ICCEA-2019-050

THREE STORIED TERRACE HOUSES WITH AN INSULATED ROOFTOP FOR

TROPICAL CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
M.M.N. Madurangi 1*, M.T.R. Jayasinghe 2
1Departmentof Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda.
2Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda
*Correspondence E-mail:nimnamadu.manage@gmail.com TP: +94702085461
Abstract: With the growing population, there can be seen many developments in the
construction field in recent times. People tend to move to the city areas seeking more facilities.
However, this has been very difficult due to the high cost of land and construction. Although
high-rise residential buildings (apartments) may seem to be a good solution, being an Asian
country, most of the middle-class people are reluctant to live in these apartments due to cultural
and social problems related to congested life. Therefore, to maximize the effective use of urban
and suburban land, while providing private garden space for each house, a three storied terraced
housing with an insulated rooftop that will allow the creation of a garden at rooftop level will be
a winning option. The main advantage of such terrace housing is that it is ability to satisfy all the
relevant building regulations applicable to create liveable houses with a land area of less than
100m2 per house (or less than 4 perch). Thus, when the land prices are very high, still it is possible
to keep the overall costs lower since only a relatively smaller land area is now required to have a
comfortably large house with a roof top garden. The roof top garden can allow regaining the
land lost for the footprint of the house and hence can be considered as an attractive option. In this
paper, the desirable concepts that can be followed to create thermally comfortable free running
occupied spaces is described by considering the salient points of a warm humid tropical climates
with low diurnal temperature variations. The various passive features that can be incorporated
to various types of terrace housing also have been discussed in detail. Since Sri Lanka is having
many variations of tropical climatic conditions varying from warm wet, warm dry and tropical
uplands, such a development could provide a representative sample of possibilities that could
occur in the tropical belt of the world in counties located on either side of the equator.
Keywords: terraced housing; passive features; cyclone resistant rooftop, insulated rooftop
1. Introduction Scarcity of land is a prominent problem in
tropical countries including Sri Lanka.
Being a developing country, Sri Lanka is
making its way to a developed country with Therefore, price of lands has risen up in
significant amounts, making it unaffordable
improvements in almost every sector.
to buy a house near urban areas.
Therefore, infrastructure facilities are
developed in all parts of the country. This Terraced housing can be introduced as a
happens very rapidly in urban areas, solution for the above problem since it
including Colombo. This scenario has caused consumes relatively less space than isolated
a strong tendency in the public to move houses. It was originally introduced by the
towards urban and suburban areas, which British around 1970s. Terraced houses
has resulted in huge increase in dominate the housing supply in the urban
constructions in these areas. These areas of Malaysia, which is a tropical country
constructions have increased the having similar climatic conditions with Sri
temperature of the outdoor environment Lanka. (Zaiton Abdul Rahim and Ahmad
causing discomfort to the public and most Hariza Hashim, 2011) With the optimization
significantly, energy demand has increased of materials and adaptation of passive
in considerable amounts due to air techniques to reduce lifetime operational
conditioning and other cooling techniques cost, terraced house will be an attractive
adopted in the buildings. Therefore, when alternative to tropical countries, since it gives
considering the residential sector, it is very a private garden space for each house for an
important to use passive techniques to affordable price unlike in apartments.
improve the quality of housing.
2. Objectives
ICCEA-2019-050
The objective of this research is to assess the
feasibility of three storied terraced housing
for tropical climatic conditions and explore
ways to make the house disaster resistant in
a cost-effective manner.
3. Adaptation of terraced housing to tropical
climatic conditions
The tropical climate is defined as a warm
climate in which mean annual temperatures
exceed 200 C except at high elevations.
(Trewin, 2014) The main features of the
tropical climate are the high humidity
throughout the year and the low
temperature fluctuations. It also includes
heavy rainfall which is very useful in
vegetation.
