Effectiveness of air-well type courtyards on moderating thermal environments in tropical Chinese Shophouse

Abstract

In Southeast Asia with tropical climates, Chinese Shophouse (CSH) as a type of vernacular architecture is usually equipped with small intermediate air-well type courtyards, also known as ‘Tianjin’, to moderate the indoor thermal environment. This paper investigates the effectiveness of air-well type courtyards as passive design strategies on moderating indoor thermal environments in two CSHs located in Malacca, Malaysia. The study used a field survey and a CFD simulation. Statistical analyses of indoor air temperature and heat index (HI) measured at different locations of the CSHs show that intermediate spaces next to the air-wells had significantly lower air temperature and HI. Cross ventilation through the openings on the walls and air-wells resulted in a significantly lower normalized mean age of air and higher air velocity. The air-well is a suitable passive design strategy to reduce overheating during daytime and to increase cooling of building structure during night-time. The air-well courtyards should be arranged in alignment with the prevailing wind to maximize the cross ventilation and passive cooling.