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ASIAN ARCHITECTURE [ARC 2213/2234]
PROJECT 2: CASE STUDY
VERNACULAR AS A MODEL FOR CONTEMPORARY DESIGN: A STUDY OF INTERGRATION OF MALAY VERNACULAR DESIGN AND MODERN DESIGN IN THE DECK HOUSE TO ACHIEVE THERMAL COMFORT IN A TROPICAL CLIMATE
NAME : DANAR JOVIAN ADITYA VADYA PUTRA STUDENT ID : 0314575 LECTURER : MS SHAHRIANNE SUBMISSION DATE : 24TH NOVEMBER 2015
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT
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1 INTRODCUTION
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2 OVERVIEW OF THE DECK HOUSE 3 OVERVIEW OF TROPICAL ARCHITECTURE 3.1 TROPICAL CLIMATES & TOPOGRAPHY 3.2 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 3.3 MALAY TRADITIONAL HOUSE FEATURES 3.4 MODERN CONTEMPORARY HOUSE FEATURES
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4 INTEGRATION AS SOLUTION TO ACHIEVE THERMAL COMFORT 4.1 BUILT FORM 4.2 ORIENTATIONS AND POSITIONING OF BUILDING 4.3 OPENINGS 4.4 BUILDING MATERIAL 4.5 LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION 5 CONCLUSION 6 REFERENCES
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ABSTRACT The purpose of this research paper is to compare and analyze the integration of architectural design of the Malay vernacular architecture and contemporary architecture design in terms of its design features/passive designs in order to achieve thermal comfort in a tropical climate. (Objective) The concept of the Malay vernacular architecture is openness. It is designed to blend in with the environment with site responses and environmental context are taken into account in its design to achieve thermal comfort in this warm and humid tropical climate. The Malay vernacular architecture concept are often neglected in today’s rapid growth of urbanization and often replaced by the modern movement due to the materialistic experiences and social housing to fulfill economic demands. The lack of understanding and respect towards nature creates thermal discomfort towards its occupants due to the poor relation to site context. (Issue) In recent years however, architects around the world tries their best in order for their building to respond to the site well, creating a sustainable architecture and thermal comfort for the occupants. In this case, The Deck House in Janda Baik is one of the examples of a contemporary architecture that adapted the Malay vernacular architecture concept. (Case study) Findings of the research discover that the implication of the Malay vernacular architecture concept towards contemporary designs has touted the favor of maintaining thermal comfort. Literature views from various references reinforce the idea that integration between traditional designs with modern features in contemporary architecture can achieve a good result in heat regulation within the building without the elimination of the Malay vernacular architecture elements. This can be seen as The Deck House responds well to the tropical climate although it has a semi-open and glass box construction, which makes it an icon/example of a sustainable contemporary architecture. The integration of the importance of traditional features, and natural environment, together along with its new solutions and technology, demonstrates and introduces a new emergence in Malaysia’s contemporary architecture. It also increases the value of appreciation of the Malay vernacular architecture by promoting the occupants as well as designers the responsibility to conserve the value and identity of the traditional Malay architecture, which is reflected in the way of living of the locals, and how they adapt to its environment, culture and user needs. (Discussion & Conclusion)
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1 INTRODUCTION The traditional vernacular Malay house is classified as one of the richest element in Malaysia’s cultural heritage and it is specifically designed to accommodate the hot and humid tropical climate. Its design takes site responses as well as environmental needs into account by responding to the surrounding contexts, which fulfills not only the occupants’ needs but also help in achieving thermal comfort. However, in this fast growing of the modern industrialization era, the design movement of the contemporary architecture often neglects the vernacular design approach. Society today often attracted to economical contemporary designs with luxurious forms. They often neglect the passive cooling strategies implemented in vernacular designs and were replaced by machines in order to achieve thermal comfort. This clearly shows the lack of understanding of the environment and contextual considerations in contemporary architectures. Therefore, it is important to have the knowledge and understanding of the importance of vernacular design and utilize them when designing contemporary architectures, as it reflects climatic adaptation design reacting to the nature of the tropical climate. The integration between contemporary design and the vernacular features will indeed promotes energy efficient building designs in a tropical climate, assuring a greener and sustainable future. To further analyze this research, The Deck House located in Janda Baik, Pahang, Malaysia, has been selected as the site to conduct a cast study as it is one of the contemporary designs in Malaysia that has integrated well with the vernacular Malay architectural features. The features of the Malay vernacular architecture integrated in The Deck House are highlighted to further analyze on how the integration between both vernacular and contemporary designs were made to achieve thermal comfort. Detailed analysis were conducted on how every single vernacular features were utilized in the selected site. In overall, this case study paper will evaluate the effectiveness of achieving human thermal comfort through the application and implementation of the Malay vernacular architecture into contemporary design. Research question(s): 1. What are the considerations when designing a tropical house? 2. Why is it encouraged to use Malay Vernacular Architecture concept in a contemporary design in tropical climate? 3. What is the concept that has been adapted into The Deck House in terms of achieving thermal comfort? 4. Why and how is it adapted? 4
5. In terms of responding to the natural factors, how does each features help in integrating designs in tropical climates? 6. Why is integration needed and how does it improve the living conditions for the occupants of The Deck House?
