To solve the problem of heat gain due to sun-facing, Big Dutchman uses bricks as a shield as well as a signature of the company’s European origin.

An industrial building cools itself by harnessing natural elements despite sun-facing

By: Yip Wai Fong

In recent years, the use of passive design in buildings has gained traction as the drive to reduce carbon emissions in the local construction industry spread. Broadly defined, passive design is a method of aligning building design, including orientation and choice of materials, with the natural elements such as the weather and sunlight to protect building users from discomfort and to minimise energy consumption that would release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. 

While it is now common for buildings to optimise window positioning and sizes to take advantage of natural daylight and promote cross ventilation, modern architectures with an all-round implementation of passive designs are still far in between in Malaysia and are known only to industry insiders such as architects and engineers. One such example is the headquarters of BD Agriculture (M) Sdn Bhd (known globally as Big Dutchman), located in Bukit Raja, Klang. 

Designed by NWKA Architects, the office cum warehouse encompasses close to 275,000 sq ft on a 20-acre site. It is also the winner of the PAM Gold Award in 2018 and is GBI certified. NWKA principal architect Ng Wai Keong explained that the architecture was anchored on using passive design to solve the issue of heat gain in the building, as the building’s long sides would be directly facing the east and the west, and optimise the advantage of being in the way of the north-east and south-west wind to further cool the building and save on energy consumption. 

The building’s long sides, where the warehouse and entrance are, face the morning and afternoon sun.

“We started to take a great interest in how you can actually develop the environments that we want by using natural energies. Not by doing anything clever but just orienting in the right direction,” he said. 

Using a second skin to shield the building from heat, Ng incorporated bricks, a material commonly known to capture heat, to form the building envelope for the office. As heat is captured on the outside by the bricks, the heat is kept away by the insulation of the inner walls. For ventilation, the office is lifted from the ground, similar to a traditional kampung house, where the underneath is made as a parking area. 

Ingeniously, the warehouse which takes up the most floor area has a wind funnel in the form of a suspended brick wall. It is erected spanning the entire length of the warehouse not only to capture heat but also to catch the north-east and south-west wind, which is then allowed into the warehouse through openings at the top and bottom of the wall. The air in the warehouse is thus circulated by natural cross-ventilation. 

The suspended brick wall serves as both a wind funnel and heat trap for the warehouse, and has narrow and thin windows to reduce heat penetration.

At the east side of the building, where the office is exposed to the morning sun and heat, perforated louvres were installed to moderate the glare while still allowing views of the outside. These are not ordinary louvres but are equipped with sensors and motors to track the sun and open or close accordingly.  

Contrary to many modern building facades with tall and wide windows, the Big Dutchman headquarters facade is lined by narrow and long strips of windows to minimise heat gain.  Nevertheless, the interior is kept bright by way of natural light coming through the central void as well as artificial light. In addition, trees are replanted to help with cooling the temperature as well as to recreate a green landscape.

Ample natural lighting fills the interior through the central void although windows are generally sized narrowly to minimize heat gain.

Ng said that his approach to passive design is simply responding to the environment and using common sense. While acknowledging that most building material results in heat gain, Ng pointed out that there is another way to soften the effect. 

“Concrete (does) gain a lot of heat. So, just get something to shield it, right? And something, hopefully, which is less heat absorbent, so that it dissipates the heat. As a consequence, your buildings are cooler, so it requires less air-cond.

"And hopefully, if you allow enough ventilation, maybe no air-conditioning (will be needed). So instead of fighting against an external environment, you're actually using the external environment for your buildings,” he said, adding that passive design goes beyond construction and is a radical rethinking of day-to-day lifestyle. 

“It is how a building is designed for its users. It can be designed to support recycling, and we’ve seen a building in Bali that facilitates the recycling of 95% of its waste. That’s a great way to optimise our lifestyle.” he said. 

Ng said passive design goes beyond construction and is about a radical rethinking of day-to-day lifestyle.

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