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Orientation is one of the important factors in building design to use daylight and ‎conserve energy. Well-orientated buildings maximise daylight reception through ‎building facades and reduce the need for artificial lighting. Reasonable daylighting usage in office buildings is an important part of an architect’s designing process, which leads to lesser electricity consumption as well as providing a visual and thermal comfort for the occupants. Orientation is an important factor in passive design strategies. This paper focuses on the orientation effect on daylighting into office rooms. The research method of this study was simulation which is performed on a hypothetical model on a 25 storey high-rise office building in Malaysia. All simulations were carried out in the IES-VE software that uses RADIANCE program for illuminance calculations. To evaluate the daylight in various conditions, a new index SAZ was introduced which assesses daylight factor (DF) and absolute Lux. Results showed similar SAZ in CIE overcast sky in various orientations; whereas, in sunny sky due to sun path in Malaysia, different results showed northern and southern rooms have the best illuminance distribution. However, the similar window form and size in four orientations lead to more energy consumption for artificial lighting and cooling loads.

In order to prolong the life of the old buildings in the country through building conservation practices, there is a tendency by the government to acquire and reuse Malaysian leadership figures’ residential buildings as memorials. However, it raises the question of whether there is any adaptive reuse guidelines to reuse historic residential buildings in Malaysia as national memorials in maintaining those buildings as an exhibition space on the history of their leadership. The absence of guidelines raises questions about how to implement the process accordingly. The objective of this research is to find the best formula for reusing historic residential buildings as national memorials based on that issue by reviewing and identify the principles of adaptive reuse practices of historic residential buildings as national memorials that implemented in Malaysia. The case studies were conducted on three samples of historic residential buildings that reused as national memorials and those buildings were selected based on a list of the study population, which are Rumah Kelahiran Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (The Birthplace of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad), Rumah Merdeka (Freedom House) and Memorial Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba (The Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba Memorial). The sample may be determined by the sampling method and evaluated using the checklist provided. Based on the results of the case studies that were analyzed and discussed, it can be concluded that aspects of building code (local) requirements as well as environmental and conservation requirements are not met in implementing adaptive reuse process on historic residential buildings to national memorials which needs suggestions for improvement.

Passive design concepts as a strategy for achieving energy efficiency as well as optimum indoor thermal comfort in workspaces are being increasingly applied with the increased awareness of Green Buildings. The challenging task for the building designers in the hot-humid tropics is the provision of indoor thermal comfort for the occupants of the building while reducing energy consumption in the office spaces. Acoustic quality is also an important element in ensuring a healthy working environment. One of the aims of a green building is to minimise its impact on health and performance of the occupants of the building. This has been emphasized in most green building rating systems under requirements for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), highlighting the four main points for achieving an improved indoor environment, viz., indoor air quality, acoustics, visual comfort (lighting) and thermal comfort. Although acoustics was mentioned in the IEQ criteria, according to previous surveys and studies acoustic quality in green buildings are not improving. Acoustics performance is bound to be relegated unless it is considered early in design stage. This paper makes an attempt at how green building design strategies contribute to the degradation of acoustical environment in green office buildings. The design strategies implemented to cater for green building requirements such as provision of natural ventilation, daylight, reduction of finishes and office layout leads to an unintended decrease in the acoustical quality. This needs to be addressed and corrected by the building professionals.

Malay wood carving has been identified as one of the most important element in Malay Traditional Architecture. The application of this special element has its own philosophy and its purpose was meant to enrich the architecture character values. Issues are currently raised that the application of the Malay wood carving on contemporary architecture in Malaysia has ignored its unique original concept and philosophy. This indicate that the development of Malay Wood Carving requires attention and need more encouragement in order to catch up with the vast development of architecture in Malaysia, and overcome the problem of introducing more meaningful Malay wood carving in contemporary architecture building. A research has been conducted to investigate the thread of the development and application of Malay wood carving in contemporary architecture based on case study of a five star hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

In this study, the aesthetic design approach of architectural precedents of Safavid Architecture was examined based on users' perceptions, which were obtained by using perception questionnaire instrument. The research method included concurrent qualitative and quantitative analyses of data. Data analysis procedure was conducted through descriptive statistical analysis and by sorting thematic information for Initial categories, which were defined by the theoretical foundation. The researchers found that users' perceptions fell into two distinct groups. The first: structural honesty, expressions, identity, design feature, interaction as design values in the sense of aesthetic. The second: design principle, design concept, characteristic, minimalism, and style as an attribute. Such findings revealed how Safavid architectural concepts were aesthetically integrated into the diversity aspects of its architectural precedents.