2 OVERVIEW, THE DECK HOUSE, PAHANG Ar. Choo Gim Wah was the architect of The Deck House, which was built for a discreet owner with the idea of a getaway from the hassles of the main city. It is located on a forested land near to the foothills of Genting, which hugs the terrain of the forested surrounding unobtrusively (Choo, 2012). The design of the house is very much inspired by the slopes of the terrains and the surrounding, with design principles of a tropical Malay traditional house in modern contexts (Choo, 2012). Spanning across 372sqm of total area, The Deck House is a 2 and a half story tall with 3 bedrooms with the concept of having a semi-outdoor design in the forested surrounding, focusing on the contextual surroundings through blurring off the barrier between the interior and the exteriors. The house is also designed with lightweight materials, sitting lightly on the hill and merging into the natural surroundings. It has less interference with the slope and its site context. Features of this house were made so that it functions like a Malay traditional house even though it is built with glasses. The architect took the concept of the Malay house climatic design into the building in order to cool down the building without the use of technological systems. This magnificent house was built not only to suit the local climate, it also complements the beauty and the tranquility of the nature by giving the occupants a thorough experience of its surroundings.
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Figure 1 Front view of The Deck House by Choo Gim Wah (Source: archdaily, 2013)
3 OVERVIEW OF TROPICAL ARCHITECTURE Situated at the heart of South East Asia, Malaysia is an equatorial country, which experiences a warm and humid climate throughout the year. The typical climate temperature ranges on average from 20’C to 35’C and it experiences seasonal patterns of rainfall due to the monsoon wind. Malaysia experiences two types of monsoon seasons every year, which is the northeast monsoon and the southwest monsoon. The northeast monsoon occurs around November until March, while the southwest monsoon occurs around May until September. In between these two monsoon seasons, there is a transitional period during March and October, whereby normal rain continues to fall. The type of wind that occurs in Malaysia is usually light. The tropical forest covers more than half of the land areas. The geographical topography of Malaysia affects the microclimates in different zones of the land, ranging from coastal regions, inlands and the highlands as shown in figure 2. The altitude creates difference in temperature and rainfall patterns in all these three zones (WWF, 2010). The lower area has a smaller difference in temperature between day and night and the rainfall patterns are more distinctive where it is prone to have an increase intensity of heavy precipitation and thunderstorms. The inland area however such as the forest area has a greater variation in temperature. Water content in the inland area is high which causes higher humidity and is usually warmer. The highlands such as Pahang hills are misty and most of the time covered with clouds due 6
to the high altitude, with a humidity level reaching up to 75% and a higher variation in temperature to. (Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008)
Figure 2 Altitude Zonation of Tropical Forest (WWF, 2010)
3.1 Design Consideration for Tropical Climate The weather in tropical climate is conclusively hot and humid, which makes the shading and ventilation devices critical components in a tropical design in order to provide thermal comfort for the occupants. Dwellings in tropical countries are usually designed with a natural cross-ventilated spaces, with the utilization of louvered doors, windows and openings; angled sunshades and eaves that keep the sun at bay; vertical stilts that elevates the structure and helps to capture higher breeze and prevent flood or soil damage; and steep, overhang roofs to shed direct sunlight and heavy rainfall. With the needs to create a sustainable dwellings and the preservation of the natural environment, the built environments should have climatic considerations in its design to promote natural cooling and effective shading as modern tropical architecture design strategy. The main design consideration of a tropical architecture is very important as they are the factors to design a dwelling with a focus on achieving thermal comfort for the occupants and keeping the house in optimal condition. The 5 main design considerations of a tropical architecture suggested by HPCB are as below (Jennifer Sinclair, 2014) -
Orientation of the building Envelope of the building Ventilation Materials Site Context
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These considerations should be taken into account in order to respond effectively to climatic conditions, prioritizing the employment of shading, maximize ventilation and minimize heat absorption as the relative air humidity is so high and registered temperatures remain constant throughout the day (Olgyay 1963; Rapoport, 1969). In hot climates, the air movement does not reduce the temperature but causes a sensation of freshness, which is due to convection heat loss and to gradual increase in water evaporation throughout the body. Consequently, as the movement of the air increases, the upper limit of predefined comfort also increases due to the restitution of comfortable temperature parameters and the feeling of freshness caused by the referenced evaporation is an adequate solution to counter high temperatures. Therefore, an opening to the exterior, through light structures that allows maximum possible flow of air is a plausible solution (Olgyay, 1963’ Slavid, 2009).
