5. Conclusion
This paper describes the results obtained from a questionnaire survey of building’s occupants of a high-rise building towards thermal comfort of landscape gardens. The findings show a significant difference between the three landscape gardens; namely the Sky Court Garden, the Balcony Garden and the Rooftop Garden in terms of numbers of visit. Low usage of landscape gardens was found to be influence by the lack of awareness on the gardens existence, poor accessibility and the lack of attractiveness in garden features. The number of visits to landscape gardens was not influenced by demographic characteristics of the respondents (age, gender, ethnicity, education level). However, the distant of the respondents’ workplaces to landscape gardens have significant relationship with the number of visits. The respondents’ perception and preference towards landscape gardens were then analyzed as to understand the users’ preferences. It is critical to understand people’s perception of landscape gardens as to achieve good design outcome that meet the requirements of users. Although the facilities provided and design of the landscape gardens vary from one another, user’s still use the space for the same main purpose. The study reveals that usage of gardens are mostly to rest, to get fresh air, to enjoy the company of others as well as to enjoy the landscape provided. The next phase of the study, which is currently underway, focuses on fieldwork measurement of thermal comfort parameters (air temperature, humidity, wind velocity and solar radiation) at the three landscape spaces comparing between the wet and dry seasons in Malaysia. Thermal comfort parameters will be analyzed individually to find their contributing factors in influencing thermal comfort of the outdoor landscape areas. The role of vegetation in cooling the areas will be also examined. This study has several limitations. Firstly, the sample obtained from the respondents is small. This is partly due to the fact that the building has not been fully occupied. A more robust analysis requires a bigger sample size. Secondly, the perception study was conducted during the hottest period of the year (February – March) and therefore generalization can only be made in reference to those periods. The study found an overwhelming preference of garden provision in high-rise office environment. Future studies on evaluating psychological well-being should focus on assessing if landscape gardens in such settings help to reduce stress and improve work productivity