Naturally ventilated colonial school classrooms in Malaysia are conducive to learning environment

The study is intended to evaluate the comfort level of learning environment in three naturally ventilated colonial schools in Malaysia through the voice of students aged between 13 and 17. This study focuses on the influence of the colonial school classrooms physical environment towards the students...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sanusi, Aliyah Nur Zafirah, Azmin, Aida Kesuma, Abdullah, Fadzidah, Kassim, Mohd Hisyammudin
Format: Article
Language:English
English
English
Published: American Scientific Publisher 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/1/FADZIDAH%20ALLYA%20ASL%20COLONIAL.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/7/56897_%20Naturally%20ventilated_MYRA.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/56897/8/56897_%20Naturally%20ventilated_SCOPUS.pdf
Description
Summary:The study is intended to evaluate the comfort level of learning environment in three naturally ventilated colonial schools in Malaysia through the voice of students aged between 13 and 17. This study focuses on the influence of the colonial school classrooms physical environment towards the students’ comfort and behaviour. The research has two objectives: To evaluate post-occupancy comfort level and behavior in the naturally ventilated colonial schools and to suggest design elements that could improve the comfort level of a school classroom. Observations and investigations were conducted in three colonial schools; Victoria Institution, Methodist Girls Secondary School and Maxwell Secondary School in the morning session, between 7:45a.m. and 1:00p.m.. Survey questionnaires were distributed to one classroom of each school and simultaneously, an inventory of each classroom physical environment was recorded. It was found that the observed classroom differs slightly in the window-to-wall ratio, window size and occupancy density, which have an impact on the indoor environment and the students’ comfort and behaviour. From the survey results, among the three schools, the students in the Methodist Girls Secondary School are mostly comfortable throughout the morning session. In conclusion, several design elements, which can be adopted from the architecture of the colonial period, that make them conducive to learning environment are window-to-wall ratio, window sizes and occupancy density.