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Air pollution is one factor that contributes to serious health issues in developing countries. The Malaysian Environmental Department has measured that particulate matter in urban areas is significantly higher than other parts of the country. Thus, this study aims to assess the current level of indoor and outdoor air quality in a tropical city—Kuala Lumpur; and to understand the relationship between these two environments in high-rise buildings. Through a fieldwork study on two typologies of social housing in the city, particulate matters of PM10 and PM2.5 were found to be the most common substances in indoor and outdoor spaces. The first typology, which employs a compact design with light-wells, recorded a decrease in particulate matter concentrations, whereas the second, which employs atriums in its design, recorded an increase for the same substance. Therefore, a change in the ventilation concept should be implemented to address the problem of indoor air pollution using an integrated hybrid strategy of passive and low energy consumption techniques that should be explored in greater detail in the future.

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The quality of housing for the low-income group in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur, is crucial to improving. Low-income housing design subject to standards by the government has not been satisfactory to the inhabitants' comfort, social and cultural needs. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the quality of space design of the low-income housing living unit by assessing the visibility of each of the spaces in the units using space syntax as an analytical tool. The study found that the low-income housing design has not considered the visual privacy of private spaces (bedrooms) to common spaces (living and dining area). Keywords: Living Units, Low-income Housing, Space Visibility, Space Syntax. eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.3269

A field study of residents’ thermal comfort in a naturally ventilated intermediate single storey terrace house was carried out at Merlimau, Melaka. An intermediate single storey terrace house was chosen as a case study and indoor thermal condition measurements were recorded for three days. The indoor ambient temperature, relative humidity and air speed were measured using on-site monitoring equipment to evaluate the thermal performance of this house. A questionnaire survey was also conducted involving all occupants to determine their thermal comfort perception of the same case study house. The aim of this study is to analyse the indoor thermal condition of an intermediate single storey terrace house in order to propose architectural features to climatically adapt to the local climate. In naturally ventilated condition, results showed that this house is thermally uncomfortable and the indoor thermal condition was between 2.7°C to 5.9°C higher than suggested temperatures stipulated in ASHRAE Standard 55. Consistently, five out of eight occupants or less than 80% of occupants voted the house as thermally acceptable according to ASHRAE Standard 55.