COMPARISON STUDY OF THERMAL COMFORT IN OLD AND NEW HAWKER CENTRES

Abstract

The changing role of hawker centres have brought about renewed attention in this typology. The hawker centres in Singapore can be classified into two different groups, the older generation hawker centres that are constructed before 1985 and the new generation hawker centres which are constructed after 2011. The old generation hawker centres have been going through various upgrading projects such as the hawker centres upgrading programmes (HUP) while the new generation hawker centres were designed and constructed with the aim to improve the vibrancy, design and management. They are also incorporated with the latest system and technology.

This dissertation will present a comparative study of thermal comfort in two hawker centres, namely Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre (BPHC) and Tekka Hawker Centre (THC). The objective is to understand the effectiveness of upgrading programmes such as HUP as compared to constructing new hawker centres in providing a thermal comfort environment. Onsite measurements, surveys and also spot measurements were performed during the field study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were considered as on top of the objective basic thermal comfort parameters, there is also subjective parameters to consider. The collected data were then compared and analysed with the aid of a statistical modelling software. After careful comparison of the difference in thermal comfort environment in the BPHC and THC, BPHC is found to have a better thermal comfort environment. A further investigation was then conducted to find the reasons and propose solutions on how to improve the thermal comfort environment in THC. Following the investigation, internal layout, structure of building and mechanical system layout are some of possible reasons for the poorer thermal comfort in THC.