In low altitudes (i.e. below 300m) of the
tropical region, the designers should plan
there designs in order to minimize heat gains
while maximising natural ventilation and
structural cooling. (A.I.Jayawardane,
M.T.R.Jayasinghe, R.A.Attalage, 2001). As
mentioned by Halwatura and Jayasinghe
(2008), (R.U.Halwatura, M.T.R.Jaysinghe,
2008) temperatures up to 340 C -350 C can be
tolerated in free running buildings with
sufficient ventilation in tropical climate
conditions. Therefore, three storied terraced
housing could be designed to have sufficient
thermal comfort without air conditioning,
with the proper adaptation of passive
techniques, thus, saving a lot of energy.
As found by Jayawardane and Jayasinghe
(2001), (A.I.Jayawardane, M.T.R.Jayasinghe,
R.A.Attalage, 2001) three storied housing
units can make better use of passive concepts
than single or two storied houses with
equivalent floor area. Single storey houses
constructed close to each other does not get
much use of the natural breeze as the wind
tends to blow over them. (Mohan, 1989) But,
a multi storey house can act as a barrier to
wind, effectively increasing the surface air
pressure, which will force air through the
building.
Apart from the given facts, tropical region
includes some of the communities which are
most vulnerable to disasters such as cyclones
and floods etc. (Trewin, 2014). Therefore,
possible features must be adapted to the
houses in order to make them disaster
resistant to the capable extent. Jayawardane
et al. (2001) have found that the runoff from
the roof of a three storied house will be only
about 40% of the runoff from a single storey
house of the similar floor area. Therefore,
three storey houses decrease the possibility
of flash floods. (A.I.Jayawardane,
M.T.R.Jayasinghe, R.A.Attalage, 2001)
Furthermore, cyclonic conditions can easily
affect most of the roofing materials. This
issue can be addressed using a reinforced
concrete slab, which will be discussed later in
this paper.
4. Incorporation of passive techniques
According to Yilmaz (2007), (Z.Yilmaz, 2007)
the most important design parameters which
affect the indoor thermal comfort and energy
conservation in buildings can be stated as
site and orientation of the building, building
form and optical and thermo physical
properties of the building etc. From the given
parameters, orientation is the prominent
consideration in the planning and design of
the terraced housing.
Placing the building in the correct
orientation can make a huge difference in
terms of thermal comfort. When a single unit
of a terraced housing scheme is considered,
only two sides can have openings, since the
other two sides are connected with the
adjacent houses as common walls. Therefore,
the sides connected with adjacent houses has
enough insulation and heat gain from those
sides will be almost zero except for the two
corner units.
According to Jayasinghe and Chamindalal
(1997), the walls facing North and South can
be effectively protected in Sri Lanka with
shading devices. The use of shading devices
to reduce heat gain is least effective in walls
facing West since the angle of incidence
reduces as the sunsets with little reduction in
intensity of solar radiation. Given the facts, it
is concluded that, for buildings in Sri Lanka,
it is advisable to minimize the area of wall
facing the East and West which could be
achieved by having the longitudinal axis of
the building parallel to east-west direction.
(M.T.R.Jayasinghe, C.S.Lewangamage, 1997)
ICCEA-2019-050
In another study done for tropical climate by
La Roche et al. , it is found that buildings in
tropical countries must avoid large openings
on the east and west where it receives
approximately twice amount of radiation in
compare to north and south elevation. (Pablo
Miguel La Roche, Carlos Quiros, Gaudy
Bravo, 2001)
This scenario can be made use by facing the
walls with openings of the terraced housing
scheme to South and North directions. The
given figure shows the orientation of a
properly oriented terraced housing scheme,
in Sri Lanka, to reduce heat gains.
Figure 1: Proper orientation of the land plot
Therefore, the shape of the land is a crucial
factor when considering terraced housing.
This can be made use to decrease operational
energy of the building in significant
amounts.