Three residential colleges located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were selected for energy performance analysis in regards to its implementation of bioclimatic design strategies. Specifically, passive design strategies on daylighting and natural ventilation were examined. In Malaysia, the residential college or hostel is a multi-residential building providing accommodation to university students. The three residential colleges in this study, namely C1, C2 and C3, were built in different years with different designs and forms, particularly with regards to enclosure and facade design, solar control devices, passive daylight concepts, and natural ventilation strategies. The building designs were carefully studied and an electric consumption analysis was carried out in each residential college. This study revealed that the wide-scale implementation of bioclimatic design strategies in college C2 help reduced the annual energy consumption. The building bioclimatic design features that are accountable to reduce energy consumption are the internal courtyard and balconies on each unit of floor area, as shown in C3.Results from this study highly recommend internal courtyard and balcony building combination for multi residential building design, especially in tropical urban regions.

With the increase of human population there has been an evident increase in per capita automobile use and ownership, significantly to a point that almost every urban university campus faces serious challenges from the heavy traffic movement as well as the associated parking shortages. Multiple factors, including lack of land for new parking lots, high cost of building parking structures and the desire to preserve the air quality and campus green spaces are leading many educational institutions towards a new vision based upon expanded transit access, better bicycle and pedestrian facilities and financial incentives for students and staff to drive less. (Toor and Havlick, 2004) This is in stark contrast to the traditional approach to campus transportation planning of the University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that allows students, staff and visitors to drive in the campus. The objective of this study is to investigate the related issues and environmental impact of allowing automobile driving in the campus. Studies will also be done to analyse the relationship between university campus planning and traffic condition. Air quality and noise pollution data of 3 selected sites in the campus will be recorded. Subsequently, the air pollutant index and noise pollution level will be identified and data analyses will be done on the data samples. Simultaneously, a survey questionnaire will be conducted to gauge the student’s attitude and degree of awareness with air and noise pollution in the campus. This pilot study reveals that the increasing use of automobiles within the campus has a negative impact on local environment and the quality of life in campus

The paper presents the results of a study on internal design of Malaysian mosques from a typological way of research. Specifically it will look at the form and spatial variety which leads to the functionality of interior space. Orientation of mosques is taken into serious consideration because the prostration activity for Muslims is performed while facing the 'qibla' towards the Ka'bah in Mecca, where the unity of the religion can be seen during the congregational prayers. Apart from that, this typoiogical research will also show clearly the evolution of mosque architecture from the beginning of Islamic embracement in Malaysia. From there, classification of types of mosque design will be defined by analyzing the inner spatial composition and not just by looking at the external built forms. As a result, it is hoped that this paper will help innovate design solutions to the mosque designers and to Muslims who will be using the facility . The typological index produced in this paper will help the present and future generation to learn history through the trend of mosques design evaluation that is shown in the classified images.

Office lighting is vital for energy savings and occupant’s visual comfort being. Energy efficient lighting has been studied extensively in the aspect of daylighting harvesting and task ambient lighting, predominantly in Temperate developed countries. However, the lack of evident on the effectiveness of low ambient task lighting in the Tropics has prompted this paper to investigate the practicality of such lighting design for the Tropics. This paper explores into the office occupant’s mood and preferences of low ambient daylight and usage of task light for the office in the Tropics. It also discusses the recorded work plane illumination level upon the usage of such lighting system. It studies the impact of such lighting design on people’s preference, work plane illumination for three office spaces with the different luminous environment. In regards to the source of ambient lighting, two offices harvest daylight, and another uses the conventional overhead lights in accordance with MS1525 recommendations. Three of the offices have 15 samples respectively and the workspace horizontal illuminance level is measured across a month. The results of before and after the provision of task light reveal that the acceptance for low ambient task lighting system and it is widely preferred. However, the task light is not necessary utilized as some people are adapted to do computer work under low ambient lighting (~50-150lux). It shows that people’s preference for work plane illuminance varies greatly. Many agree that they are in control with their personal lighting environment when an appropriate glare-free task light is being used. The paper recommends that office luminous measurement shall take other lighting parameters such as the vertical illuminance and luminance ratio into consideration for future research.