Environmental Prospective of Passive Architecture Design Strategies in Terrace Houses

Conventional terraced houses in Malaysia have deep floor plans which limit natural cross ventilation. Inevitably, certain rooms are subject to solar gain and cause thermal discomfort to occupants who then dependent on mechanical cooling; thus incur high operational energy cost. This paper advocates Passive Architecture (PA) terraced house which design strategies create natural thermal comfort for occupants. The indoor thermal comfort in the two hypothetical schemes, i.e., conventional and PA terraced houses is simulated. The result shows that PA terraced house has a definite environmental prospective to house owner/occupant and offer a positive returns to the developer.