Asian Architecture [ARC 2213/2234]

PROJECT 1: CASE STUDY

The Adaptation of Nature Design Approaches from A Traditional Malay Kampong House into Contemporary

Architecture to Achieve Thermal Comfort

NAME: CALVIN SUAH JAKE GINN

STUDENT ID: 0313324

LECTURER: Mr. Koh Jing Hao

SUBMISSION DATE: 28th June 2016

Table of Content

Abstract

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Thermal Comfort

1.2 Design With Nature

1.3 Tropical Nature Design Approaches: The Traditional Malay Kampong House

1.4 Overview of the Louvrebox House

2.0 Adaptation of Nature Design Approach 1: Building placement to achieve thermal comfort

2.1 Building Orientation

2.2 Building with Landscape and Contour

3.0 Adaptation of Nature Design Approach 2: Building component to achieve thermal comfort

3.1 Built Form and Layout

3.2 Openings: Doors and Windows

3.3 Safari Roof

4.0 Adaptation of Nature Design Approach 3: Sustainable materials to achieve thermal comfort

4.1 Types of Building Materials Used

5.0 Conclusion

6.0 References

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the adaptation of nature design approaches from a

Traditional Malay Kampong House into Contemporary Architecture in achieving thermal

comfort in tropical climate. Thermal comfort is an important aspect of a space as it affects the

users in a certain space. However, the Traditional Malay House is designed in a way that natural

ventilation can occur throughout the house with the support of its site context and its surrounding

in this hot and humid tropical regions like Malaysia.

Today, modern contemporary architecture is gradually replacing traditional vernacular

architecture. And with this being said, cultural designs and even multi-function design purposes

are slowly forgotten due to the lack of awareness of nature considerations that can cause thermal

comfort problems. There are many methods architecturally that can be done to achieve thermal

comfort. Regarding the Louvrebox House, the design approaches are rather similar to the Malay

Kampong House as there are many openings to allow natural ventilation. Furthermore, the house

is orientated to face the incoming prevailing wind and is well shaded by tall trees in its

surrounding. The house also has high ceilings with minimal interior partitions that can induce

cross ventilation which eventually cools the interior spaces by means of natural ventilation.

In conclusion, the Louvrebox house has both contemporary and vernacular design

features to achieve thermal comfort in tropical climate. Designing with nature as a basis of

architecture which can provide an ideal comfort level for the user in tropical context is clearly

showcased in the Traditional Malay Kampong House, and thus it is important to adapt the

innovation of its design approaches into contemporary architecture in achieving thermal comfort.

1.0 Introduction

Geographically, Malaysia is a tropical climate country located in the equatorial doldrums, with

uniform temperature from 20 degree celcius to 30 degree celcius, high relative humidity and

copious rainfall all year round with light and variable wind flow. And this has direct impact on

the design consideration of a building in achieving effective thermal comfort for its users. In this

case, the traditional Malay Kampong House which is being classified as richest cultural heritage

in Malaysia is very well designed to suit the warm and humid climate. The purpose of this

research is to explore the adaptation of the nature design approaches in achieving thermal

comfort of a traditional Malay Kampong House into a modern contemporary house like the

Louvrebox House. The research of these adaptation nature design to achieve thermal comfort is

based on three areas of study which is the building placement, building component and

sustainable materials by responding to the following research questions:

1. What are the factors to achieve thermal comfort in Malaysia and how does it relate to the

Louvrebox House?

2. What are the nature design approaches of the Traditional Malay Kampong House to be

adapted into the design features of the Louvrebox House in terms of thermal

performance?

3. Responding to tropical climate, why and how does each innovative design features are

adapted into the design of the Louvrebox House?

4. Why is the innovative adaptation needed and how does each design features act as a

solution in achieving thermal comfort in the Louvrebox House?

1.1 Thermal Comfort

Factors to Achieve Thermal Comfort

Human Factors

Human factors are hard to determine as architects can only come to an approximate

assumption about the users clothing, culture, behaviours and activities that are not fully accurate.

Example, if there were 100 staffs working in an office, it is impossible to get all the human

factors. This is as no one can predict for sure the exact behavior of a user but rather make an

assumption of majority of the targeted users. In addition, prospective researches on different new

cooling technologies were marked. With the results, the thermal comfort range can be concluded

that it is larger than expected by international standards for hot-humid climate. Proper ventilation

and healthy indoor air quality has also been found that it is a great influence of sensation of

thermal comfort via occupants of buildings.

Climatic Factors

To achieve thermal comfort, climate is an important factor. This is as heat from the body

to the surrounding and vice versa happens until thermal balance is achieved when there is a net

flow of heat from the body to the surrounding. If the surrounding is hot, more heat will flow into

our body causing us more discomfort and if the surrounding is cold, less heat will flow into our

body causing us to feel colder.

