ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THERMAL COMFORT CONDITION AND WORSHIPPERS' SATISFACTION IN TIMBER AND CONCRETE OF SUBURBAN RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

Human thermal comfort is the paramount target to achieve the satisfaction of the occupation and users of the building. The frequency of use in the Malaysian religious building, known as mosque, changes daily in different hours and intervals. The first objective of this study is to compare the thermal comfort condition between timber and concrete religious building. The second objective is to analyze the relationship between thermal comfort and worshippers' perception level in the religious building. A questionnaire survey and case study was conducted at various religious buildings in suburban area of Kelantan, Malaysia. The 476 closed structured questionnaires have been given out, and a total of 173 surveys have been achieved. The answers have statically analyzed by using SPSS Version 23.0: descriptive analysis (mean ranking) and multiple regression analysis. The result shows that majority of the respondents have chosen the concrete mosque as their preference to perform prayer instead of timber mosque. It is hoped that this study will give benefit for worshippers towards thermal comfort to achieve the thermally comfortable environment in mosques building.