Architectural heritage interventions often preserve visual form while leaving acoustic memory and everyday sound practices outside the design brief. This article positions soundscape as an architectural material for heritage media architecture and tests it through Sanggar Kungfu Kapasan, a historic Chinese-diaspora kampung in Surabaya, Indonesia. The research combined contextual and soundmark mapping, Pepper’s Ghost prototyping, architectural translation of a semi-transparent virtual layer, and comparative evaluation using 2D visualization and immersive VR. After deduplication, 37 participants evaluated the 2D material, 31 evaluated VR, and 24 completed both modes for within-subject analysis. VR significantly improved perceived physical quality (Δ = +0.46, p = 0.0007, d_z = 0.80), communication quality (Δ = +0.42, p = 0.0218, d_z = 0.50), and overall evaluation (Δ = +0.20, p = 0.0285, d_z = 0.48). Sound-specific VR ratings were positive for place-meaning support (M = 5.87) and scene formation (M = 5.65), and the soundscape design index correlated with communication quality (r = 0.47, p = 0.007). The findings show that soundscape strengthens narrative legibility and architectural fit when deliberately coordinated with visual layering, scene sequencing, and cultural context. The study contributes a soundscape-informed, feng shui-readable workflow for pre-installation evaluation of multisensory heritage interventions. Because the respondent pool was predominantly composed of architecture students, the results are interpreted as a preliminary design-user evaluation rather than community validation.

In the tropical climates of Southeast Asia, the growing reliance on air conditioning (AC) for space cooling not only increases household energy consumption but may also diminish the role of culturally rooted adaptive behaviors such as floor-sitting. This study aims to explore the interaction between climatic factors, including regional and indoor climates, and thermally adaptive behaviors in Indonesian apartments, with a focus on floor-sitting. First, a large-scale questionnaire was conducted to analyze these interactions among different regional climates. Second, in-depth indoor climate measurements and a point-in-time questionnaire were conducted among the residents in the hotter regions. In the hotter regions like Jabodetabek (Jakarta metropolitan area) and Surabaya, floor-sitting was primarily conducted without using AC, often alongside fans in low-rise housing. In the cooler region of Bandung, floor-sitting was a common adaptive behavior with window openings in both high-rise and low-rise buildings. The in-depth measurement showed that low-rise buildings using higher thermal mass materials maintained stable indoor conditions for both air and floor temperatures even in the hotter region. The respondents could obtain coolness and remain thermally comfortable through a floor-sitting posture without using AC, especially when air and floor temperatures were both less than 31 °C. These results demonstrated that floor-sitting is a vital behavior that adapts to regional and indoor climatic conditions in the tropics while achieving thermal comfort and relying less on AC devices.

As an energy-saving technology, the hybrid radiant cooling system combined with an air system has received more attention. Hybrid radiant cooling systems combined with airbox convector units present a viable solution. Dynamic temperature changes of the surface panel must be fully understood on the surface of the radiant cooling panel. This study examines the influence of panel placement and cooling panel areas on ceiling and wall surface temperatures in a tropical apartment. An experimental study was conducted in a scaled low-rise apartment unit with an air change rate ranging from 0.74 to 1.78 ACH. The independent variables focused on panel placement (ceiling, wall, and combined), and panel area (15%, 30%, and 45%), while the dependent variable was surface temperature. Ceiling-only panels moderately decreased temperatures (25.8–26.3°C), while wall-only panels showed lower temperatures (24.7–24.9°C). The combined ceiling-wall configurations exhibited the best performance, with the lowest ceiling panel temperature recorded at 25.2°C and a wall temperature of 23.69°C. Wall panels provided enhanced localized cooling, while ceiling panels reduced heat loads and stabilized thermal distribution. The hybrid radiant cooling system combined with the airbox convector demonstrates significant potential for sustainable indoor thermal comfort in hot-humid tropical apartments.

Vertical voids can enhance the performance of natural ventilation, improving physiological cooling and indoor air quality (IAQ), particularly in boarding houses as shared living spaces. The effect of void design on ventilation is influenced by various design variables, such as the proportion of openings, the void-to-building ratio, the void aspect ratio, and the void’s position within the building. The effects of vertical void towards ventilation efficiency can be improved by modifying these variables. This study investigates the impact of these design variables on ventilation performance through field surveys and microclimate measurements. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the effects of different designs on two boarding houses. The results of the study can be considered in low-rise housing design as a way to improve natural ventilation performance. The findings show that CO2 concentrations remain stable at 400–600 ppm, which is attributed to low occupancy levels and large void volumes, regardless of the void design or air velocity. Airflow as an indicator of physiological cooling varied between day and night, with daytime ventilation being more effective on upper floors due to stronger thermal buoyancy and wind speeds. Nighttime ventilation was less effective, with weaker airflow, especially on the upper floors, affecting physiological cooling. Adjusting the void's aspect ratio can improve natural ventilation performance; narrower voids enhance upward airflow at night, while larger aspect ratios improve ventilation during the day.

A hybrid radiant cooling system is needed as one of the strategies to fulfil indoor thermal comfort and building energy efficiency. The integration of ceiling and wall radiant panels is designed to provide effective cooling through a combination of radiation and convection. The hybrid radiant cooling system combined with the airbox convector is expected to control the surface temperature on each panel. This study aims to examine the performance of surface temperature on wall and ceiling radiant panels through a hybrid radiant cooling system that has been integrated with airbox convector units in low-rise residential units in humid tropical climates to control the risk of condensation. The experimental method was carried out in the chamber of a low-rise apartment unit within closed room conditions. The results showed that the surface temperature on the wall radiant cooling panel was 1,03 – 1,7 °C higher than on the ceiling in the case of combined wall and ceiling panels. The increase of air velocity from the airbox convector unit also affects the increasing effectiveness of convective cooling on the radiant cooling panel so that the surface temperature on each panel can be controlled to prevent or reduce the risk of condensation.