Serdang, Malaysia is located in the equator and it has a warm and tropical climate. The

average temperature is around 30degree Celsius while having a humidity level of 85%. This

makes people feel very humid faster in this hot weather as people are more prone to sweating

compared to a less humid country. Therefore, maximum ventilation for buildings in Malaysia is

important.

Building Factors

Buildings and architecture creates the environment where people are. The materials used,

structure designed and orientation of the building can create a microclimate which affects the

thermal comfort of the place. Properties of materials used such as its U value should be studied

as well as the microclimate of the site before a building is built to enable architects to design to

the site’s fullest potential.

Some buildings in Malaysia are built based on their believe in having a close relationship

with nature and thus respond to the site and climate very well. This allow natural ventilation and

provides a more comfortable environment for the people. Materials that are normally chosen to

Figure 1.00: Figure above shows the climate weather throughout the year in Serdang, Malaysia

be used are materials that have low thermal mass such as timber so that there is less heat trap in

the building since Malaysia is hot throughout the year.

1.2 Design-With-Nature

The two different ways that any design and a construction of a building can be classified

as directly or indirectly. A good example of a direct way is by destroying current landfills and

also taking away vegetated landscape instead of reusing them and extracting resources to make

building materials. However, the indirect way would be relocating construction and building

materials to the site, the emission of greenhouse effect and the amount of energy used during the

operation of the building (Cairns Regional Council, 2011). Thus, sustainable design with nature

strategies is about reducing these negative issues on the environment by designing a building that

suits the climate of that particular region. Also, taking into consideration of having minimal

environment impacts when constructing and the health and comfort of the users.

In this case, the energy consumption and emissions, waste and construction materials,

local environment and indoor environment quality are the priorities of designing a sustainable

tropical building matching its context. Thus, it is important for architects nowadays to design

buildings that work with, not against with the natural environment because designing with nature

offers the first truly holistic approach to making architecture compatible with a broad range of

vital ecological concerns (Yeang, K. 1995).

1.3 Tropical Nature Design Approaches:

The Traditional Malay Kampong House Features

The tropical climate of Malaysia is known for its hot and humid weather since it is

located in the equator of the Earth. In addition, rainfalls are very common too in this tropical

climate in Malaysia. Therefore, lots of precautions needs to be taken care of like buildings must

have proper ventilation for cooling. Heat gain in tropical region needs to be reduce

tremendously. And with that being said, climatic responsive building factors such as site context,

openings, building envelopes, building orientation and construction materials are needed to be

considered to ensure that the building is built and design well in this climate. In this case, the

Traditional Malay Kampong House which is very well known for its rich cultural heritage of

vernacular houses in Malaysia is well designed with proper understanding towards nature and its

surrounding in this climate.

The Traditional Malay Kampong House has unique characteristics. Firstly, the house on

stilts or elevated from ground. Secondly, large roof eaves which are overhangs for sun shading.

Thirdly, fully openable windows for body level ventilation in regards to east-west orientation.

Furthermore, to provide effective ventilation, the interior has minimal partitions. The

surroundings of the house also plays an important role. For example, vegetation like tall trees

provide shading, therefore enables the interior of the house to be cooled. The house is also raised

on stilts to catch prevailing wind. Also, by using lightweight construction materials with low

thermal-mass and good insulating properties enables the house to achieve thermal performance.

These features shown in the traditional Malay Kampong House are the most effective means in

designing for optimal climatic control and comfort in this hot and humid country.

1. House is on stilts / Elevated from ground

2. Large roof eaves

3. Fully openable windows

4. Open plan with minimal partition in the interior

Figure 1.01: Traditional Malay Kampong House

Figure 1.02: Malay Kampong House elevated from the ground

Figure 1.03: Malay Kampong House with large roof eaves

Figure 1.04: Malay Kampong House with fully openable windows

1.4 Overview of the Louvrebox House

Figure 1.06: Perspective view of the Louvrebox House

Figure 1.05: Malay Kampong House with minimal partition interiors

The Louvrebox House is unique in a way that it is not built in a forest but it was built in a

residential area. The size of the Louvrebox House is big as it has an open ground floor with a

seven foot wide lap pool along the garden.

In Malaysia, it is pretty common that traditional Malay Kampong are lifted off the

ground. The reason being so is that is enables wind to enter the house and allow natural

ventilation. Also, other factors like avoiding water entering the house and providing extra space

underneath for multiple usage.

The louvres provide privacy and shade. Therefore, the house poses fresh uses for a form

sensitive to its origins. With the blend of different type of building materials, it makes the house

look like one with the trees surrounding it.

