Aa report

Tropical Passive design strategies in Belum Rainforest Resort to achieve Thermal Comfort .
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Asian Architecture (ARC 2234 / ARC60403)
Project 1 : Case Study
Tropical Passive design strategies in Belum Rainforest Resort to
achieve Thermal Comfort .
NAME : YUAN KHAI SHIEN
STUDENT ID : 0314818
LECTURER : SHAHRIANNE MOHAMAD SHAH

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Table of Content Page
1. Abstract ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-4
2. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5-6
2.1 Overview of Passive Design ------------------------------------------------------- 7
2.2 Overview of Thermal Comfort ------------------------------------------------------- 8
3. Factors of passive design strategies to achieve thermal comfort -------------------------- 9
3.1 Material ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-10
3.2 Orientation ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
3.3 Type of shading device ---------------------------------------------------------------- 11-12
4. Natural ventilation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
5. Natural Vegetation --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
6. Problem that occur when having shading device ------------------------------------ 15
7. Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16

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Abstract
Malaysia is a tropical climate country which almost experience hot and humid weather
throughout the year. This is because Malaysia is sits along the equilibrium of the earth. The
previous temperature of Malaysia was 27 Celcius, thus due to many effect such as global
warming, temperature of Malaysia become higher than usual which maximum can reach 32
Celcius. Due to all this reason, and as a tropical climate country, proper passive design and
shading device should install in the building in Malaysia to achieve thermal comfort. To enhance
and increase the efficiency, literature reviews based on sources regarding passive design were
conducted. The major thing that need to consider in passive design is the shading devices that
used in the building. There are many different types of shading device such as egg crate,
overhang roof and pitch roof. Belum Rainforest Resort considers three different phases and
each of the phases has their own different kind of shading device to solve the solar radiation
problem. For phase 1, natural elements timber and bamboo can see everywhere surrounded
the whole opening and window of the building. Besides the main purpose, act as the shading
device, these nature elements are also bring the aesthetic value to the whole building. Besides
for phase 2, egg crate shading device can see at the opening and window for every zone.
Architect also design mesh shelter to allow creeper to plant on it, prevent the sunlight to
penetrate inside. The huge trees near the resort are also arranging base on the path. Tall and
large span of trees provide good shelter and shading for the people. However for phase 3,
which also call Villa, majority of the roof used in Belum Rainforest resort are gable roof to

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withstand the hot climate. Gable roof has been categories that it is one of the best heat
insulators that could reduce heat radiation. In addition the gable roof has also build in overhang
concept. Overhang roof’s purpose is to shade the exterior space for example balcony and the
path outside the house. Besides of all these, architect of Belum Rainforest resort has also use
nature ventilation such as cross ventilation to enhance the interior ventilation and achieve
thermal comfort. Hence, it has come to a conclusion that both of these terms of passive design
are useful for Belum resort to achieve thermal comfort. The architecture’s wise decision on
choosing the passive design to enhance the sustainability of the building had a clear valid
reason because of the advantages. By the way, Belum Rainforest resort has also shown man
and nature can combine completely to achieve thermal comfort which makes provide a success
architecture.

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2.0 Introduction
Belum Rainforest Resort is one of Malaysia's premier ecotourism holiday destinations. Cover
with tropical rainforest in Pulau Banding, Belum Rainforest Resort, is every nature lovers
favourite and also famous point for people to getaway during. This place is completely
relaxation and peaceful, fill with full of beautiful scenery around Pulau Banding, and last but not
least, the main thing, chance to get close to nature. As we know that the place is very eco-
friendly and also BelumRainforest Resort can integrate well on the site ,at the same time
providing a comfortable environment for the users as it is situated in a tropical forest which is
hot and humid all the time. To achieve all of these, architects of Belum rainforest resort had
spent much energy and time to design a wonderful place for users.
Based on what architecture term was introduce, there are many important thing that we need
to care about to achieve thermal comfort for the interior spaces. One of the point is shading
devices of the building. Human created shelter to keep them from rain, heat from sun and
danger, basically a safety and comfortable zone for them. In the earliest Stone age, nature for
example trees, stones and etc act as their own protection or shelter and slowly develop to use
clay create brick and stack become a hard wall.
All these evolutions and development from ancient civilization to current period have brought
us so far until passive design which mean shading devices were introduce. Shading devices have
the same function as shelter which target to achieve thermal comfort for the interior and the
user.
There are many kind of shading devices, such as egg crate, overhang roof and so on. Some of
them are develop from the older civilization and some of them are created based on current
whether changes. For example, the overhang roof that basically used in Japan or India are
basically develop from the Greek and Roman

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Figure 2.1 location of Belum Resort
For the point below, we will discuss about Tropical Passive design strategies used in Belum
Rainforest Resort to achieve Thermal Comfort based on these following question:-
1) What is passive design and thermal comfort?
2) What are the passive strategies used in designing Belum Resort?
3) How does the building design affect the natural air ventilation inside the building?
4) How does the natural vegetation of Belum Resort affect to the sustainability of thermal
comfort?
5) What are the problem that encountered by having shading devices in Belum Rain
Forest?

