REHVA 14th HVAC World Congress

22nd – 25th May, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Thermal Comfort in Old Traditional Shophouses in Ho

Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hung Thanh Dang a
aDepartment of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,
[email protected]

Abstract. Cooling is the main requirement for occupant thermal satisfaction in buildings in warm
to hot climates across much of the year. This is especially true in naturally ventilated housing, for
example, in traditional houses of the tropics, which distinctive passive cooling design strategies
including shading, natural ventilation, convective cooling, and light structure optimised to
respond to the hot climate and retain the comfortable indoor environment. Thus, energy
consumption can be reduced. Those effects are also found in traditional dwellings in Vietnam, in
particular, traditional vernacular shophouses in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). However, due to the
accumulative pressures of changing society, economy, and urban environment in the city, getting
thermal comfort indoors has become difficult. The interplay between building, people,
management, and comfort is usually complex in the towns preserving the values of the urban and
architectural heritage of the city. The quality of traditional vernacular buildings has been
degraded while local people desire comfortable living conditions and spatial expansion for the
family extension. The paper aims to examine the building and urban characteristics of old
traditional shophouses and their comfortable environment in Cho Lon town, HCMC, in which, a
large number of traditional dwellings are reported. A case study built in the early 1900s on Trieu
Quang Phuc street will be selected for analysing architectural features before and after
renovation in 2007. Consequently, the indoor environmental impact due to the change of building
features will be investigated. The problems of discomfort, renovation, and preservation will be
explained. Then, some recommendations in design will be proposed to help
designers/stakeholders renovate traditional shophouses toward achieving comfort, preserving
vernacular architecture, saving energy, and getting occupant delight. The research techniques
included field visits and numerical analyses to understand long-term environmental
performances in such case studies and the effect of proposed design solutions.

Keywords: traditional shophouses, thermal comfort, indoor environment, Ho Chi Minh City.

1. Introduction and the interference of many architectural styles,

such as Southern China, Chinese mixed with French,
Over 300 years of history, Cho Lon town in the heart Indochina, and Vietnamese Tropical Modernism [2].
of district 5, HCMC has been a specially attractive Amongst them, the number of old traditional
land, which is mixed with multi-cultures including shophouse dwellings and their values for the
indigenous Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, and French architectural system of Saigon are dominant (Fig. 1).
[1]. The development of Cho Lon has been attached
to the whole history of Saigon (which is a former
name of HCMC used before 1975). In 1679, the first
Chinese people coming from southern China settled
in Saigon and built up Minh Huong commune – the
precursor of current Cho Lon. The contribution of
Cho Lon and the Chinese community to the cultural Fig 1 - Cho Lon in 1900 (a), Cho Lon in 1906 (b), Cho
and economic profile of the city is significant, in Lon in 1950 (c) (Source: Manh Hai, 2010)
particular, architecture. An extravagant collection of
diverse and distinct buildings is found around the As previously mentioned, under the increasing
town with various typologies (residence, retail, impacts of climate change, uncontrollable
apartment, school, temple, and community house) urbanisation, and population extension, the pleasant
environment inside old traditional shophouses has The annual average relative humidity is about 77%.
been highly vulnerable, which links to inhabitants’ Particularly in the rainy months, humidity is at 75 -
discomfort subsequently the need for renovation of 80% on many days and sometimes peaks at 100%,
their houses and installation of air-conditioners to whilst the air might be drier in the first four months.
retain thermal comfort. Additionally, less effective HCMC is in a climatic zone that has a high annual
heritage management currently results in not only average rainfall - about 1949mm per year, 90% of
the loss of original architectural features of which is in the rainy season. Therefore, in
traditional buildings but unachievable comfort. The architecture design, climatic responsive strategies
present study examines the environmental are vital to allow benefits of natural conditions inside
performance and the comfort level in the old houses and to protect from harmful influences of
traditional shophouses in HCMC, Vietnam through climate.
two typical housing cases found in Cho Lon including
House No. 111 built on Trieu Quang Phuc Street in
the 1920s and renovated in 2007. Some research
3. Old traditional shophouse
steps were developed to achieve the aim. Firstly, the dwellings in Cho Lon
architectural characteristics of those dwellings
before and after renovation were investigated by Shophouses are a popular residential style in Cho
field observations. Especially, the responsive Lon with direct access to the street or alley. They are
climatic design solutions applied to it were analysed. owned by individuals or rented by businessmen.
Secondly, the room thermal environment in the Overall, their plot is a rectangle with a narrow width
dwellings was evaluated by using computational of 3 - 4 meters and a length of 18 - 20 meters [2].
analysis of the TAS software program. The
comparison of environmental consequences
between original and renovated houses was carried
out. This action helps the author understand the
influence of building envelop and less rational
changes to it without concerns about vernacular
architectural values on the low degree of comfort
indoors. Finally, different cases of building
improvement were proposed and tested with
environmental impacts, and then, the analytical
results were compared together in order to find out
the best design option for the thermal satisfaction of
occupants inside.

