Book Description

Climate Conscious Low-Energy Tropical Built Environment is a welcome addition to the knowledge on green and sustainable architecture. Both the authors shared their vast knowledge and experience on low-energy and passive solar design. The approach is on the technology adapted and applied to ‘welcoming the sun’ as well as to ‘rejecting the sun’, with the emphasis on the passive elements design. As the world now is facing the rapid increase of population, the architects need to consider the future path of the built environment. A good knowledge in low-energy built environment in order to sustain the well-being of the earth is essential, before considering on the aspects of mechanical components. This book is written in a clear and engaging style to suit all readers, the architecture and built environment students and professions as well as readers in general. As there are many books on this topic, but none emphasize the context of tropical climate. This is the first book on the low-energy built environment within the context of tropical climate. Abdul Malek Abdul Rahman was interested in indoor thermal comfort while researching his PhD topic on “Design for Natural Ventilation in Low-Cost Housing in Tropical Climate”. With a firm belief that to be thermally comfortable without mechanical aids in tropical climates, one should be under shade and receiving ample air movement concurrently, which is not naturally possible. Therefore, he sets out for further researches, literatures and acute observations on this issue. With university research funds, he investigated in hypothesis and experimented on low-cost cooling technologies, attended and read books and references on related topics. Equipped with reliable cameras, he captured ideas and happenings spontaneously to confirm his conviction. He believes that in order to re-examine the philosophy of energy efficient architectural design, one has to detach oneself from architecture and to understand other related disciplines (mechanical engineering, to be exact) in order to value add and upgrade the architecture towards sustainability. He finds the future is very challenging on this issue as population increase is real and that when left uncheck would affect the comfort of human psyche. Technology now is the solution and research must include latest technology available during the particular time of change. Karam Mustafa Al-Obaidi has interest in architectural design systems specifically in the tropics. He focuses on dynamic environment in relation with surroundings. His research is towards energy and how it influences the architectural form. With university research funds, he implemented experimental investigation to obtain reliable examination of the built environment. The future of architecture in terms of technology is challenging in this tropical region. He finds that understanding energy in both consumption and efficiency is limited due to the climatic constraints. Therefore, he believes that creating a platform to integrate related disciplines could provide solutions regarding the issue of energy efficiency. In his opinion, nature is the main source of inspiration, thus designing models that respond to tropical environment could provide comfort and durability for users and buildings.