A critique of the DELIVERY OF HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY

Cardiff University MSc Environmental Design of Buildings EARTH & SOCIETY Autumn Session 2017-2018

A CRITIQUE OF THE DELIVERY OF HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY

ACCOMMODATION -BUILDING SCALE- IN MALAYSIA (DESIGN PHASE)

PREPARED BY: MAHMOUD BGHDADI 14 NOVEMBER 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

PREFACE

II. INTRODUCTION

III. CASE STUDY OF SELANGOR TRADITIONAL MALAY HOUSE & (MEGTW) ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING IN MALAYSIA

- Traditional Malay House - MEGTW building - Building Orientation - Interior Layout Planning - Windows Design and Solar Shading Device - The Stack Effect and Cross Effect of Natural Ventilation

IV. ROLE OF AN ARCHITECT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

V.

INFLUENCE OF AN ARCHITECT IN BUILT ENVIRONMENT

VI. BARRIERS TOWARDS HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY

VII. PROMOTING HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY

VIII.CONCLUSION

IX. REFERENCES - Books - Journal and Magazine - Conference and recorded interview - Web

A Critique of the Delivery of Holistic Sustainability - Mahmoud Bghdadi

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PREFACE Built Environment encompasses a great deal of our everyday life as we engage, hold, live and build our life around it, whether we realize it or not. This engagement is reflected by buildings and structures of which we called, in a broader term, like architecture. Architecture has long been associated with history, tradition, time and place. These preoccupations have been transformed into the built form of a multitude of different ways by centuries of architects.

INTRODUCTION The concept of holistic sustainability has been developed since 1900 besieging different aspects such as politics, economics, and ecological thinking. Once seen as being outside of the design mainstream, sustainable architecture is now the fastest growing segment of the industry. (Yenna Chan, 2004). In terms of development within holistic sustainability, it should be based on equality for it to be compatible with said principles of holistic sustainability, which reveal that poverty, nondevelopment, and political ex-communication, simultaneously wealth and opulence as its antithesis stand in a causal relationship with environmental degradation (Raskin, 1993).

This paper will attempt to discuss this subject matter regarding holistic sustainability and the case studies that represent this topic substantially with regards to holistic sustainability from an architect.

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CASE STUDY OF TRADITIONAL MALAY HOUSE & (MEGTW) ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING IN MALAYSIA. This part of the research aims to study the re-adaptation of Malay house towards sustainable design elements in Selangor’s traditional Malay house into low energy buildings in Malaysia which is the MEGTW building in Putrajaya, Malaysia. I have chosen to explore sustainability within the framework of the residential environment of the Selangor Malay vernacular house to uncover the factors affecting the fundamental aspirations of responsible design with regards to holistic sustainability.

Traditional Malay House The traditional Malay house is a very unique element of Malaysia’s culture and history. The house is designed with a good understanding of the environment, incorporating and reflecting people’s life and culture. In terms of energy saving, indoor environmental qualities, sustainable site surrounding as well as materials and construction used to build the house. It is a perfect traditional architecture of the past that achieved holistic sustainability.

MEGTW building Build as a National Demonstration project that aimed to promote energy efficiency (EE) in buildings. The building is part of a wider program developing Malaysian buildings in EE building design to achieve holistic sustainability. After it was completed, the MEGTW has demonstrated the integration of the best energy-saving measures towards achieving the overall best holistic sustainability building.

Figure 1 The sun orientation and plan of the house A Critique of the Delivery of Holistic Sustainability - Mahmoud Bghdadi

Figure 2 The external view of a Selangor traditional house that reduces the sun’s glare

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Building Orientation Fig. 1 and 2 show the main entrance of traditional Malay house, oriented facing the East. This way of design can minimize the areas exposed to direct solar radiation, thus reducing the heat gain in the building. This intelligent guideline was practiced in vernacular houses construction all over the country in precedent times.

The MEGTW building was planned so that the main entrance faces south to reduce heat gain. A variety of windows were placed to face north and south rather than to face east and west as shown in Fig. 3 and 4 which reduces the sun’s heat from sunrise and sunset. Even though this design does not reflect the design of a traditional Malay house, but the idea to reduce the heat gain during the morning was the same.

