Reinvigorating local building envelope for translated modern building and changed environment

Different from the past, there is a current higher density of buildings resulted in less horizontal ventilation. However, a high-density environment still provides an opportunity to control solar radiation by providing shading, both at the site and on the building scale. Traditional buildings have climate as form modifier. Social and cultural aspects influence the building and as consequences the local material has also evolved to be part of the modern building in an urban area. This study reinvigorates local material in adapting to the changed environment in Surabaya as the lowland area and Malang as the highland area because of the availability of the survival building in the largest city. The field study was undertaken to identify and to evaluate the real conditions of a building envelope surface by daily measurements. An infrared thermometer was used for field measurements of the surface temperature with an additional check for the moisture content of the material with a moisture meter and solar radiation with a solar power meter for surroundings condition. Results of this study revealed that the lowland house had better material performance in controlling the climate by reducing the extreme condition than highland performance. The overhang and terrace as transitional space were able to reduce the number significantly, more than 1500 W/m ² of daily solar radiation. In general, the problems of tropical houses were due to not only the frequency of receiving of solar radiation penetration but also the insufficient site shading to the building material.