Natural Ventilation of Indoor Air Temperature: A Case Study of the Traditional Malay House in Penang

Problem statement: It was the aim of the study to analyze the level of performance of natural air ventilation with a case study of the traditional Malay house in Penang, Malaysia. This study provided information on the architectural design in relation to natural air ventilation. It promoted passive design in contrast to most housing design which has poor natural air ventilation because the design was orientated to energy consumption that slightly more than one third of the electric energy was used for heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. Approach: This analysis used quantitative method which measured temperature, humidity and wind speed of the traditional house. The result indicated the level of performance of cross air ventilation and stack effect. Results: The analysis showed that the traditional house has a design integrated with natural air ventilation system. The indoor house temperature and relative humidity had slightly lower than its outdoor area. However, the indoor area had lower wind speed level than the outdoor area. Conclusion: The study showed that maximum openings on the building walls created high air intakes outside the house to give poor performance of stack effect. The design had more emphasis to cross air ventilation.