Figure 4 The layout of the building

Figure 3 The main entrance to the MEGTW building

Interior Layout Planning: The interior spaces designed to respect the old Malay culture (Fig. 1). It is designed with no wall thus well lit with natural lighting. The front spaces of the house which was ‘Serambi’ and ‘Anjung’ was the space to welcome the guests. The main house which is ‘Rumah Ibu’ was designed with fewer walls to allow natural lighting and ventilation into the indoor spaces.

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The architect of MEGTW building has learnt from traditional Malay house about the interior planning. The interior spaces of MEGTW building was planned based on the importance of space and electrical usage. Fig. 5 shows the main spaces were planned to face the source of natural lighting whereby it is located near the windows.

Infrequently use space was located in the core area of the building. This layout design can save the electrical and artificial light consumption during the day.

Figure 1 The sun orientation and plan of the house

Figure 5 Interior layout planning of the MEGTW building

Windows Design and Solar Shading Device The Traditional Malay houses designed with more windows, pitch roof and hollow carving as fenestration design to gain more natural light as well as to act as a solar shading device. It created more privacy for the occupant. Meanwhile, in the afternoon, the roof and fenestration design shades also reduced the glare from sunlight [Fig.6].

Fig. 7 shows the design of the windows of the MEGTW building. The architect placed the punchhole windows with light shelves to gain more light into interior spaces. The punched hole or eggcrate type of window is used as a solar shading device during the afternoon to reduce heat from direct sunlight as well as to avoid glare. The cues present in the environment, the needs of the clients as well as the personal touch of the architect make the building functional yet a work of art. (susanna sirefman, 2004).

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Figure 7 Window design for the MEGTW building

Figure 6 The cross sectional cut of a Malay traditional house

The Stack Effect and Cross Effect of Natural Ventilation The open interior space and openings allow good ventilation in the Malay house at body level. The hollow wood carving lets more natural ventilation flow into the interior spaces. The roof design traps hot air and pushes it through the air vent under the roof. This intelligent design can decrease the heat in the interior space (Fig. 8).

The MEGTW building was designed with an open atrium in the center of the ground floor area that has void, up to the fifth level. The atrium is to re-adapt the idea of stack effect roof design in a Malay house. As shown in Fig. 9, the atrium pushes off the hot air out from the building through the air vent in the solar chimney.

Figure 8 The Stack Effect diagram of a Selangor Malay house

A Critique of the Delivery of Holistic Sustainability - Mahmoud Bghdadi

Figure 9 The Stack Effect and natural ventilation diagram of a MEGTW building

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ROLE OF AN ARCHITECT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY As the building is a unit of the community, any action or decision made by the architect would definitely have an impact on the respective unit. Every decision that related to holistic sustainability would give impacts to any experience that the users had within the premises. This gives the architect a sense of control of what goes where and who feels what. Such responsibility can be fundamentally part of the process to stimulate the building’s movement from a ‘weak’ to a ‘strong’ sustainable approach. One of the simplest logical approaches by architects are striving for selfsufficiency. Cutting down total project cost smartly especially for excessive items while working with honesty and moral integrity, behave with morality, and abstain from all greed (Chaipattana Foundation, 1999) are also a part of inculcating holistic sustainability into a project as a whole.

As architects also gain necessary knowledge from user involvement to ensure that their design or planning will meet intended objectives in many effective ways, (Wates & Knevitt, 1987) architects must keep updated with the latest researches and technologies on sustainable design. As members of a community, architects have to communicate with many people as they meet, talk, trade, provide or obtain services and become involved with others.

In the design and construction process, architects have to work with other professionals, such as engineers, specialists, developers, and builders which further helps during the collection of data and responses from users of the building on how effective the architect’s design is and what improvement should be done in the future.

Hence, architects should improve and keep updated with their knowledge about newer strategies for sustainable design and construction methods. They should know how to gather relevant information for environmental and cultural considerations. (Lord, 2001; Roaf et al., 2004; Van der Voordt & Van Wegen, 2005).

Because no matter what, at the end of the day, in the creation of a sustainable community, the primary principle should be designed with the people and for the places (McLennan, 2004; Van der Ryn & Cowan, 1996).