2. Location
The latitude and Azimuth of HCMC are 10.47°N and
106.4°E which highlights the tropical climate of
southern Vietnam with two distinctive seasons: the
dry season (December- April) and the rainy season
(May-November) [3]. Its high level of average
temperature and distinction of two seasons in a year
significantly influence landscape and architecture.
Because of the huge impacts of solar radiation, the
temperature in HCMC is usually at a high level. The
average temperature in HCMC is around 27°C and the Fig 3 - Shape of plots, street houses on Trieu Quang
average minimum temperature is over 20°C. Phuc Street

The land is divided into a narrow plot to get as many

street-front façades (for shops) as possible. Street (or
sidewalk) and terrace play a role as communal
spaces. Generally, most shophouses are two or three-
storey terrace houses. At ground level, the front
room is a commercial area, the kitchen and services
are behind transverse walls, the stair is organised in
the middle of the house. The family’s living space is
accommodated on the upper floors [2]. Most of these
rooms are organized along a long corridor. It is very
Fig 2 - The climatic characteristics in HCMC (Source: narrow and dark; its width is just enough for one
Science, 2009) person. In almost every Vietnamese household, the
altar is a very sacred place where people worship
In the South of Vietnam, the highest temperature of their ancestors and a religious figure such as Buddha.
the year occurs in the dry season from March to May. The altar is often placed at a high point facing the
street or an alley on the highest floor. Another The comfortable conditions indoor the case study
“Fortunate God” altar is normally positioned on the through TAS were compared and assessed according
ground floor facing the main entrance. Since most to the national standard TCVN 9411:2012 for
families in Cho Lon are business owners, altars are designing rowhouses in Vietnam. Referring to that,
very important not only to their religious beliefs but the limit of thermal comfort is from 22 to 28°C and
to their trade. its wider range between 20 and 29°C is acceptable
[4].
Figure 4 shows a typical spatial section of the
traditional shophouse in Cho Lon. On the building 5. Case studies
envelope, elements such as openings (windows,
doors, and wall apertures), overhangs, and House No. 111 Trieu Quang Phuc Street was
louvres/shutters/screens are applied to protect constructed in the 1920s and brings similarities in
interior spaces from direct sunlight and rainfall while size and land shape, style of architecture and type of
maintaining natural ventilation and daylight. business among ancient houses in Cho Lon. The
interior was renovated entirely in 2007 because of
the need for family extension and improving living
quality. The original facade is retained despite
material alteration. This is a popular trend
happening with the adjacent ancient shophouses on
this street (Fig. 5). The height of some houses rises to
four or five floors and buildings have a big volume.
The appearance of the new modern houses in the
ancient town affects the general appearance of
architecture in this area.

Fig 4 - A typical section of the ancient shophouses in Cho

Lon (A - Roof overhang, B - Outer wooden shutters, C -
Above windows + lattice wood screen, D - Low partition Fig 5 - Site plan, context and functionary section of
walls) house 111 Trieu Quang Phuc Street

4. Research methods 5.1 Building layout

In this study, the application of different analytical The interior of this house was rebuilt entirely.
tools helped researchers to understand the According to the owners, the original house of two
daylighting control and thermal comfort inside the floors was replaced by a house of two floors, a
house with individual architectural elements. Three mezzanine and a terrace. The total floor area has a
methods are applied: capacity of 7 people.

• Photos and drafts, initial observations of the

luminous and ventilative environment in rooms
were drawn. Moreover, the climatic responsive
design of the house is explained more.

• Three-dimensional computer simulations

such as Ecotect and Radiance are used to assume
daylight distribution in the building. The simulation
is tested in overcast sky conditions as the worst
scenario.

