to a newly installed private balcony balcony improves the organisational logic of
the unit and opens the unit to the outdoor
1 6 1 6
Added private balcony An new access balcony A green fasade
Sliding adjustable
for shading
shading
2 7 2
A new shaft to Large openings/ A new shaft to
improve ventilation sliding doors improve ventilation
3 8 3
10 mm insulation around Semipermeable 10 mm insulation
an air-conditioned louvre around an air-conditioned
bedroom core bedroom core
7
4 9 4 Large openings/
Central chilled water Central chilled water sliding doors opening
Perforated interior
air-conditioning air-conditioning to the balcony
brick wall
5 5 8
The old access Perforated brick wall
The old access
balcony converted between balconies
balcony stays as is
into a private balcony
0 1 5 0 1 5
Programmatic and organisational logic of the original HDB 3-room New Generation unit Air-conitioned bedroom cores and the location of ducts for the central chilled water cooling system
Original 3-room New Generation unit Original 3-room New Generation unit
public access
public access service space
public access service space living space
service space living space private balcony
Option A Added new private balcony living space private balcony Option A Added new private balcony
private balcony
Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys
V: 1068 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 2136 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1068m3
25 m2 25 m2 25 m2 25 m2
public access
32.5 m2 32.5 m2

Volume b × 12 Storeys: 12 × 25 m2 × 2.7 m = 810 m3 TOTAL AIR CONDITIONED VOLUME:
Volume a: 32.5 m2 × 2.7 m = 89 m3 12372 m3
public access service space living space private balcony
Volume b: 25 m2 × 2.7 m = 67.5 m3
Volume a × 12 Storeys : 12 × 32.5 m2 × 2.7 m = 1068 m3
living space private balcony
Option B private balcony

Old access balcony converted into private balcony, new access balcony Option B Old access balcony converted into private balcony, new access balcony
Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys

V : 1620 m3 V : 1620 m3 Core 12 storeys
Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys Core 12 storeys
V : 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V: 1620 m3 V : 810 m3
V : 810 m3
public access 25 m2
25 m2 25 m2 25 m2

2 × Volume a × 12 Storeys: 2 × 12 × 32.5 m2 × 2.7 m = 2136 m3 TOTAL AIR CONDITIONED VOLUME:
2 × Volume b × 12 Storeys: 2 × 12 × 25 m2 × 2.7 m = 1620 m3 11340 m3
public access service space living space private balcony
living space private balcony

private balcony
Technical installations of central chilled water air-conditioning for HDB 3-room New Generation
1.Cooling Tower
1. 2. Pump
Assumptions for calculations 3. Central Chiller
2. 4. Fan Coiled Unit
Cooling capacity 125 W/m2 (35 % lower than typical HDB installation)
Cooling capacity per bedroom 1.6–2 kW (as comparison, Kent Vale Condo has 3–5 kW for normal/master bedroom)
2. 3. 1
Cooling capacity could be further reduced if changing to different usage patterns that require lower peak loads Central chilled water
air-conditioning system
4. installed to cool an
Central chilled water system 5.7/12°C chilled water temperatures for fan-coil units 12 insulated bedroom core
11 4
Vertical piping installations Installations on rooftop 10 mm insulation
DIN Cooling towers 2 ×4 × 2 × 3 m (part-load and redundancy) 10
around an air-conditioned
1 3 × 40 mm plus insulation Chillers 3 × 300 kW (part-load and redundancy) bedroom core
2 3 × 50 mm plus insulation Pumps 3 × 5 kW (part-load and redundancy)
9
3 3 × 32 mm plus insulation Main distribution pipes 2 × DIN 100 plus insulation
4 3 × 32 mm plus insulation
5 3 × 50 mm plus insulation 8 3
6 3 × 50 mm plus insulation A new shaft to
improve ventilation
7 3 × 32 mm plus insulation 7 Instalation of a central chilled water
8 3 × 32 mm plus insulation air-conditioning
9 3 × 50 mm plus insulation 6
10 3 × 40 mm plus insulation Section of the 3-room new generation
5 building type after the transformation
3
1. Cooling Tower
2. Pump
2
3. Central Chiller
4. Fan Coiled Unit
1 1
0 1 5
4 2
3
Central chilled water cooling system installation in 3-room New Generation building
Typically, a separate, split type air-conditioner unit is installed for each room, mounted
on the façade outside. We replace those numerous and inefficient units with a central
chilled water system, doubling the energy efficiency of the air-conditioning and reducing
the globally installed cooling capacity. By cooling only the now insulated bedrooms, the
cooling demand is reduced so that the pipework can easily fit into dedicated risers
Image Credits
Page 155–161: Ani Vihervaara, Sascha Roesler.
Page 162, 163: Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara,