Fortunately, architects have begun to incorporate sustainable elements into high-density urban dwellings. Design such as Balmori Associates’ vegetated roof on the Solitaire Building in Manhattan, which helps alleviates problems of pollution, lack of porous drainage surfaces and the urban heat island effect, provide more than a rare encounter with nature in the city. (Yenna Chan, 2004)

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INFLUENCE OF AN ARCHITECT IN BUILT ENVIRONMENT As far as the influence that any designer in built environment or an architect specifically faces to produce a sustainable design, it can go as far as making the planning, form and materials of the building to be as sustainable as possible. The architect’s role is central to the building design process. The most energy efficient and environmentally friendly building must also be functional, durable and aesthetically pleasing. This comes through the act of convincing clients and educating them while sharing knowledge about holistic sustainability in order to implement holistic sustainability in the project.

An architect can always opt to use local materials and techniques indigenous to the site of the project to maintain sustainability. New materials and technologies based on renewable resources offer improved building performances. Availability of materials should be used to achieve holistic sustainability But some of the factors such as non optimal condition of the sites or locations that requires extra cost and reinforcement as well as outdated government rules and policies that may lacking the incentives for architects, not to mention some cultural conflicts in communities may go against producing sustainable design and approach.

Undeniably, increased public awareness of environmental problems which coincides with a movement away from formalist architecture theories, has created advantages conditions for sustainable design.

BARRIERS TOWARDS HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY

For example, based on the research published by the Canadian Centre of Science and Education on the Malaysian building industry, important barriers to this industry have been identified. The findings suggest that government roles especially incentive instruments such as structural incentives, subsidy and rebate program, tax incentive scheme, low-interest mortgage loan, voluntary rating. system and market and technology assistance are the significant drives for eliminating barriers to green building development and holistic sustainability as a whole.

Sustainable development requires that communities be self-sufficient, that people's control over their own lives is increased, and that the social and cultural identity and decision-making capacities of communities be maintained and strengthened (International Union, 1989). The barriers that stand between built environment practitioners and holistic sustainability are as follows;

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•

Lacks of building codes and regulation

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Lack of incentives

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Higher investment cost

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Risk of investment

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Higher final price

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Lack of credit resources to cover up front cost

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Lack of public awareness

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Lack of demand

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Lack of strategy to promote green building

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Lack of professional knowledge

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Lack of database and information

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Lack of technology

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Lack of government support

Based on my experience as an assistant architect working for a multidisciplinary firm in Malaysia, the barrier comes in an intricate form of a domino effect in the practice. This usually starts with the lack of public awareness and demand for a sustainable design that usually triggered by the misconception that sustainable design comes with a higher final price. Thus, will usually put the project at a higher investment cost and risk.

To make matters worse, I found out that the lack of suitable building codes and regulation as well as government supports for sustainable approach can only mean that within the built environment community, there is a large gap of professional knowledge and lack of expertise in design and construction team fit for the task for sustainable design.

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PROMOTING HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY This is why I truly believe that government support, as well as public awareness, are essential in ensuring holistic sustainability can be practice as a whole. Only with government support through their policies and incentives such as credit resources to cover up the front cost for the developers and contractors as well as a well-planned strategy to promote green building to the masses can this hope comes true.

For now, as an architect, holistic environmental sustainability can be implemented through designing and planning of the development. Such as, consider the sun path and how it would affect the spaces and the activities in that space.

Hot and Humid conditions like the country where I used to practice, natural ventilation is highly recommended. Hence, studying the wind direction and the opening would help to increase natural ventilation and decrease energy consumption. Sustainable development is possible only if the limits of nature's capacity for regeneration are respected. This principle implies a necessary reduction of economic growth within nature's limits and capacity for self-regeneration. Thus, to achieve ecological sustainability, respect for the limits of nature should become a moral obligation and a responsibility of all human beings (International Union, 1989).

Most of the residential projects I have worked with, we tried to implement the solar panels as a renewable energy source for the units. The most difficult part about applying solar energy is that we have a hard time convincing the client about it. Most of the clients would not agree to use this mechanism because of the high cost that would be added to the budget. Calculations and feasibility studies should be shown to the client to help them better understand the benefit of using sustainable devices to proceed with the design or construction. Practices such as prefabrication and modular assembly not only promotes affordability but improves building performance in the areas of safety, durability and material strength.