3.2 Malay Traditional house According to Lim Jee Yuan’s The Malay House: Rediscovering Malaysia’s Indigenous Shelter System, architects nowadays uses Malay traditional house as a study paradigm for its excellent interpretation of environmental design, design versatility, and building systems (Lim, 1987). It is exquisitely designed to accommodate the local climate in relation to the design considerations of tropical architecture and it is still utilized in the architecture today. Malay traditional house focuses a lot on natural ventilation with the study of air movement whereby it ventilates form the outside, into the building and then escapes the building along with the trapped warm air. It is the most important feature of the design to keep the building cool throughout the year. From that the Malay house developed its very own identity of the built form and spatial design to allow ventilation across and throughout the building. Solar control design plays an important role as well to keep the interior spaces from direct sunlight and prevent radiant heat through roof design, materials and surrounding landscape.
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Figure 3 Typical Malay vernacular house (Source: Lim, 1987)
Traditional society of the “kampong� gained comprehensive knowledge of ecology balance and nature’s method and is utilized prevalently in construction of Malay vernacular house (Lim, 1987). The design with nature traditional Malay house is generally long and separated in parts to create and acts like funnels channeling air into designed spaces. Malays house are usually lightweight in construction to reduce heat storage in the massive contemporary material such as the concrete wall. The house is elevated with the building orientated according to the sun path and wind direction. Low thermal capacity materials such as wood are obtained directly from local resources to build the house. Double slope roof and roof space are designed for natural ventilation, while large roof overhangs are used in Malay traditional house to prevent direct or radiant sunlight and downpours.
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3.4 Modern House The climatic weather design strategies have been utilized not only in traditional architecture but it is utilized in the early modernism as well (Ossen et al., 2008). In Lessons from Modernism: Environmental Design Considerations in 20th Century Architecture 1925-70, architect Kevin Bone was the curator and he discussed about the misconception towards earlier tropical modernism that puts environmental considerations behind the main design mission. Modern movement in the early stages does have the evident that great architects were in fact much attuned to the cycles of nature (Bone, 2013). This is to distinguish and clarify between the modern architecture and modern corporate buildings. Only when the invention of technological systems was introduced, the design was very much influenced and became less salubrious towards the environment.
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Figure 5 Climatic Responsive of the Cocoon House by Paul Rudolph, 1951
Due to the misinterpretation, contemporary architecture designs are out of context and became disruptive environmentally. With the advancement of technology, the accessibility to resources is much easier and a more productive construction. Compared to the material used in the traditional design, it is massive and long lasting. With the east of accessibility and technology, contemporary architecture were built without much consideration to the nature environment, increasing the consumption of energy in order to keep the building in a moderate temperature mechanically.
4 INTEGRATION AS A SOLUTION TO ACHIEVE THERMAL COMFORT According to the ‘Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory Education and Practice’, its aim was to further debate on the importance of vernacular architecture study and throughout the twenty-first century, not as a study of past traditions, but as a contribution to new methods, integral solutions and achievements for the future built environment (Asquith, 2006). This is where integration comes into place, providing new alternatives in modern designs that involve designing with nature to provide human comfort in temperature. The following sections discusses about the features of integrated design in order to achieve thermal comfort in tropical climate.
4.1 Built Form The integrated design of the building block of the house revolves mainly around the spatial organization of the house with an open plan layout derived 11
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from the features of the vernacular Malay houses. This is to allow natural cross ventilation with minimal wall within the house to lessen the obstruction of the channel of the wind flow. It also helps in maximizing the utilization of spaces within the house. The Deck House has utilized the same open plan concept in the modern context, having spaces free up internally with wall partitions are kept to a minimum. This design creates connection through the unobstructed spaces and effectively utilized such spaces as a passage for ventilation, allowing air to circulate throughout the entire building. Trapped warm air is discharged out of the building and solves the relative humidity within the house, preventing thermal gain.