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2.1 Passive Design
Passive design refers to a design approach that uses natural elements, often sunlight, to heat,
cool, or light a building. Passive solar or passive cooling designs take advantage of the sun’s
energy to maximize heating or cooling based on a building’s sun exposure. Systems that employ
passive design require very little maintenance and reduce a building’s energy consumption by
minimizing or eliminating mechanical systems used to regulate indoor temperature and lighting.
The passive design approach can include the structure of the building itself, including building
orientation, window placement, skylight installation, insulation and building materials, or
specific elements of a building, such as windows and window shades. For example, installing
operable windows, or windows that can be manually opened and closed, allows residents to
control the amount of air entering a space, and placing operable windows directly across from
each other can direct breezes into a building, creating natural ventilation.
Figure 2.1.2 Example strategies of passive design

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2.2 Thermal Comfort
Thermal comfort can define as" a condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal
environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation." The temperature that optimizes indoor
thermal comfort is around the range of 19 Celcius to 28 Celcius. This thermal comfort level will
affect by each person body response him/herself. There are two different factor will affect the
thermal comfort, personal and measurable environment. But then in architecture term, the
measurable environment will be emphasize more compare to the personal. Measurable
environment factor is affected by the air temperature, radiant temperature, air velocity and
humidity.
Figure 2.2.1 Diagram of thermal comfort

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3) Anintrofor Shading Devices
In tropical climates, designing a shading device can be very complicated to prevent solar
radiation penetrate through window and reduce direct heat gain to the indoor. With today's
technology, computer software are able to identify the shadow of building accurately for
architects and create a suitable shading device for the entire building. Besides, architects can
also know the sun path through all these programs. External shading devices and also solar
radiation are always the considered compare to the interior because it is more effectively effect
to the whole building .
3.1 Materiality
Materials of the building are always the key and one of the main things to achieve thermal
comfort. High thermal capacity material such as concrete and bricks are the common material
that used by current society. But then there has also some of other way to achieve thermal
comfort besides using high capacity material to construct the whole building. As what I see in
Belum resort, for the windows and opening of the resort in Phase 1 is shaded and cover by tree
branches or bamboo stick which they have low thermal conductivity and good heat insulator.
Looking for the whole building that cover with nature elements, it also provide high aesthetic
value to the exterior. The roof of the phase 1 resort builds with aluminum which has shiny
surface and it is a good reflector that can reflect heat away from the building. Shading glass can
also found in phase 1 resort to protect the excessive heat from entering the interior spaces. By
using shading glass, the building can achieve thermal comfort due to shading glass can prevent
the heat to pass through and also it can act as nature light for the interior
Figure 3.1.1 Phase1 hotel

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Moreover, move to phase 2 and villa in Belum resort , the architect has chosen to use bricks
and concrete as the main material to construct the building which can brings out different kind
of feeling and by the way it has high thermal capacity to slow down the heat to penetrate into
the building. For the corridor of the rooms in the resort is built by polycarbonate which made of
plastic based and as we know that plastic is a very good heat insulator. So it can diffuse the
sunlight and solar radiation and reduce the heat gain.
Figure 3.1.2 Phase 2 hotel
Figure 3.1.3 Resort of phase 2

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3.2 Orientation
A good or proper orientation of a building is important and it is also the first stage that architect
need to consider to design building. This can reduce much energy use of the building itself.
Good orientation of building can benefit the building to accept the morning warm sunlight as
natural lighting to reduce energy consumption such as electric and also it can avoid the hot
sunlight during afternoon. Base on the term, building should be orientated within 15 degrees of
east-west axis due to the area that will expose to sun and let hot sunlight penetrate in. The
openings or window at north and south should be larger compare to the east and west. These
can allow the building to accept the natural lighting from outdoor and also reduce the heat gain
that will penetrate from east and west. Besides, natural features can also act as a natural
shading for the building as well such as trees, plant and hill. For Belum itself, the facade of most
buildings are west facing. In this case, opening and window have big opportunity to let sun
penetrate in but then the best part is evening sun is not hot compare to afternoon and also
users can enjoy the sunset by looking out the building.
Figure 3.2.1 Example diagram of orientation for building
3.3 Type of shading devices
Types of roof are also important to act as shading device for the building. One of the most
obvious shading devices that visitors can see once enter to Belum resort is the overhang roof
used at Hornbill Restaurant in Phase 1. The function of the overhang roof is to protect the
pathway and wall around the building. Besides these, it can also control the sunlight to
penetrate in. The overhang roof is designed to deflect high angle afternoon sun light. The
oldern malay house has the similiar overhang roof as well and it influenced today architecture.
Figure 3.3.1 Overhang roof of hornbill restaurant in Belum Rainforest Resort and the diagram

