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

Abstract

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.