Why Is the Attic Ventilation Disappearing from the Current Urban Houses in the Humid Tropics?

Abstract

The construction of a townhouse built today no longer has roof vents, compared to colonial buildings as well as traditional architecture scattered in humid tropics. In Indonesia, many buildings are made with a zinc roof, even in North Sulawesi province 92 percent of zinc roofed buildings or metal aluminum. This article has two purposes, the first is to assess the benefits of attic ventilation, especially for zinc roofed buildings and the second is to find out why the ventilation loft is no longer used to present buildings. Research by building two same test cells where one cell has roof vents, and the other cell does not. The test cell with ventilated roofs has the advantage that the interior temperatures are lower on average by 1.2 ∘C than those in a cell without ventilation. Almost all buildings today have a modern and minimalist style where the shape and pattern are delicate and do not allow for roof ventilation; such structures cannot form adequate attic spaces. Based on observation and evaluation, this is the leading cause of the disappearing of attic ventilation. Another thing was caused by efforts to reduce the selling price of a house with consideration of people’s purchasing power. Ignorance from building owners and developers on the benefits of attic ventilation to reduce room temperature and lighting is one of the factors found in this study; even this problem is made worse by architects who often ignore these benefits in their designs. Comprehensive knowledge is needed for the general public and also for architects for the use of roof ventilation which in turn is an effort to achieve thermal comfort and energy savings in the domestic sector

Keywords: attic ventilation, urban houses, modern and minimalist style, thermal comfort, energy savings, humid tropical regions