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By the way, in Phase 2 of Belum Rainforest resort is build with contemporary material. The
architect designs the building with egg crate shading device in it which made up of concrete.
Egg crate methods are always build facing north and south because the purpose of egg crate is
to prevent the light from east and west.
Figure 3.3.2 Egg-crate shading device for phase 2

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4) Natural ventilationthat usedinBelumresort toachieve thermal comfort
As a tropical country and we know that current temperature is always higher than previous
time. Besides of shading devices, natural ventilation is also important in a building to cool the
interior. Nature ventilation can also reduce energy consumption for the building and reduce the
amount of air condition and fans used in the building to cool the interior. There are also many
type of nature ventilation stack ventilation, cross ventilation and others. The common type that
used in Belum Resort is cross ventilation that quite similiar to the older Malay house. A big
example that can show `is the pathway in the Phase 1 resort. It doesnt contain any
contemporary electric device to cool down the temperature but then used cross ventilation to
achieve it.
Figure 4.1 both openings of the corridor to achieve cross ventilation
Figure 4.2 Diagram showing cross ventilation

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5) Nature vegetationas shading devices inachieving thermal comfort
Nature vegetation is part of the design intention in Belum Rain Forest Resort. As you walk
through Belum resort, visitor can see there is always building cover or surround by creeper,
trees and plant. The existing trees and plant not only provide harmonies feeling toward users
but then also act as a shading device for the resort. Beside, nature tree can cools the
environment by releasing fresh air to the environment, increasing the humidity of the building
and providing a fresh surrounding to users and thermal comfort can achieve through this.
Architect has also designed different kind of way for the plant to grow on it act as a wall or roof,
even the pathway also fill with trees. Sunlight and radiation very difficult to penetrate through
all these plant and plant itself will absorb the sunlight for photosynthesis. Meanwhile in Belum
rainforest resort, there has few different kind of vegetation which included vines, trees, shrubs
and creeper.
Figure 5.1 Outer nature shading device at phase 2
Figure 5.2 Roof nature vegetation act as roof

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6) Problemand how tosolve
For every method or mechanism, there always has the advantage and problem behind it.
Through this passive design of shading device also brought out some problem on it.
First, as we know that shading devices are usually construct or install at the opening or
windows. Although it brings advantage of thermal comfort toward the interior spaces but that
will obstruct the view of the exterior.
Besides that, shading device that install in the building doesn’t 100% can work on it. Sometime
it still needs adding other shading device to reduce the heat gain. These not only interrupt the
original intention of the architect yet it also increases the energy consumption toward the place
or the building. These is because people will add on air condition and fans to reduce the heat in
the interior.
Figure 6.1 Example of window opening that block the view of exterior

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7) CONCLUSION
Malaysia is a country which place at the equilibrium line of the earth and no doubt,
we as a citizen are experiencing hot and humid weather throughout the year. The
implement of Passive Design in every single phase have cause BelumResort to implied
dense of strategies to achieve thermal comfort for the interior. For the other side, there
are also have the pros and cons effect after installing all the strategies for Belum Resort
such as blocking view of opening and so on. However through this process, Belum
Resort has taught me much or even more information about Passive design strategies to
the building and enhance for the design.
By visiting and staying in Belum Rainforest Resort, me as a user can experience
comfortable and hope to stay there more not really because of the passive strategies
design yet the surrounding that fill with plant and nature. Based on the passive design
strategies and nature element that implant in Belum Rainforest Resort, this can be a
strong reference to the future architect and help them to solve when considering a
sustainable way to approach thermal comfort.

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Reference
 C-arch.com.my,. (2015). Belum Rainforest Resort, Pulau Banding C'ARCH
ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN | Architects Malaysia. Retrieved 8 October 2015,
from http://www.c-arch.com.my/hospitality/belum-rainforest-resort
 Architizer,. (2015). Belum Rainforest Resort. Retrieved 13 October 2015, from
http://architizer.com/projects/belum-rainforest-resort/
 Belumresort.com,. (2015). Malaysia Accommodation | About Belum Rainforest
Resort | Gerik Perak Hotel. Retrieved 17 October 2015, from
http://www.belumresort.com/about_resort.html
 Hbp.usm.my,. (2015). MALAY VERNACULAR ARCHITECTUREb. Retrieved
20 October 2015, from
http://www.hbp.usm.my/conservation/malayvernacular.htm
 Sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com,. (2015). Passive Design Strategies |
Sustainability Workshop. Retrieved 22 October 2015, from
http://sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com/buildings/passive-design-strategies

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