An evaluation of bioclimatic high rise office buildings in a tropical climate: energy consumption and users' satisfaction in selected office buildings in Malaysia

• Main Author: Ismail, Lokman Hakim
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: TH Building construction; TH6014-6081 Environmental engineering of buildings. Sanitary engineering of buildings
• Online Access: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7337/1/24p%20LOKMAN%20HAKIM%20ISMAIL.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7337/
• Institution: Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

This research has been carried out with the aim to investigate ho\\· high rise ollice building design in tropical climate can contribute in reducing energy consumption \\·hile maintaining comfort. The main objective of this study is to compare the performance of a sample \11' bioclimatic high rise office blocks with that of conventional ones when situated in a tropical climate such as that in Malaysia. The research firstly reviewed all the characteristics of bioclimatic buildings in the Malaysian Peninsula particularly the traditional ~lalay house and the transformation through time. Secondly. the research studied some design planning and architecture of several high-rise office buildings principally the bioclimatic approaches. Thirdly, the claimed benefits of bioclimatic design approach for high rise office buildings were examined in the results of previously conducted research projects. dealing with energy consumption and design approaches which compares the bioclimatic and con\·entional high rise. The performance was measured according to a combination of technical and social criteria: direct observation on various architectural aspects. environmental measurement and users' perception of comfOl1 and satisfaction with their working enyironment \·ia questionnaires. The energy consumptions were compared based on the electricity bills recorded for at least a year period. The local building energy index is used as the benchmark to check whether there were real energy savings in the bioclimatic high rise office blocks or otherwise. The major finding of this work is that the occupants in bioclimatic high rise oflice buildings have a higher level of satisfaction with their working environment than those in conventional office blocks. There is evidence that bioclimatic high rise office buildings are energy efficient as the most recent bioclimatic high rise office building U\'1cnara L~l0:()). has a lower energy index than the ASEAN standard and within the latest Malaysian Standard related to energy efficiency. In the past. high rise buildings have been perceived as inefficient users of energy, with the new bioclimatic design concept and technologies. there is no doubt that high rise office buildings in the future would be much beller in design that provide better environment to the users and consume less energy.