This is based on the concept that development should be based on equality to be compatible with the principles of a holistic understanding of sustainability, which implies that poverty, underdevelopment, and political deprivation, as well as wealth and opulence as its antithesis, stand in a causal relationship with environmental degradation (Raskin, 1993).

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CONCLUSION Sustainable living should appeal to people at the most concrete level of their lives, bearing on common concerns of health, comfort, and utility while invoking altruism (Yenna Chan, 2004). What has been mentioned beforehand, is an example of one part in a holistic sustainability model. This shows the very basic principle that dealt with the retrospect of the community’s conditions and manners and the equality of the system of nature.

To put it in simpler words, the ethical intent of well being of the inhabitant and the conservation of the environment is what makes sustainable design ‘holistic’. True sustainable development would redefine all our life products in the past and the present, in order to provide better human conditions for the next future generations while architects are able to create environmentally mindful structures while maintaining rigorous design inquiries into the usual matters of form, space, and dwelling.

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REFERENCES Books; 1. Lord, L. (2001). Postoccupancy evaluation. In AIA, The architect’s handbook of professional practice (pp. 688-692). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

2. Choi, C. (2009). Removing Market Barriers to Green Development: Principles and Action Projects to Promote Widespread Adoption of Green Development Practices. JOSRE, (pp.

107-138).

3. Cuello. (1997). Holistic Approach to Ideal of Sustainability. Phil & Tech Publication.

4. Wates, N., & Knevitt, C. (1987). Community architecture: How people are creating their own environment. London: Penguin Books.

5. McLennan, J. F. (2004). The philosophy of sustainable design: The future of architecture.

Kansas City, MO: Ecotone.

6. Yenna, C. (2004). Contemporary design detail. Sustainable Environments. Rockport Publisher Inc. 7. Susanna, S (2007). Whereabouts, New architecture with local identities. The Monacelli Press Inc. USA 8. Roy, A.K., A.R. Mahmood, O. Balslev-Olesen, S. Lojuntin, and C.K. Tang, (2005). Low Energy Office Building in Putrajaya, Malaysia: Case Study and Innovations.

9. Lim, J.Y., (1987). The Malay House: Rediscovering Malaysia’s Indigenous Shelter System.

Institut Masyarakat, Kuala Lumpur.

Journal and Magazine; 1. Raskin, P. 1993. "Sustentabilidad y equidad." El Centro para Nuestro Futuro Comun (September).

2. Mitcham, Carl. 1991. "The Vision of Sustainable Development: Origins and Questions."

Unpublished manuscript. STS Program, Pennsylvania State University.

3. Sanusi Hassan, A., 2001. Towards Sustainable Housing Construction in Southeast Asia.

Journal of Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries, First Discussion Document. Rotterdam, Netherland. In-House Publishing, Pp. 1-17.

4. Modern Applied Science; Vol. 7, No. 2; 2013 ISSN 1913-1844 E-ISSN 1913-1852 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education.

5. MS1525:2001, 1989. Code of Ethics, Manual Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Ministry of Energy, Green Technology & Water (MEGTW).

Conference and recorded interviews; 1. Che Amat, S. and M.S. Abd. Rashid, 2009. An Analysis of the Traditional Malay Architecture as Indicators for Sustainability: An Introduction to its Genius Loci. Proceedings of Arte-Polis 3rd International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place, Bandung, Indonesia.

2. Nordin, T.E., H.N. Husin, and K.S. Kamal, 2005. Climatic Design Feature in the Traditional Malay House for Ventilation Purpose. Proceedings of International Seminar Malay Architecture as Lingua Franca, 22-23 June 2005, Jakarta, Indonesia, Pp.41-48.

Web; 1. Chaipattana Foundation. (1999). Self-sufficient economy. The Chaipattana Foundation Journal, August 1999. Retrieved May 23, 2003, from: http://www.chaipat.or.th/journal/ aug99/thai/self.html.

A Critique of the Delivery of Holistic Sustainability - Mahmoud Bghdadi