Investigation on environmental adaptation of traditional lifestyle in the tropical city housing

Abstract

Under the settings of the occupant population growth, higher building, and transportation masses, traditional house in a tropical climate are not designed as a consequence of the optimal model in rural environments with improved air circulation and lower noise source as original types in the past. Those conditions take consequences on occupational adaptation, physically and psychologically. The study intended to analyze the occupant's sensitivity and adaptation of heat and noise environments. The tropical environment, which is represented by geographical altitude, lowland, and upland, was taken as study location. The number of surviving traditional houses was 19 houses as the representative numbers, both lowland and upland areas, with 71 occupants as the respondents. The thermometer and sound level meter instruments were set at occupant reference height and used to obtain the simultaneously results with an interview. The result emphasized that psychologically, the environmental settings result in accumulative effects on votes, different altitudes, and urban growth results in different thermal votes and noise preferences. The occupant indices are not significant factors. However, males are the most sensitive in higher conditions, and females have the lowest noise preference for comfort. The close the building aperture is the most frequently used as a passive method for noise regulator, while it is also flexible in combining with heat control.