Indoor Thermal Comfort in Modern Mosque of Tropical Climate

Abstract

Purpose The requirement of indoor thermal comfort in building is crucial, including the religious building such as mosque, which accommodates high occupancy level due to the congregational prayer. With this condition, the application of air conditioning system in a mosque is common, especially the modern mosque in hot climate where the layout plan is more complex compared to the vernacular mosque. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate whether the modern mosque design is able to provide the required indoor thermal comfort condition in tropical climate. Design/Methodology/Approach The National University of Malaysia’s mosque was selected for the study. Two research methodologies were conducted concurrently, which were the field measurement and the questionnaire survey. The purpose of conducting these two methods was to compare the indoor thermal condition with the actual thermal sensation and satisfaction of the users. Both methods had been executed for four days, and there were 120 respondents who had participated in the survey. Findings The findings indicated that most users felt neutral thermal sensation only during the morning hours which was at the indoor operative temperature range of 28.5 °C to 30.1 °C. Meanwhile in the afternoon and late afternoon hours, where the indoor operative temperature was more than 30 °C, majority of them felt slightly warm. Despite that, they still voted for neutral or satisfied feeling during the afternoon and the late afternoon hours. Research Limitations/Implications The limitations in the study were the field measurement duration which was four days only and the location of the measuring tool which was at the prayer hall of the first floor level. Originality/Value The findings of this study can be used as a guidance in providing a modern mosque design that has good response to the tropical climate. This study also helps to embark other investigations in the future by using other methodologies such as numerical simulation and experiment.