• Assessment of thermal environment inside

the house was conducted by Thermal Analysis
Simulation (TAS) in conditions of hot humid tropical
climate in Vietnam: no heating and use of natural
ventilation. This quantitative analysis illustrates the
thermal performance of each room tested in different
cases. Finally, a range of architectural modifications
will be applied to improve the current thermal
environment.
 windows. The lighting penetration at 8:00 am is fine
the sunlight in early mornings can reach all floors. At
10:00 am, the sunlight is cut off at the mezzanine and
goes deep into the shop space. The roof overhang on
the second floor starts to block out sunlight. This
means that the direct light cannot penetrate inside
the house after 10:00 am in all summer solstice,
equinox and winter solstice except for shop. At noon,
the sun is on the top. So, heat protection from the top
is very important.

Fig 6 - Floor plans and section of House No.111

On the ground floor, the front room is a shop and the

only entrance. The service rooms and stairs are
positioned in the middle of the floor. A small living
room is organised on this floor like a multi-function
room - a public room, a place of motorbike parking at
night and one of two altar rooms. The kitchen is Fig 8 - Diagrams showing penetration and sun shading
minimised at the back of the house to leave a larger on facade hourly and seasonally
space for the dining room.
Through additional sunlight, the luminous
On the mezzanine, the layout is very simple with a environment of the lower spaces can be improved.
large family room in the front and a master bedroom The rooms on each floor towards the staircase open
behind the staircase. The toilet is located at the end a sliding window to collect daylight in the courtyard.
corner of the bedroom to leave space for a bed. On Thus, the luminous environment becomes better.
the second floor, due to the preservation of the
ancient building envelope, the attic space was turned
into three bedrooms. The front bedroom is also a
mixed-use room: bedroom and altar. The bedrooms
are connected by a narrow passageway. The
expanded upper second floor is a terrace being used
for storage and washing area and is being accessed
by the iron stairs.

5.2 Environmental strategies

With most shophouses in Saigon, collecting outside
daylight through side windows is very popular.
However, the constraint of narrow frontage and a
deep site plan is a reason for the glooming
environment of middle rooms. The facade width and
row housing typology also lead to few opportunities
for side opening, even when the rooms are exposed
to an open area of the neighbour. To increase light
coming into the back of house 111, the envelope is
pierced by windows casually in size, type and
fenestration (Fig. 7).

Fig 9 - Stack effect at daytime and night in house 111

Fig 7 - Windows on the back wall of bedrooms 1 and 2
of the house and on the facade looked from outside and In crowded urban development, the effectiveness of
inside of house 111 wind effects can meet difficulties. A solution to
natural ventilation is the stack effect. If the stack
In the specific context of house 111, windows on the effect can work, it can generate a moderate air
east façade are constrained. This also requires that exchange, but not a noticeable air velocity through
the design of openings is attached to a design of the spaces [5]. In house 111, the use of stack
shading elements. Unfortunately, the outer wooden ventilation and cross ventilation will control air
shutters in the old house were also replaced by glass movement better. The maintenance of moving air is
to provide a balance of moisture in the air and cause Among the eight rooms, four have daylight factor is
a cooling effect as heat is removed from the body by satisfied with a suggested minimum level of CIBSE
convection and evaporation, especially in the dry Guide A (2006) – at least 1.5% for the bedroom and
seasons. 2% for the living room. The daylight distribution of
most rooms is even, whilst the luminous
The effect of natural ventilation by the staircase is environment of bedroom 4 and shop is perceived as
different during the daytime and at night. During the bright and over bright with DF of 6.3% and 9.08%.
diurnal time, the air near the ground is burned Although these rooms only welcome daylight during
rapidly, so the temperature here is also much higher diurnal except in the early morning, the use of
and the relative humidity is lower than in upper inappropriate finished materials and shading devices
zones [6]. This means that the air on top of the court is the reason for excessive penetration of daylight.
is cooler and the relative humidity here is also better. Over brightness means the number of heat absorbed
This can produce a downdraft. As a result, heat input by solar radiation is extreme.
in each room is dissipated [7].
In contrast, the light level of the kitchen, dining room
In contrast, at night, the air moves the opposite and family room is the worst. The results for the two
direction. The warmer air by the staircase will rise spaces are DF-1.12% for the kitchen and dining room
and be replaced at the bottom of the stack by cooler and DF-1.83% for the family room. Artificial light is
outside air. Especially, at nighttime, preservation of used regularly in the kitchen. Even if the full curtain
the air exchange and air velocity inside the house and wall in the front of the family room is designed to
through spaces is that the fenestration of openings collect daylight as a secondary light adjacent space,
should be deliberated because of security, rainwater. this room still uses artificial light at certain times of
In house 111, to maintain the cross ventilation the day.
between rooms and staircase, sliding windows,
doors and louvres upper room doors are organized 6.2 Thermal performance
on sidewalls.
The thermal performance of the spaces is
investigated by TAS simulations. The model was
6. Indoor comfort made based on the architectural forms, detailed
construction, Ho Chi Minh weather condition and
6.1 Daylighting performance building aperture types of house 111 Trieu Quang
In this section, Ecotect Analysis 2011 and Radiance Phuc Street. There are two cases - with and without
software will show the daylight level of each room. natural ventilation which are examined to explain
These results will be evaluated with the the impacts of the building envelope and natural
requirements of CIBSE Comfort (2006). The daylight ventilation on the internal thermal environment.
environment of all rooms is investigated in the worst
condition – 12:00 pm under a cloudy sky in the
winter.