Figure 6 Open plan design with minimal wall partitions (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
The building form of an integrated design suggests creating a high ceiling with double volume spaces to create stacking of the ventilation inside the dwelling. This stack ventilation actually promotes the buoyancy of warm air to rise and discharge through openings located at higher outlets. Cooler air from outside the house enters and replaces the rising warm air through designed openings and inlets placed near the floor surface. This is when thermal pressure difference in the volume of space occurs and generates circulation of air inside the dwelling.
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Figure 8 Integration of high ceiling spaces for ventilation (Sources: Archdaily, 2013)
Other than the sufficient ventilation in the house, winds are encouraged to flow into and throughout the house. The elongated built form of The Deck House is one of the integration of a vernacular contemporary design, acting as a funnel to draw wind across the building. The cantilevered part of the deck and the main structure connecting to the bridge creates a series of connection, allowing cross ventilation through the building along the sloped terrains.
Figure 9 Cantilevered form of structure for ventilation (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
4.2 Orientation and Positioning of Building Orientation of a building mainly influenced by the sun path as well as the wind path. Most traditional Malay houses are orientated to face the East and West direction due to religious reasoning, and house openings are built low to prevent direct sun glares, which is very effective in minimizing the area of interior spaces and exposed walls to direct solar radiation (Lim, 2011). Many integrated contemporary designs applied the same concept to their buildings, with orientation of East-West axis facing in the North or South 13
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direction and orientated to face the prevailing wind. Large overhang roofs were added to control the glare from the sun and give visual comfort for the occupants. Integration design suggests the same idea of having an elevated structure built on stilts, much like the Malay traditional houses. Structures built on a higher ground gain an advantage in terms of thermal study, functions and safety (Lim, 2011). Elevated structures have the benefit of capturing wind with a higher velocity, as wind path are unobstructed in a higher position. Raised floor with stilts can prevent dampness of ground from entering the building (Hanafi, 1994). The Deck House is a good example of an elevated structure, which stands un-obstructively on a sloppy hill, preventing landslide caused by the removal of vegetation. A stump and reinforced foundation is a method in order to strengthen the structure. Surrounding vegetation were untouched, providing natural shades to the building, thus providing a cooler environment around the house.
Figure 10 Front View of the elevated Deck House, Pahang (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
4.3 Openings Openings such as windows and doors in traditional tropical architecture are in abundance to maximize cross ventilation. Some buildings took the approach of having smaller openings in order to reduce solar heat gain. It is an important feature to control heat gain with a carefully designed openings, while the east and west faรงade should be avoided to reduce the exposure of solar heat. 14
The Deck House represents a good integrated model of having operable fenestrations at designated places, to allow adequate ventilation into the building at all times and it also gives shelter from heavy downpours. The high ceiling living room gives an advantage of having the stack effect of hot and cool air, facilitating air circulation within the interior. Small ventilation openings such as grilles and louvers are placed at higher place, just underneath the roof, which acts as an outlet to discharge hot air while circulating cool air form the outside into the house. The large roof overhang functions as a veranda, making it possible to have openings remain open for most of the time even when it is raining. It increases the distance between the openings and the sunlight path, giving comfortable shading to the interior.
Figure 11 Operable openings & large overhangs (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
4.4 Building Materials As one of the main method in achieving thermal comfort in a tropical climate, light materials with low thermal storage capacity and high insulation properties are suitable in efficiently absorb and release heat such as wood and aluminum. It is also important to have an essential knowledge and understanding of material behaviors when exposed to high humidity because it is necessary to prevent deterioration of the materials used, especially those that are in direct contact with the weather conditions as well as the ground 15
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(Olgyay, 1963; Stouter, 2008). Materials that are used in vernacular design are usually taken from local resources. Natural materials were creatively used into a climatic responsive design that mainly controls the heat gain and boosts ventilation such as bamboo wall, nipah finishing and attap roof. The Deck House has utilized a diversity of materials in accordance to suit the design best prior of achieving thermal comfort. With its cooling strategies proven to be effective, glass panels and curtain walls are used in the building to allow the occupants to enjoy the magnificent forestry surrounding the house and it also allows natural lighting to the interior spaces. Thermal comfort is no longer an issue with low emissive glass and proper ventilation of the interior spaces. With today’s technological advances, glass panels nowadays are made with insulation properties which functions better than a normal massive wall, which has a high thermal capacity. This feature lifts up the traditional design of having a small and controlled low opening to a full height glass panels.