Marcel Bruelisauer, Zuliandi Azli.
Contributors
as they appear in the magazine
Dr. Sascha Roesler Ani Vihervaara

Architect Architect
Sascha is an architect and designated Swiss National Science Foundation Professor. He has Ani received her Master of Architecture in 2012 from the Bergen School of Architecture in
been a lecturer at ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. In his research at Norway after studying architecture in Finland and Denmark. She worked as an architect in
the intersection of architecture, ethnography, and science studies, Sascha focuses on popular Helsinki before relocating to Southeast Asia in 2013 to join the 'Territorial Organisation' module
architecture and urbanisation. His recent publications comprise the first history of ethno- at the Singapore-ETH Centre's Future Cities Laboratory. Ani is currently preparing to move to
graphic research conducted by modern architects (Weltkonstruktion). In 2012, Sascha received Switzerland to work with Prof. Milica Topolovic and the Chair of Architecture and Territorial
the Swiss Art Award for Architecture. Planning at ETH Zurich.
Karoline Kostka Katja Jug

Landscape Architect Visual Artist
Karoline studied landscape architecture at the Technical University Berlin (Germany), ETH Katja is a Visual Artist from Zurich. She holds a BA in Studies in Art, Design and Media from
Zürich (Switzerland) and the School of Design, Mysore (India). In 2014 she joined the Chair of Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and a MA in Contemporary Arts Practice from Bern
Territorial Organisation, investigating impacts and coherencies of regional monsoon climate on University of the Arts (BUA). Her work comprises topics related to everyday life, constructions
landscape transformation, territorial design and architecture practice. Since 2015, she’s work- of identity and memories. In Singapore she’s exploring the visual culture of HDB apartments.
ing with the Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning at ETH Zurich. Her latest Artist’s Book ‘Yellow’ is about textiles, HDBs and nature.
www.katejug.net
Marcel Jäggi
Architect
Marcel studied architecture at ETH Zurich and CEPT Ahmedabad (India). His work includes
territorial research, urban design projects and residential architecture. He has worked for
several television stations and architecture offices. Marcel joined the Future Cities Laboratory
as a team member of the Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning between 2011 and 2013
and a ‘Territorial Organisation’ team member in 2014. He has been a visiting tutor at UNRIKA
University in Batam (Indonesia), co-leading studios on abandoned malls.
164 FCL Magazine Contributors Contributors FCL Magazine 165

Colophon
Publisher: ETH Singapore SEC Ltd / FCL

Editors: Dirk Hebel and Stephen Cairns
Issue Editor: Sascha Roesler
Copy editing: Sarah Batschelet, wordworks.ch
Layout: Lilia Rusterholtz
Graphical concept: Uta Bogenrieder and Lilia Rusterholtz
Cover image: Katja Jug; Geylang Bahru Block 56
Print: First Printers Pte Ltd, Singapore
All reasonable efforts to secure permission for the visual

material reproduced herein have been made by the authors
of each essay. The publisher, editors and authors apologise
to anyone who has not been reached. Any omission will be
corrected in following editions.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved,

whether the whole or part of the material is concerned,
specifically the rights to translation, reprinting, re-use of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on mi-
crofilms or in any other ways, and storage in data banks. For
any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be
obtained.
© 2015 Future Cities Laboratory

ETH Singapore SEC Ltd
22B Duxton Hill
Singapore 089605
Produced in Singapore
ISSN: 2339-5427
www.futurecities.ethz.ch
166 FCL Magazine Colophon

