Evaluation on sustainability and occupants' perceived health in Malaysian terraced houses

Abstract

Terraced houses account for 44% of the existing urban residential buildings in Malaysia. However, these houses have very constrained use of natural ventilation and lighting due to openings with small window-to-floor ratio. The deep plan design causes gloomy indoor spaces, low air change rate and poor indoor air quality. Hence, the sustainability of these terraced houses in the tropical climate needs to be further investigated. Studies showed that indoor environments have a major impact on occupants' well-being. Thereby this paper looks into indoor thermal and visual performances as the means of sustainability and their impact on occupants' perceived comfort and health in Malaysian typical terraced houses. A survey of terraced houses in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, was conducted using a questionnaire. Various terraced houses were studied to identify the critical comfort and health issues in terraced housing. The relationships between occupants' perceived comfort, behaviour and health were studied. The variance of types of terraced house was also analysed. The findings demonstrated significant linear relationships among thermal comfort, visual comfort and health. However, occupants' behaviour did not have a significant impact on thermal comfort and health. This paper concludes that it is essential to improve indoor thermal and visual comfort in Malaysian typical terraced houses through sustainable design to enhance occupants' health.