Understanding Thermal Stress in Urban Housing: A Resident-Based Study of Mid-Rise Apartments in Lahore

Abstract

The notion of thermal comfort has become one of the hot environmental and architectural issues in fast-city growing and climatically strained urban environments, the South Asian one being Lahore, Pakistan. This research paper examines the thermal comfort levels in a midrise residential building in Lahore based on the overall analysis of occupant responses and experiences. A systematic survey was carried out on the residents to appreciate their views regarding indoor thermal environments, comfort levels, and coping mechanisms implemented to cope with heat stress in apartment areas. The findings also show that thermal discomfort is a widespread and ongoing issue among residents and cooling energy is about 55-60 percent of the total yearly household energy use. Interestingly, the results indicate that not demographic factors (age and gender) or floor locations are significantly linked to dissatisfaction with thermal conditions, and thermal discomfort can be regarded as a systemic issue, though not behavioral. The inconclusive response analysis reveals that building orientation has a strong impact on perceived thermal conditions. Occupants of apartments which faced the west experienced much more heat gain and discomfort in the afternoon hours, as compared to those occupying east-facing apartments. The responses to the survey, also, indicate the presence of apparent differences in thermal experience in the building in various vertical levels. The people, who lived on higher levels, complained that there was too much heat in the room, whereas those, who lived on lower levels, often had some problems with the lack of ventilation and humidity in the room. Another gap that is also found by the study is the perceived solutions of the occupants like using mechanical cooling more often, as compared to the wider need of architecture systems that are responsive to climate. All in all, the results are that thermal discomfort in mid-rise residential buildings in Lahore is mostly prompted by the intensive climate, poor facade orientation, inadequate integration of passive design, and inadequate account of vertical environmental change. These lessons underscore the need to integrate the occupant feedback into the initial stages of residential building development to realize more reactive, energy efficient, and climate adaptive housing conditions.