08 14 24
MONSOON CLIMATE MAN-MADE WEATHER WHAT THE CLIMATE WHAT THE CLIMATE
Dr. Sascha Roesler IS AND WAS DOES
Karoline Kostka Dr. Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka
38 50 58 74
CASE STUDY MEDAN EMERGENCE OF NEW LACK OF COMFORT CYCLIC VENTING A MONUMENT FOR
BUILDING INDUSTRIES Marcel Jäggi, Dr. Sascha Roesler SYSTEMS NATURAL VENTILATION
Marcel Jäggi Dr. Sascha Roesler, Karoline Kostka Dr. Sascha Roesler
84 115 142 148 154
CASE STUDY SINGAPORE EVOLUTION OF HDB INSIGHTS ABUNDANCE OF ENERGY ENTANGLED A NEW COOLING
NEW TOWNS Katja Jug Dr. Sascha Roesler, Ani Vihervaara VENTING SYSTEMS MANUAL FOR HDB
Ani Vihervaara, Dr. Sascha Roesler Dr. Sascha Roesler Ani Vihervaara
ISSN: 2339-5427

FCL Magazine Special Issue Natural Ventilation Revisited Eth 49661 01

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FCL MAGAZINE SPECIAL ISSUE

Natural Ventilation, Revisited

Pioneering a New Climatisation Culture

Natural Ventilation, Revisited

2 FCL Magazine Preface Editorial FCL Magazine 3

38 EMERGENCE OF NEW BUILDING INDUSTRIES

58 CYCLIC VENTING SYSTEMS

82 CASE STUDY SINGAPORE

14 WHAT THE CLIMATE IS AND WAS

24 WHAT THE CLIMATE DOES

154 A NEW COOLING MANUAL FOR HDB

4 FCL Magazine Content Content FCL Magazine 5

Sascha Roesler Being responsible for 50 per cent of worldwide energy

‘Man-made weather’, the working title of this research project on

Climatic research in architecture

We are striving all over the world to maintain air temperature

References Roesler, Sascha (2013) ‘On the Use of Slots 8

Latour, Bruno (1993) We Have Never

North American Monsoon

Equator South- American

Change of prevailing Wind direction

Monsoon prediction and climate change

– Cambodia (almost all regions)

Fig. 06 Overview of the winds

Fig. 07 Ethnic groups in Southeast Asia

Tomascik, Tomas (1997) ‘The Ecology of the 6

Sascha Roesler, Indigenous, or more generally spoken, vernacular building

James Fleming and Vladimir Jankovic have recently argued that

The principles of stilt house construction and permeability

Numerous observations can be found in Pelzer’s notes that offer in-

* The Age of Anthropocene

dry days dry days

Wind direction distribution in (%)

Brown, S, A J R Gillespie, and A E Lugo, 1989. 1

Fleming, James R/Jankovic, Vladimir (2011), 6

Pelzer, Dorothy (1982) Trek Across Indonessia, 12

Fig. 24 Singapore

36 Case Study Medan Case Study Medan 37

Fig. 05 The five most important plantation

1985 1990 2000 2009

Concrete Intact Forest

References Stoler, Ann Laura (1995 [1985]) Capitalism 11

Marcel Jäggi, Almost without any kind of restrictions, developers, specu-

Shop houses Fig. 05 ‘Rumah Umpak’ (a ‘ped-

Not surprisingly, when paired with dysfunctional building stock, the

It is not surprising, that today’s shop houses contribute to a large ex-

References World Health Organisation (2012), ‘Burden 7

Sascha Roesler, Tobacco barns are large-scale drying equipment that is

The region around ‘the plantation city’ 3 of Medan is shaped by storage

Orientation Distances Disposition Ratio Circulation

09 11 To uniform climatic conditions

25 Fig. 20 Typical truss Fig. 25, 26 Making of a tobacco barn

Fig. 30 Longitudinal section through two barns

barns, the shutters enable the caretakers to respond

References Van Gorkom K W (1919) Oost-indische 6

De tabakscultuur Deli (1889) Amsterdam: 1

Sascha Roesler With the exhibition ‘For Sumatra (Man-made Weather)’ a

39 Slides: 2.4 × 3.6 cm format

82 Case Study Singapore Case Study Singapore 83

Ani Vihervaara, The vast majority of the approximately 11,000 public

Fig. 01 A community garden in Bukit Batok New Town

Even up to the present, HDB flats are officially ‘designed

Fig. 04 A facade with public access corridors in Toa Payoh

Fig. 05 The five most important plantation

Fig. 01 A community garden in Bukit Batok New Town

Fig. 01 Marine Parade New Town, Marine Drive