Aliyah Nur Zafirah Sanusi

Naturally ventilated colonial school classrooms in Malaysia are conducive to learning environment

The study is intended to evaluate the comfort level of learning environment in three naturally ventilated colonial schools in Malaysia through the voice of students aged between 13 and 17. This study focuses on the influence of the colonial school classrooms physical environment towards the students’ comfort and behaviour. The research has two objectives: To evaluate post-occupancy comfort level and behavior in the naturally ventilated colonial schools and to suggest design elements that could improve the comfort level of a school classroom. Observations and investigations were conducted in three colonial schools; Victoria Institution, Methodist Girls Secondary School and Maxwell Secondary School in the morning session, between 7:45a.m. and 1:00p.m.. Survey questionnaires were distributed to one classroom of each school and simultaneously, an inventory of each classroom physical environment was recorded. It was found that the observed classroom differs slightly in the window-to-wall ratio, window size and occupancy density, which have an impact on the indoor environment and the students’ comfort and behaviour. From the survey results, among the three schools, the students in the Methodist Girls Secondary School are mostly comfortable throughout the morning session. In conclusion, several design elements, which can be adopted from the architecture of the colonial period, that make them conducive to learning environment are window-to-wall ratio, window sizes and occupancy density.

Go Virtual: Exploring the Potential of Adaptive E-Learning Platform for Dissemination of Architectural Knowledge

Architectural education is considered unique in the sense that it is built on the principle of learning by doing, and associated with apprenticeship, where knowledge dissemination and skill development requires face to face interaction between learners and teachers. Hence, attempts at changing the established method would require thorough investigation especially on its impacts on architectural education. This requirement explains why while many disciplines have explored the e-learning environment; yet architectural education remains with its apprenticeship method despite the advance of current digital technologies. The objectives of the research are to examine the effectiveness and relevancy of i-Ta’leam as a platform for knowledge dissemination in architectural education. This research employs quantitative approach where survey questionnaires were distributed to architecture students to seek their opinions on their experience of using i-Ta’leam as their e-learning platform. Generally, albeit its relevancy, students gave negative feedbacks on the effectiveness of I-Ta’leem as an e-learning platform. Suggestions are given to enhance its functions and potential as an efficient interface for architectural education.

Low-Energy Earth–Air Heat Exchanger Cooling System for Buildings in Hot and Humid Malaysia

This chapter presents an extended exploration of the performance of low-energy earth–air heat exchanger (EAHE) cooling in hot and humid Malaysia from the published work of Sanusi (2013). The increasing demand of air-conditioning for cooling purposes motivates this investigation in search for better cooling alternatives. The passive technology, where soil underground was used as a heat sink to produce cooler air, has yet to be investigated further in hot and humid countries. This work, the passive technology, is tested by carrying out two interconnected field investigations: soil temperature measurement and the earth pipe cooling experiment for 1 year. In 1 year, soil temperature distribution at 1 m depth fluctuates, influenced by the different seasons in a year. However, the soil at 1 m depth is cooler than deeper soil during the wet season. Therefore, for investigating the EAHE cooling performance for 1 year, the pipe was buried at 1 m depth at the same test site. A significant temperature drop was found in the 1-m-depth-buried pipe: up to 6.3 and 8.6 °C, respective to the seasons of the year. Thermal comfort of air temperature at the buried pipe outlet was analyzed with Khedari thermal comfort chart, and the result has shown that the buried pipe outlet air temperatures are within the range of thermal comfort conditions for hot/humid countries. This study has showed a potential of earth pipe cooling technology in providing low-energy cooling in buildings in Malaysia.