The effects of courtyards on indoor thermal conditions of chinese shophouse in Malacca

• Main Authors: Zakaria, Mohd. Azuan, Kubota, Tetsu, Toe, Doris Hooi Chyee
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: TH Building construction
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/61133/; http://vbn.aau.dk/en/activities/the-9th-international-symposium-on-heating-ventilation-and-air-conditioning-ishvac--the-3rd-international-conference-on-building-energy-and-environment-cobee(b1670c32-d168-407d-994b-2df43a1cfbad).html

This paper discusses the effects of courtyards on indoor thermal environment in a traditional shophouse in Malacca, Malaysia based on the results of field measurement. The results showed that the indoor air temperatures in the living hall (ground floor) and the master bed-room (first floor) were approximately 0.3-1.7ºC lower than the corresponding outdoor air temperature during daytime despite having a high thermal mass structure. The structural cool-ing effect in these rooms was reduced due to relatively large ventilation rates caused by the two courtyards. Meanwhile, during night-time, the indoor air temperatures in the two rooms were merely 0.8-1.9°C higher than the outdoors mainly due to the inflows of cooled air from the roofs. The results of the thermal comfort evaluation showed that the indoor operative tem-peratures in both rooms exceeded the 80% upper comfortable limits over 36-47% of the measurement period. Furthermore, the smoke test and the sequential photograph observation revealed that there were three air flow patterns in and around courtyards during the measure-ment period.