In a terraced house, there are some
considerable limitations in obtaining natural
lighting and ventilation, as we can only have
openings in two sides, unlike in detached
houses. Introducing courtyards will be a
winning solution for this issue. A courtyard
can improve the natural ventilation of a
house. It is far better with multi-storey
houses since the courtyard can be shared at
different levels. The courtyard can enhance
natural ventilation. Furthermore, the
windows around the courtyard can be kept
open in the night time as well, without any
security or privacy concern.
(A.I.Jayawardane, M.T.R.Jayasinghe,
R.A.Attalage, 2001) This will enhance
structural cooling of the house.
Apart from the given facts, Jayasinghe et al.
have shown that, indoor temperature of a
house can be reduced by applying a lighter
colour (close to white) on exterior surfaces of
the walls. By applying lighter colours, the
amount of absorbed solar radiation can be
decreased, reducing its inwards
transmission into the building.
(M.T.R.Jayasinghe, C.S.Lewangamage, 1997)
A study done by Andrea et al. (2013) (Andrea
Boeri, Jacopo Gaspari, Danila Longo, 2013)
has shown that, applying a new insulation
layer on external wall of a terraced house
from the inside, using dry technologies has
reduced energy demand by 60%. Therefore,
it can also be applied as an effective solution
to reduce energy demand, given that it is
affordable by the communities of tropical
countries.
When the terraced house is designed
following the above passive techniques, the
roof becomes the main component which
transfers heat to the indoors. The ways and
means by which the heat gains to the house
through the roof can be reduced are
discussed in the next paragraphs.
5. Cyclone resistant insulated roof slab
In tropical countries, concrete is the most
popular construction material unlike in
countries like UK and USA. According to
Halwatura (2008), the main reasons for this
are the existence of termite infected belt in
Asian region which can affect timber in high
humidity and availability and cost
effectiveness of natural resources which are
needed for concrete. (R.U.Halwatura,
M.T.R.Jaysinghe, 2008) Therefore, there is a
great opportunity for the tropical countries
to use reinforced concrete for slabs as well as
for roofing. Including reinforced concrete as
roofing material makes the roof heavy, thus
making it resistant to cyclones.
But, the disadvantage of using concrete slab
for roofing instead of clay tiles or light
weight roofing materials in tropical climate
is, it absorbs a large amount of heat and
transmits to indoors which causes thermal
discomfort for the residents. Since roof slab
is directly exposed to sun, it transmits heat
and a high soffit temperature is achieved.
Then, the soffit will act as a heated body and
it will emit long wave radiation towards the
occupants. Also, this may cause
serviceability problems which may appear as
cracks. (R.U.Halwatura, M.T.R.Jayasinghe,
ICCEA-2019-050
2009) Therefore, the roof slab has to be
insulated. According to a study done by
Halwatura et al. (2008), it has been found
that, the reflective insulation mounted on 25
mm insulation can reduce the heat transfer
through the roof drastically. Furthermore, it
has been found that, indoor thermal comfort
can be further increased by increasing the
thickness of the insulation layer.
(R.U.Halwatura, M.T.R.Jaysinghe, 2008) A
figure of a typical insulation for a concrete
slab, given by Halwatura et al. is given
below.
Figure 2: insulated roof slab
500mm*500mm insulation panels will be
provided with 40mm separation. This 40mm
gap will be filled with concrete, so that
concrete can be supported while having an
insulation layer in the middle. The initial
capital cost of the insulated roof slab will be
easily recovered from its benefits when
considering the life cycle cost. Also, it is
shown that a tropical cyclone is unlikely to
cause any damage to an insulated roof slab
due to its weight. (R.U.Halwatura,
M.T.R.Jayasinghe, 2009)
By giving access to the rooftop, the roof slab
can be used as a rooftop garden, to regain the
land lost to the building footprint, while
providing a significant cooling environment
to the indoors.
