(Passive Design Strategies for Indoor Comfort in Mosque: A Case Study of UKM Mosque)

It is important to maintain the interior thermal comfort of a mosque to ensure visitors are comfortable for worshipping activities. Usually, traditional mosques use passive design strategies to maintain interior thermal comfort. However, many modern mosques depend on air conditioning to ensure indoor thermal comfort. This leads to high energy use and being not sustainable. Therefore, an understanding of passive design is important to reduce dependency on air conditioners that require high energy. The objective of this study is to investigae the internal temperature of a selected mosque that uses natural ventilation as a strategy to maintain the indoor thermal comfort. The main research method is to measure the temperature and the humidity of the selected mosque. The main method is supported by literature review study and site observation several selected mosques. The selested mosque for measurement is the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Mosque. Equipment calibration process is completed prior to measurement to ensure it is accurate. Observation at site found that the UKMMosque uses various design strategies to achieve internal thermal comfort such as having large overflow spaces as well as high and open ceiling spaces. The study found that the temperaturse inside the mosque are between 28.9 degrees C and 31.7 degrees C. The study also found that the prayer hall on the groundfloor is cooler than the main prayer hall on the first floor. The recorded range of temperature also proved that the indoor thermal comfort of the mosque can be achieved by providing ceiling fans with appropriate wind speeds. The findings show that the mosques'passive design strategies successfully maintain the indoor thermal comfort of the mosque without the need for air conditioning system. It is hoped that the findings of this study can be used as a general reference by designers in designing sustainable modern mosques.