While green-certified high-rise residential buildings in the tropics utilize design strategies to enhance energy efficiency, a significant performance gap often exists between design intent and actual performance. This study investigates the adaptive thermal comfort through environmental monitoring of two green-certified residential buildings with distinct urban morphologies in Malaysia which are Sky Residences in Kedah and Parc3 in Kuala Lumpur. Microclimatic parameters were logged using DeltaOHM and HOBO data logger to evaluate compliance with the ASHRAE Standard 55 adaptive comfort model. This research introduces a mathematical sensitivity analysis of operative temperature (T o ) and quantifies convective heat transfer coefficients (h con ) across the vertical elevation of the high-rise buildings. Findings reveal a significant gradient in vertical convective heat transfer, with h con increasing by 127% (from 4.19 to 9.53 W/m 2 K) between Level 6 and Level 32. A critical technical result demonstrates that T o is approximately 35% more sensitive to air velocity fluctuations than to ambient temperature changes in tropical microclimates. Furthermore, inducing air movement using mechanical fan is found to be 3.5 times more effective than envelope insulation for achieving 90% comfort compliance. Based on these data, the study proposes the Height-Adjusted Adaptive Comfort (HAAC) framework, identifying a "Breakthrough Zone" above Level 20 where natural ventilation bypasses urban roughness to become the dominant cooling driver. These results suggest that current 2D envelope-based green standards are insufficient for 3D vertical structures. The HAAC framework provides a parametric roadmap for optimizing the synergy between passive design and mechanical buffering in high-density tropical cities.
Kiet et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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