Fig 11 - Thermal performance in two cases - base case

(above): without ventilation, case 1 (below): with
Fig 10 - Daylight distribution of all rooms in the existing ventilation
house 111
Both cases are tested on the hottest day: day 185 (4th
of July), at 12:00 pm. The external condition on the
testing day is 31.5°C and 65% relative humidity. This building envelope and budget. This means that the
condition is hot and out of the comfort zone. There proposed ways of renovation will minimise
are some same patterns of thermal performance in demolition of the existing house but still ensure an
both cases. The rooms on the ground floor are cooler increase of comfort for occupants.
and the ones facing the roof directly are hotter. A
concrete slab on the ground floor will provide a For example, the renovation of the current house 111
desirable heat sink for daytime rooms (living room, is a typical scenario for ancient street houses in Cho
kitchen and dining room). Additionally, the impacts Lon. To explain the results of each solution different
of the sun from the top are also prevented case scenarios will be introduced:
significantly in rooms in lower zones. So, indoor
temperatures are close to the day’s minimum [5].

Fig 14 – Base case

Base case: Indicates the current envelope: the

Fig 12 - Frequency of thermal comfort state of house No.
window is a single-glazing aluminium frame,
111– Base case
external/internal brick walls are 200mm and
100mm thick. The exterior doors/windows are
As observed from the above graph, in the base case,
closed (Fig. 14).
the conditions of the internal space are within
comfort temperatures for about 40% of the time of
Case 1: Same as Base case, but the exteriors windows
the year. For the rooms on lower floors, total
and entrance doors are opened on schedule. The
comfortable are greater (Fig. 12). In case 1, the
result is that the thermal performance of the whole
thermal comfort is improved in all rooms. The
house may be changed. (Tested above) (Fig. 15).
frequency has stayed at 50%. Looking closer into the
shop zone; the internal condition in case 1 is reduced
slightly from the base case. Generally, natural
ventilation shows a good strategy for expanding the
thermal comfort zones of the internal spaces (Fig.
13).

Fig 15 – Case 1

Case 2: as in Case 1, additional internal insulation is

applied to external walls which are exposed to the
sun. In the climatic condition of HCMC, the amount of
solar radiation by horizontal and vertical exposure is
Fig 13 - Frequency of thermal comfort state of house high. This way, the building envelope can protect
No. 111– Case 1 from heat absorption and reduce the mean radiant
temperature.
7. Design proposal
Case 3: as in Case 2, back to a traditional way, the
From analyses of the advantages and disadvantages glass windows on the east facade are replaced by
of house 111, seeking appropriate solutions to wooden shutter windows for purposes of natural
optimise the living condition in terms of ventilation and prevention of burning by the sun. A
environmental factors in the ancient street houses narrow and long opening organised the door of
will be based on requirements of preservation of bedroom 4 plays a role as an outlet on the leeward
side to increase air movement from the outside. Heat Case 6: as in Case 5: the layouts in the back of the
gain from the top down to this room is relieved better house including kitchen and dining room, bedroom 1
(Fig. 16). and bedroom 2 is organised spatially: a void goes
through from the ground floor to the roof; the
windows of bedrooms and bathrooms are open to
this void. The messy windows on the west wall are
removed. A small nice green space is designed to
bring spatial delight. The result is that the daylight
and thermal environment of these rooms is changed
(Fig. 19).

