The increased demand for artificial cooling through the use of air conditioning units in order to provide comfort would also mean increased energy usage and increased electricity cost to the
occupants in a hot and humid climate like that of Malaysia. Cooling by natural ventilation and passive cooling is a good energy conserving design strategy to improve the indoor thermal comfort and air quality in a tropical country like Malaysia, which has high daytime temperatures of 29–34 1C and relative humidity of 70–90% throughout the year. With good air movement, the occupants can be more comfortable at higher temperatures and humidity than in still air conditions. Most of the present and past designers and architects do not give enough consideration to the air flow and structural control in their design, either due to lack of understanding and research in this area, or that they are more concerned with the esthetic value of the building rather than the occupants’ comfort. As a result, massive air-conditioning systems are installed to correct ill-designed buildings. In addition, the air-
conditioning systems are installed simply by using the size of rooms as the main criteria, resulting in systems that are over-sized, thereby leading to wastage of energy.