Ahmad Sanusi Hassan

Examination of student housing preferences, their similarities and differences

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify the university student’s preferences for some important attributes of residence hall design. The study also attempts to highlight the differences and similarities in student’s preferences. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was distributed among students who were living in residence halls of a public university in Malaysia. A total of 752 students were recruited as participants. Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire. Students were asked to indicate their preferences rating a 4-point scale. The survey included questions concerning students’ preferences for residing in traditional and suite-style residence halls, single room and double room as well as rooms in which each student’s area is marked clearly. Collected data were analysed using PASW Statistics 17. Findings – The results indicated that, in total, students highly preferred residing in suite-style to traditional residence halls. Staying in a single room with shared bathroom ...

Thermal surface analysis on high-rise building façades with neo-minimalist and modern style in Penang, Malaysia

This research analyzed the facade thermal performance of high-rise buildings with modern and neo-minimalist architectural style. Four high-rise apartment buildings in Penang Island are selected as case studies for this research. The modern architectural style, which was popular during the 1970s to 1990s, nearly disregarded the cultural identity of the country and used the basic geometric shapes in the design. Conversely, the neo-minimalist style is the popular style from the 2010s up to the present. This style is a result of the “less is more” concept, which means using minimal applications to obtain an efficient design. The four selected case studies are as follows: Halaman Kristal 2 and Mutiara Idaman 1 with modern architectural style and Light Linear and Baystar apartments with neo-minimalist style. The research uses Fluke Ti20 thermal imager to capture thermal images of the west facade of the selected case studies on an hourly basis from 12:00 to 6:00 P.M. on March 15, 2017. Results confirm that the n...

The integration of daylighting with artificial lighting to enhance building energy performance

In sustainable building designs, daylight is considered as an alternative source of light to artificial lighting. Daylight is an energy-free and efficient-cost lighting source. Natural light is the best source for light due to its good quality, which matches the visual response of the human eyes. Daylight positively affects people by providing a sense of liveliness and brightness in the living space. The positive impact of daylight on the building occupants’ visual comfort, health and performance is well recognized. However, daylight is not widely utilized to supplement artificial lighting, because there is a lack of information and tools to evaluate daylighting and potentials for energy savings. The efficient utilization of natural lighting will not only affect the interior environment and the occupants’ health and performance but also has a direct impact on the building energy performance. Therefore, this paper reviews and discusses the effects of daylighting on the building energy performance mainly in...

Shading Performance on Terraced House Facade Designs in Malaysia

This study analyses shading performance on front house facades in Malaysia designed with early, modern, postmodern and neo-minimalist architectural style. For the case study, four front facades of the terraced houses are selected. The reason for the selection of terraced houses as the case studies is that terraced houses are the most popular house type built in urban areas in this country. The Early Modern Terraced House Style was built in 1950s to 1970s, and Modern Terraced House Style was popularly built later in 1980s to 1990s. Postmodern Terraced House Style was commonly integrated in the building design in 2000s while the Neo-Minimalist Terraced House Style has been integrated in the house design since 2010. The selected case studies are located in Petaling Jaya, Putrajaya and Shah Alam, the new towns of Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. The SunTool software is used in the survey to calculate shading percentages on the front house facades. The survey will be conducted at a position when the sun path is perpendicular to the house facade. The study finds that the shading performance is improving over time. Recessed wall, balcony, attached roof and roof overhang are commonly used in the house facade design with car porch on the ground facade level.