2.0 Building placement as a solution to achieve thermal comfort

Building placement is the placement of building on site with consideration of the local’s

climatic and site context. The placement of building is considered when it has the ability to

minimize the impact of building to site and its interruption to the topography. Not to forget the

function of a building speaks in accordance to the site as well. For instance, a building that is

built in nature like the forest should avoid negative impacts relating to nature like preventing the

excavation of landfill and trees in its surrounding. However, there is a way to overcome it by

manipulating the form of a building in order to achieve sustainability and conserving these trees

and their context.

Architect Kevin Mark Low derived the Louvrebox House massing from the priority given

to the creation of ample garden room and the narrowness of its site as related to its depth on the

smallest lot in a gated suburb.

The Louvrebox House is designed for a family. The contour of the site is rather high

compared to the other houses in the neighbourhood. This site with the width of 15metres went

through a design process which highly focuses on the concept of a Traditional Malay Kampong

House. Thus, some similarities of it can be found in the Louvrebox House itself.

2.1 Building Orientation

To

design a proper spatial

arrangement in a building, the building orientation needs to be properly thought of based on its

site context. One of the ways to ensure that the building is placed well is to check the sun path

Figure: 2.00 Optimization of building orientation for natural ventilation

movement and also the wind direction. With this taken place, solar heat gain can be minimize

throughout the building. Also, with the good building orientation, the house can easily capture

wind to ensure natural ventilation and at the same time allowing sufficient natural lighting to lit

the interior of the building.

With the site context, by orientating the house to face the East and West direction, it

enables the house to capture enough wind to get natural ventilation. For example, the Traditional

Malay Kampong House normally faces the East and West direction which is rather similar to the

Louvrebox House. Architect Kevin Mark Low uses this way of design so that most of the

windows and walls of the house can get enough shade to prevent them from the exposure of heat

and also direct solar radiation. Furthermore, with the good building orientation, the wind that

passes throughout the house is enough to cool the interior.

2.2 Building with landscape and context

The Sustainability Hub of RIBA suggest that “the use of elements such as landforms,

trees and hedges can help to ensure the new or modified buildings can be positive elements.”

With the result of the house being in a residential area, the Louvrebox house blends in well with

its site context and landscape, establishing a dialogue with the terrain.

The layout plan of the Louvrebox house is unique because it is designed to have in and

out views with its surrounding. In Figure 2.01 below, the house is isolated with its landscape and

context. The tall trees surrounding the house provides shade and thus preventing heat gain from

the building itself to achieve thermal comfort..

The existing vegetation is not disturbed nor deconstructed before as it plays an important

part towards the Louvrebox house. The placement of the house within the inland creates a cooler

environment not only due to transpiration of plant, reducing air moisture level but also provide

shading for greater temperature reductions.

3.0 Building Component as a solution to achieve thermal comfort

3.1 Built Form and Layout

Having elongated open floor plans in the Louvrebox House actually allows cross-

ventilation to take place as the air is moving freely throughout the house. This concept also

applied in the Traditional Malay Kampong House. Instead of having separate spaces with wall

partitions, Kevin Mark Low combined the spaces like the kitchen, dining area and living area

together with less wall partitions in

the interior to allow the air to flow

throughout the house without any

obligations.

Figure 2.01: Trees surrounding the ground floor of the Louvrebox House

Furthermore, the rooms and façade are located at the North and South direction. The

reason is because it enables that particular space to catch prevailing winds during day and night.

With this taking into consideration, the house is always naturally ventilated to achieve thermal

comfort and preventing internal heat gain as there are minimal obstruction of internal walls.

3.2 Openings

One can never neglect natural ventilation to be a part of a building. Designing a building

in such a way that maximizes natural ventilation will greatly reduce the need for mechanical

cooling. (Caims Regional Council, 2011). Based on the Traditional Malay Kampong House,

their full-length windows helped ventilate the interior as it allows ventilation at the body level.

In relation to the Louvrebox House, the openings as we can see in Figure 3.01 and 3.02,

are designed to reduce direct exposure to solar radiation. The doors and windows which are

Figure 3.00: Elongated open floor plan of the Louvrebox House with minimal obstruction of internal walls

known as stacker doors are commonly used in the Louvrebox House. This is to allow cross

ventilation to take place and help ventilate the interior.

As heat is being gain naturally in the inside of the house, the openings will help cool the

interior by allowing natural ventilation to achieve thermal comfort. As we can see in Figure 3.02,

there are lots of trees and vegetation surrounding the house. Therefore, with the help of the trees,

the house is being shaded from direct sunlight thus reducing the amount of heat gain in the

house.

3.3 Safari Roof

Roof ventilation is also vital in the traditional Malay Kampong House in which hot air

accumulated is infiltrated out and being replaced by cool air from the outside via the roof joints

or grills at the gable end roof.

