Vertical Greening Façade as Passive Approach in Sustainable Design

AbstractTo overcome the excessive heat in tropical climate countries during the day, the types of skin or façade play a vital role in regulating the temperature and the amount of heat transmission in a building. This research was carried to evaluate the percentage of temperature reduction of two building samples, one with “vertical greening” and one without. The result proved that the temperature reduction of the building with the green façade system is higher than the building without the green façade system. Therefore, it justifies that Vertical Greening Facade does act as an acceptable passive approach for sustainable design

The use of PV to replace typical skylight and its energy generation for cooling and lighting in Malaysian atria / Ahmad Ridzwan Othman

Atrium is an architectural feature often found in commercial buildings in Malaysia and the top-lit type is the most common. Besides its architectural value as a spatial connector, the introduction of translucent material as its roof envelope could turn it into a large daylight catcher. Its ability to serve as a media to allow entry of sun into the building means that it could bring in both daylight as well as excessive solar heat. For buildings in the tropical climate zone such as Malaysia, maximizing solar gain is most undesirable, as this will increase the indoor temperature and consequently unnecessary amount of energy is needed to cool back down the internal spaces to an acceptable thermal comfort level. A good energy efficient strategy is to channel the intense solar heat away from the interior, and capture its energy resource. Photovoltaic (PV) panel or commonly known as solar panel converts solar energy into electrical energy. Its productivity depends largely on its solar exposure hours, the placement of its panels in terms of the slope angle and orientation to the sun. When applied in buildings, PV is referred to as Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV). BIPV system is a relatively expensive investment, thus its application has to be carefully considered to achieve optimization. Theoretically replacement of the conventional glass skylight with PV panels, improves the energy efficiency of the atrium through electrical energy production of the PV panels. It offsets the additional energy required to cool down the space due to solar heat gain. This thesis was set up to achieve three main objectives - firstly was to determine the amount of energy production through a modeling of basic BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) configurations for installation in atria. Secondly was to assess if the power generated is more than the additional cooling load required to compensate (off-set) the increase of indoor temperature leading from the solar heat gain due to the change in the skylight material. The final objective was to determine the best roof model and orientation to achieve optimum BIPV application. Three roof form types (hipped, gable and sawtooth) were shortlisted due to their suitable application with opaque PV panels that by far, its power productivity is better than the thin film type. To give a fair comparison, the roof surface area of all the three types were made similar (2325 sq m), and 10% of the surface area was of glazing, so as to provide minimum acceptable indoor illumination of 350 lux. Dependence variables were roof surface inclination (30°), PV type (Kyocera), PV surface area (2250 sq m), orientations (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. NW), day of the year (March 28, the clearest sky, and March 7, the cloudiest). The independence variable was the roof form. The extra energy required was determined by subtracting the U-value of the conventional skylight glazing material from the U-value of the PV panel, and multiply by the total surface area of the PV used. ECOTECT environmental software was later used to determine the power productivity of BIPV applications for the respective roof form types in eight (8) main orientations. The results indicate that the maximum PV generation for all the roof models are achieved at N270° orientation. The highest energy generator was the Gable type, with the highest power productivity recorded at five out of the eight orientations (N0°, N45°, N90°, N135° and N180°). The Sawtooth type generated the highest power productivity at three orientations (N225°, N270° and N315°), however its production is the least if oriented at N90° by 18.7%. In conclusion, the study identified the Gable model to be the most flexible for BIPV application purposes where it offers highest average power productivity of 394,059.7 kWh. in all eight orientations. The average power production from the BIPV application was 383,621 kWh, which is more than the additional power needed to normalize the solar heat gain due to replacement of the roof material by 200%

Daylighting and readers’ satisfaction: Raja Tun Uda Public Library, Shah Alam / Ahmad Ridzwan Othman and Maz Aiera Mohd Mazli.

Designing library study environment is important to the mood, motivation and performance of individual because interior design plays an important role on human mood and social behaviours. Lighting, as a control architectural tool, gives important influences on users’ perception behaviour and visual comfort in libraries. A public library in Shah Alam was chosen as the main subject. The result found that the library users prefer the seat near daylighted area, but the time spend in the library is not really affected by daylighting. Besides for visual comfort, daylighting is not the only contributor to overall comfort and user’s satisfaction

Urban River and Its Heritage Value: A river of life at Precinct 7, Kuala Lumpur

Some of urban rivers have their respective heritage value and need to be preserved.  However, enforcement of river pollution had not given much effect to improvement due to human attitude and behaviour. The purpose of this research is to present an analysis to revitalize the urban river at Precinct 7, River of Life Project, Kuala Lumpur.  Through analysis of the precedent studies, the rationale will then be compared to suit the most suitable and relevant proposal. The study revealed that the historic buildings along the river and the river itself should be maintained and integrated to preserve its heritage value.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Urban river; heritage value; sustainable development; River of Life

Assessment of Roof Top BIPV Application of Sample Houses in Shah Alam

BIPV is an application where solar Photovoltaic modules are integrated into the building structures to produce electrical energy.  It is silent, clean in operation, highly reliable and low maintenance. The purpose of the research is to assess BIPV application on the roof top of houses in Shah Alam area. Few samples were selected and important parameters were measured, and analysed to determine which roof form, orientations and PV types that influence the power generations. The average daily power generations range from 11.18kWh/kWp to 29.18kWh/kWp depending on the number of modules, PV type, roof inclination and location.Keywords: Photovoltaic; Building Integrated Photovoltaic; power generation; orientationeISSN 2398-4279 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

Vertical Greening Wall as Sustainable Approach

To overcome the excessive heat in tropical climate countries during the day, the types of skin or façade play a vital role in regulating the temperature and the amount of heat transmission in a building. This research was carried out to evaluate the percentage of temperature reduction of two building samples, one with “vertical greening” and one without. The result proved that the temperature reduction of the building with the green façade system is higher than the building without the green façade system. Therefore, it justifies that Vertical Greening Wall does act as an acceptable passive approach for sustainable design.2398-4279 © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK.. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Vertical greening; passive approach; facade; sustainable desig

Ergonomic Kitchen Design in Malaysian Low-Cost Housing

The kitchen is where family members gather and household chores are primarily done. The purpose of the study is to highlight the issue of the comfort of Malaysian low-cost housing kitchens. It is the space commonly disregarded and has been a cause for many other issues relating to health, safety, and cleanliness. To propose a better design strategy, a basic understanding of the underlying principles and design development is pertinent to extracting the key elements that make up a good kitchen. It will serve as a basis for a revised guideline for plan layout, particularly in Malaysian low-cost housings. Keywords: Ergonomics; Kitchen Design; Low-cost; Minimal Space eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i20.342

Thermal Comfort in Living Room of Houses with Different Frontage

House frontage is an essential aspect of terraced house design to ensure the occupant's comfort and healthy living. Four samples selected to evaluate the influence of the window to wall ratio (WWR) towards the internal thermal comfort of the house. The indoor thermal parameters were recorded using HOBOware Data Logger and evaluated using CBE Thermal Comfort Calculator. The study shows that the living room with a bigger WWR had the lowest thermal comfort levels. Besides the WWR, window placements and the shading devices also help in reducing the sun exposure of the frontage wall and increase the indoor thermal comfort. Keywords: Frontage; Thermal Comfort; Window to Wall Ratio; Sun Exposure eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i16.263