Evaluating the thermal performance of low-income housing in Thailand

This research investigates potential areas for improving the thermal performance of low income, government-provided housing designs in Bangkok, Thailand. In a country that experiences hot and humid temperatures throughout the year, buildings need to be adaptable to the climate in order to improve the thermal comfort of inhabitants. The current housing typologies include a prevalence of high density, low-rise condominiums with a large brick and concrete composition. As an initial step, the performance of the building was determined according to adaptive comfort standards using IES (VE) software. The results from the baseline model were analysed according to the adaptive comfort CIBSE TM52 guidelines. The zones under consideration within the case study housing unit were observed to exceed the acceptable limits of what is deemed appropriate for naturally ventilated buildings. The critical zone of concern is the living room with this zone exceeding the upper limit for overheating by a maximum of 11 hours annually. The main sources of the low thermal performance were identified as resulting from: thermal storage effects, the lack of sufficient natural ventilation through the living zones and excessive heat gains through the roof. The internal operating temperatures of the apartment remain high throughout the day and night, ranging from a maximum of 38.5° to a minimum of 27.3°.