Regarding the Louvrebox House, the main roof above is distinguished by a safari roof,

which, like the roof of the Traditional Malay Kampong House, permits conducted heat to be

cross ventilated before being transmitted into the actual building mass.

Figure 3.02:House is covered with trees in its surrounding to provideshade and cools the interior

Figure 3.01: Long wide stacking doors to induce cross ventilation

4.0 Sustainable materials to achieve thermal comfort

Building Materials

The building materials selection is one of the consideration during the design stage

considering its substantial impact on its long-term sustainability ranging from the aesthetics and

appeal of a building and its buildability and cost (Sassi, P. 2006).

The hot and humid weather in Malaysia causes the Traditional Malay Kampong House to

use the basic post-and-lintel structure being built with lightweight construction materials. Also,

the lightweight construction materials have insulation properties with low thermal mass. Also, to

sustain an eco-friendly environment, the Traditional Malay Kampong House is built using low-

thermal-capacity building materials.

Diagram showing the effectiveness of the Safari Roof

Figure 3.03: Wind flow when there is no roof in a structure

Figure 3.04: Flat Roof added to capture prevailing wind

Figure 3.05: Flat Roof and Double Roof added to carry away heat gain

Figure 3.06: Flat Roof and Double Roof(Safari Roof) collects excessive wind to allow natural

ventilation To the roof top

Ventilation Gap

The air gap located beneath the support allows the evacuation of humidity.

Figure 3.07: Ventilation Gap

Building materials which are commonly used in buildings these days such as concrete,

bricks and glass are also used in the Louvrebox House. However, Kevin Mark Low made use of

the building materials wisely to ensure that the house is sustainable and eco-friendly.

4.1 Types of Building Materials Used

Brick

Bricks are strong materials, and therefore it is used for structural and aesthetic purpose in

the Louvrebox House. Some of the brick walls are actually being built by recycled bricks. The

intention is to reduce the cost and also preventing damages towards to site by having to transport

it from a certain place to the house. Also, since bricks are durabl, it has a long lifespan due to its

high embodied energy and low operational energy properties. Also, it is low maintenance and

can be recycled and reused over and over again.

Glass

A glance at the Louvrebox House and the first image to see is the long glass panels. To

blend in with the nature, Kevin Mark Low applied the concept of openness and transparency to

connect the ins and outs of the house. With proper ventilation in the interior, the glass wouldn’t

affect much heat gain in the house as natural ventilation occurs throughout the house from day to

night by means of cross and stack ventilation. The glass that is being used has good insulation

properties and thus, functioning better than brick wall with high thermal capacity. Full height

glass panels are being used instead of the low openable windows in the Traditional Malay

Kampong House because it allows the occupants to enjoy the surrounding nature and context.

Concrete

Taking weather and climate into consideration, concrete is a very good building material

to be used because it can withstand almost any type of climate. Concrete is very durable and it is

not weakened by mould, moisture and pests. Concrete has high thermal mass which can slow

down the passage of heat into the building via conduction. Furthermore, it absorbs heat when it is

cool and releases heat when it is hot. This shows that concrete is a good choice as the

construction material as it consists of low embodied energy, low operational energy and

recyclable.

5.0 Conclusion

From the case study, natural ways and ecological balance was prevalent in the Traditional

Malay Kampong House by considering the climatic adaptations into their design and hence is a

good case study to develop innovative adaptations of contemporary yet sustainable modern

building. The Malay vernacular architecture conveys the design which are suited to the tropical

climate, geographical, social and respond to site context. It is also clear that there is integration

of traditional Malay architecture in contemporary architecture in achieving thermal comfort.

What has been practiced in the past to achieve thermal comfort is still applicable today and in

fact, and sometimes is a much better way to solve problems as traditional ways do not damage

the environment. The thermal comfort concept in the past has been developed through a trial and

error process. Therefore, traditional architecture can be one of the greatest reference for today’s

architecture. It is always important to learn from the past and as the saying goes “The past will

be your teacher if you learn from it; your master if you live in it”.

6.0 Reference

Galindo, M. (2010). Asian architecture. Salenstein, Switzerland: Braun.

Low, K. M. (2010). Small projects. Singapore: ORO Group.

Jodidio, P. (2006). Architecture: Nature. Munich: Prestel.

Rahman, A. M. (2009). Towards a low-energy building design for tropical Malaysia. , Pulau Pinang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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Smallprojects. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.small-projects.com/p7.php

Louvrebox House by Kevin Low. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.habitat-my.com/house-renovation-design/336-louvrebox-house-by-kevin-low

H. (2015). Kevin Low on L45 -- Context and Relevance. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3khIGL_ly6M

H. (2016). Adaptation, Kevin Low, Malaysia. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1LbkrweKD0