Figure 12 Surrounding view from inside the house (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
Low thermal capacity materials such as wood are used as part of the design that contributes in controlling heat gain. The cantilevered wooden deck in The Deck House showcases the use of low thermal capacity and high insulation property materials as the floor finishes. The timber planks were installed with gaps in between them, allowing air to flow through, cooling the surface of the material.
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Figure 13 Timber planks on the deck (Source: Archdaily, 2013)
The roofing is the design element, which requires a greater need for thermal insulation due to a strong thermal impact. The material of the roofing plays an important role in order for it to reflect radiant solar and prevents conducting heat into the house, Aluminum-zinc coated roof offers an excellent thermal efficiency as the material itself has a low thermal capacity, keeping the building in a moderate temperature. The use of light color of the roof reflects both solar and general thermal radiation on the roof. Heat transferred is greatly reduced to a minimal associated with light colors.
Figure 14 Large aluminum-zinc overhang roof (Source: Archdaily)
4.5 Light Weight Construction Many existing literature suggests that masonry houses would be cooler than lightweight house due to the time lag effect. However in fact, many masonry houses tends to store heat and it is rather difficult to cool down mass body temperature during the day (O’Brien, 2006). Dr. David O’Brien reveals
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that lightweight houses perform more effectively than masonry houses to achieve thermal comfort.
Figure 15 Comparison of temperatures inside typical masonry and timber (O’Brien 2005)
The Deck House is made up of lightweight materials, which consist of curtain walls and steel members in post and lintel structure. Unlike any other contemporary houses, the lightweight construction method of The Deck House has minimum mass and both inside and outside is made up of a series of connecting voids. The entire structures were basically constructed by vertical pillars and 10.5m long and 6.8m wide timber decks, which is supported by a steel structure underneath. The deck is cantilevered out from its supporting beam to create the effect of an “Infinity deck”. Overall, its lightweight structure benefits the house in terms of having a better thermal efficiency to cool the building overtime when compared to a masonry structure.
Figure 16 Comparison of masonry building (O’Brien, 2006) and The Deck House (Archdaily, 2013)
5 CONCLUSION For the purpose of this study, a table of comparison has been generated according to the general design considerations of the Malay vernacular, contemporary and integrated of both. The Deck House as an integrated case study has been analyzed to study its achievement in providing 18
thermal comfort and other aspects as well involving nature sensitivity and dwelling features to provide an optimal condition as an alternative solution of housing design with comparison to existing vernacular and contemporary design.
In conclusion, the integration of a contemporary design with utilization of the Malay vernacular architecture concept can provide a preferable comfort level in tropical dwelling design. With climatic responsive design strategies, integration will provide proper ventilation within the house as well as reducing heat gain in dwelling design. This method will therefore promote a suitable thermal comfort with a friendly environmental design that does not only suit in Malaysia, but in other tropical climate countries as well.
6 REFERENCES 19
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1. Lim, J.Y. (1987). The Malay House: Rediscovering Malaysia’s Indigenous Shelter System. Malaysia: Institut Masyarakat. 2. Oliver, P. (2006). Built to Meet Needs: Vernacular Architecture. Oxford: Architectural Press. 3. Nasir, A.H. (1985) Introduction of Traditional Malay House: Peninsular Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Darul Fikir. 4. Department of Standards of Malaysia. (2007) Code of Practice on Energy Efficiency and Use of Renewable Energy for Non-residential Buildings. Malaysia: Standards Malaysia. 5. O’Brien D., Lightweight Tropical: Reconnecting Construction Technologies with Thermal Comfort, Australia: Faculty of Architecture, Building and PaUniversity of Melbourne. 6. Asquith L. and Vellinga M. (2005), Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory, Education and Practice, England: Taylor and Francis. 7. Chiko, N. (2013, August 13). Vernacular and modern architecture lessons from Corbusier. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://www.slideshare.net/chikoNcube/vernacular-and-modernarchitecture-lessons-from-corbusier 8. Kamal, K.S. (2007, March 04). Adaptation Design of Traditional Maay House to Meet the Requirements of Comfort Living in Modern houses. (2007, Match 7). Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://buildingcondervation.com/2007/03/adaptation-design-oftradtional-malay.html
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