Fig 16 – Case 3

Case 4: as in Case 3, in Vietnam, the sun’s position is

nearly at its peak and it radiates heat strongest in the
middle of the day. The addition of overhead shading
devices of rooflight not only ensures the effect of
stack ventilation but also prevents direct sunlight
partially. For this strategy, the height of shading bars
Fig 19 – Case 6
needs to be considered to optimise the penetration of
sunlight. The result is that the daylight and thermal
The step-by-step application of possible solutions
environment is changed (Fig. 17).
shows an improvement of thermal comfort in house
111. Although there are some strategies which are
Case 5: as Case 4: for the family room and bedroom
only appropriate with some rooms, the achieved
3, they are facing poor conditions of light and
results are generally proved. In the above graph, the
ventilation. The solid walls exposing the staircase are
thermal performance in case 6 is the greatest in all
transferred by a full-height screen of wooden vertical
cases with 4 solutions applied to increase internal
louvres. One of two glazing curtain walls in the front
living conditions. Particularly, the sixth step brings
of the mezzanine is taken out to bring tidiness to this
an impressive result for rooms at the back of the
room. The result is that the daylight and thermal
house: kitchen, bedroom 1 and bedroom 2. Their
environment of both rooms is changed (Fig. 18).
thermal condition increases more the 15% from the
base case and more than 5% in Case 1. The
appearance of another courtyard in the corner of the
house introduces an opportunity to increase air
convection and the effectiveness of both cross and
stack ventilation, while categories of security and
privacy are still ensured. In all cases 1-5, the annual
total hours with comfort in the shop are stable. This
best condition is achieved when the shop is closed
and direct sunlight is kept out of the house while the
low airflow is still preserved by an upper opening of
the entrance door.

Fig 17 – Case 4

Fig 20 - Comparison in the percentage of thermally

comfortable hours in different rooms between six cases

In the final scenario the internal daylight levels are

Fig 18 – Case 5 numerically greater and the daylight distribution
more even by applying solutions 3 to 6. The luminous personal aspects. The success of renovation and
environment of all rooms is perceived as well-lit and conservation will require simultaneous contribution
meets the minimum requirement of CIBSE Guide A from urban managers, architects, conservation
except for the shop. experts and occupants.

In conclusion, the renovation of house 111 in 2007 References

has improved the house significantly in terms of
living spaces and utilities, there are still some [1] H. Nguyen, "Saigon Architecture," Literature, Art
problems of privacy and security of the bedrooms. and Architecture, pp. 89-92, 2006.
From an environmental point of view, the opening of
[2] T. M. Nguyen, "Maintainance of diversity in
the skylight at the staircase brings many benefits to
architecture of Cho Lon Town, Saigon," HCMC
occupants both in terms of daylight and thermal
University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh, 2004.
comfort which disappears in the existing ancient
street houses on Trieu Quang Phuc Street. Through [3] I. o. Science, Vietnam building code natural
the proposed design solutions, the internal thermal physical & Climatic data for construction, Hanoi:
condition is also improved gradually and the greatest Construction Register, 2009.
result can be achieved in case 6. The solutions are [4] VIAP., TCXDVN 9411:2012 Rowhouses - Design
deliberately chosen in for them, low budget and the Standards, Hanoi: Ministry of Construction, 2012.
required preservation of the ancient town. [5] S. V. Szokolay, Introduction to architectural
science: The basic of sustainable design, Oxford:
Architectural Press, 2004.
[6] D. N. Pham, The solution for climatic architecture
in Vietnam, Hanoi: Construction publisher, 1998.
[7] G. Brown and M. Dekay, Sun, light and wind:
Architectural design strategies, New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2000.
[8] CIBSE, Comfort, London: Chartered Institution of
BUilding Services Engineers, 2006.
[9] CIBSE, Environmental Design: CIBSE Guide A,
London: Chartered Institution of Building Services
Engineers, 2006.
Fig 21 - Climatic responsive design of house 111 in
the renovated case in daytime

8. Conclusion
Trieu Quang Phuc Street is one of the central roads in
Cho Lon in the past and present. This place has an
important value of history, culture and architecture
in Saigon. One of the architectural identities in this
area is shopouses which are facing challenges of the
free renovation, urbanisation, modernisation and
lack of awareness of local people even when they
wish to live and keep their values of lifestyle,
architecture and local culture [2]. The turbulent
renovation has started in 1975 and has become an
obvious need due to family expansions,
improvement of living quality and the poor existing
construction of the ancient dwellings. The special
context of the ancient town will require strict
regulations for renovation in preservation and
development. The design strategies used in these
dwellings, balance explaining how the exterior
environment affected the occupants living in hot-
humid climatic regions without artificial conditions.

Generally, the renovation proposal needs to fulfil

environmental strategies and also the requirements
of preservation in an ancient town as well as the
needs of occupants. As mentioned above, it is clear
that thermal comfort is influenced by many factors
including design strategies, materials, exterior
environment, lifestyle, activities of occupants and