6. Vegetation on roof slab
As Luxmoore et al.(2005) have mentioned,
(D.A.Luxmoore, M.T.R.Jayasinghe,
M.Mahendran, 2005) in areas with high
density housing developments, a large
amount of land would be covered with roofs,
paved surfaces and roofs, thus reducing the
space for vegetation, which leads to heat
island effect. As a solution, roof top
gardening could be easily adapted to roof
slabs in terraced housing, thus creating a
greenery cover over the building. It would
have a cooling effect on the surroundings
while cooling the indoor environment of the
building as well. (T.Takakura, S.Kitade,
E.Goto, 2000) (Ekaterini Eumorfopoulou,
Dimitris Aravantinos, 1998) Furthermore,
Onmura et al. (2001) has found that a planted
roof can decrease the temperature beneath it
by 4-50 C. (S.Onmura, M.Matsumoto, S.Hoko,
2001)
Apart from the given facts, there are many
other benefits of rooftop gardening such as
reduction of runoff water, protection of the
roof against mechanic and thermic effects,
absorption of noise and aesthetic benefits as
well. (Cotthem, 2005) (Noorazlina
Kamarulzaman, Siti Zabaidah Hashim,
Hasnan Hashim, Alia Abdullah Saleh, 2014)
Cotthem (2005) also mentions different
methods of rooftop gardening stating the
Sedum roof gardening method as the
simplest and safest method. It doesn't have
any influence on concrete roof floors and it
only needs a thin (3 cm) and light weighted
sandy soil. (Cotthem, 2005) A suitable
method can be selected for the roof
considering the different alternatives with
capabilities.
From the given facts, it is very clear that, air
conditioning will not be needed when
rooftop vegetation is installed along with the
other passive features, thus adding a huge
advantage when considering the life cycle
cost.
Figure 3: Terraced housing with rooftop
vegetation
7. Adapting to building regulations
With the urbanization, in most tropical
countries urban areas are becoming
congested. When considering Sri Lanka, the
building regulations has determined a
ICCEA-2019-050
minimum land extent of 150m2 and
minimum road frontage of 6m for a low rise
building with two or three floors. (plan)
Also, building regulations states that, for low
rise buildings of class A, a rear space of 2.3m
and a front space of 1m (when there are no
building lines) is needed, while the rear
space and front space needed are 3m and 1m
respectively, for a low rise building of class
B. The most prominent advantage of the
discussed terraced house is even after
providing all criteria to satisfy the given
building regulations, a land of area less than
100m2 is needed for a single unit. Once a
7.3m wide road is allowed in front of the
house, to allow for easy movement while
having vehicles parked by the side of the
road, still, the total land usage per house can
be maintained to be less than 125m2 , which is
a very desirable number, with the current
situation of land prices and its scarcity.
Figure 4: land subdivision for terraced
housing
Jayawardane and Jayasinghe
(A.I.Jayawardane, M.T.R.Jayasinghe,
R.A.Attalage, 2001) have proposed a suitable
land subdivision plan for a large housing
scheme, with a minimum plot size of 7 perch.
Similarly, a land subdivision plan which
could be adjusted for three storey terraced
housing is given in Figure 4. (All dimensions
in the figure are given in millimetres.) A land
plot with dimensions 15m×6.5m (97.5m2 in
area) is allocated for a unit. By providing
land subdivision as given, a land plot could
be used very effectively, while allowing
space for vegetation as well.
8. Terraced housing as a cost-effective
Solution
A terraced house is generally targeted by the
middle-class community who cannot afford
single housing units in large land spaces.
Therefore, it is important that, the house is
affordable for the targeted class. As the land
value is already reduced to a reasonable limit
by minimizing the land plot, the attention
should be given for means of reducing cost
of the house in the construction phase, while
having the expected quality. The cost of the
house construction can be divided in terms
of labour cost, material cost, energy cost and
profit taken by the developer. According to a
study done in UK, by Mohd Tobi et al. (A L
Mohd Tobi, S A Omar, Z Yehia, S Al-Ojaili,
A Hashim, O Orhan, 2018), while 52% of the
construction cost of house contributes to the
labour cost, another 37% is consumed for
materials, less than 1% is spent on the energy
cost and the remaining is parted as the profit
taken by the construction company. It is
known that, a higher fraction of the cost in
construction is used for labour in Sri Lanka
as well. Therefore, this is more or less, the
same scenario for tropical countries.
