Thermal Comfort in Naturally Ventilated Apartments in Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract This study aims to investigate the detailed thermal environments in apartments of Surabaya, Indonesia and discuss their potential passive cooling strategies. Major thermal parameters, vertical distribution of air temperature and surface temperature of walls/ceiling were measured in one of the representative units of three types of apartments respectively, under different natural ventilation conditions. The results revealed that the unit in the old public apartment showed better thermal environments compared to those in the other two apartments. It is very difficult to achieve thermal comfort during most of the day particularly in the new public and private apartments by means of natural ventilation alone. Building orientation, insufficient shading devices, and building materials are some of the factors causing hot conditions particularly in the newly emerging middle-class apartments. Several passive cooling strategies were proposed based on the measurement results.