Accordingly, the construction cost can be
reduced in a considerable amount, if the cost
for labour and materials can be reduced.
Alternative materials and methods which
would use less labour and raw materials
should be investigated, rather than using
conventional construction materials.
EPS based light weight concrete panels
which have a very low density in the range
of 650kg/m3 -750 kg/m3 are such an
emerging alternative in the construction
field. These has been used successfully as
partition walls and load bearing walls in
single and double storied houses. (Fernando
P., Jayasinghe M., Jayasinghe C., 2016)
Mounting the panels uses far less labour than
ICCEA-2019-050
brick construction and the material
consumption reduces as it uses recycled EPS
as a raw material. Furthermore, using EPS
panels of 150mm thickness will be
structurally feasible for terraced housing as
it has an additional advantage because of the
small span. Since the maximum width of a
housing unit will be in the range of 6-7m,
NERD slab system could be used as there
would be short spans of about 3-4m
maximum, enabling the wall panels to bear
the loads. Therefore, if structurally feasible,
EPS based lightweight concrete wall panels
will be a cost-effective alternative, to be used
as load bearing walls in terraced housing.
Various means of reducing operational
energy of terraced house by incorporating
passive features, thus decreasing life cycle
Figure 5: alternative layout 1 for three storied terraced housing.
cost of a terraced house, were discussed in
previous paragraphs. But, in real life
situations, the users of the building could
make a difference in energy consumption by
various day to day practices. (Hasim Altan ,
Nicola Gasperini , Sam Moshaver and
Antonio Frattari , 2015)
A few examples for layouts of terraced
housing with the 3D view, which are
designed following the given parameters are
shown in figures 5,6,7 and 8. Functionality of
the spaces is improved by allocating ground
floor for family members and visitors during
daytime, first floor for family members’
bedrooms and second floor for infrequent
users such as visitors’ bedroom. The front
view of a selected terraced housing scheme is
depicted in figure 9.
ICCEA-2019-050

Figure 6: alternative layout 2 with a courtyard for three storied terraced housing.

Figure 7: alternative layout 3 with a courtyard for three storied terraced housing

Figure 8: 3D views of three layouts

ICCEA-2019-050
Figure 9: Front view of the terraced housing scheme (alternative layout 1)
9. Conclusion
Considering the given facts, it can be
concluded that three storied terraced
housing can be successfully adapted for a
tropical country like Sri Lanka. It will
provide solution for land scarcity in densely
populated areas, while providing an
aesthetically pleasing appearance.
A single unit of terraced house will consume
a very less amount of land of about 100m2
while achieving all the building regulations.
This can be considered as a big advantage,
given the increasing land prices and land
scarcity. The land lost due to building
footprint could even be regained, by
providing access to the rooftop and having a
rooftop garden which would add more value
to the land.
Passive features such as shading devices,
courtyards and large openings can be
successfully adapted to terraced housing
thus, reducing the energy demand. Thermal
comfort levels can be maintained in
allowable levels, by providing insulated roof
slab along with the other passive features.
This insulated reinforced concrete roof slab
will assure cyclone resistance for the
buildings in tropical region.
Rooftop vegetation is also a significant
aspect, which can be adopted in terraced
housing. The heat island effect in urban
surroundings will be reduced, while
providing a cooler environment to the inside
of the building.
By incorporating cost effective construction
materials and methods such as EPS
lightweight loadbearing wall panels, three
storied terraced houses can be presented to
the public as an attractive affordable housing
option with a comfortable living space for a
reasonable price.
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