https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6288 2026-04-08T16:52:25Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6470 Investigating the Thermal Comfort and Well-being of Differently Abled War Veteran’s Housing in Sri Lanka Kudasinghe, KSKNJ; Premarathne, KDHJ; Nawaratne, NMRAT Wellbeing inindoor built environment has become a crucial research topic in relation to thermal comfort which help to improve sustainable builtenvironments. Thus, thermal comfort requirements for humans is a main consideration in building designing.It’s important to consider comfort and wellbeing of people with physical disabilities. Thus, this research was conducted to investigate the indoor environment quality of spaces in relation to the thermal comfort in physically disabled war veterans’ housingin Sri Lankan context.Onfield investigation was carried out to obtain physical measurements of microclimatic parameters of interiors including indoor temperature, relative humidity and air velocity. Secondary data were collected through semi structured interviews. Results explicitly prove through onfield investigations that the mean value of the operative temperature is 32.2°C, which is above the ASHARE 55-2013 standard for comfortable thermal conditions.Mean wind velocity is 0.25m/s, is low, as there is a high operative temperature adequate interior ventilation needs to be provided. The Humphries comfort equation states the required comfort temperature is 28.92°C, the obtained mean operative temperature is more than this comfort temperature, proving the interiors are overheated. Most common adaptive behaviour of the veterans are switching fans on and moving towards open spaces. Results also indicate that there is a psychological link with thermal adaptive behaviour as these veterans opt to remain in free outdoor spaces rather than confined spaces as their battlefields. Thus, this research paper highlights on the thermal conditions needed for interior spaces for disabled war veterans and in the long-run contributing to regulations to add developments to the National Policy on Disability in Sri Lanka 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6469 Investigating the Potential of Utilising Simulation Studies to Identify UHI Mitigatory Strategies in Proposed Cities Gunawardhana, IUK; Rupasinghe, HT Rapid development of urban areas catalyzed the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas. This led for the demand of more dwelling places. Urbanization and industrialization cause for the replacement of permeable land cover into impermeable materials. More solar radiation has been absorbed by impermeable materials as it has thermal bulk properties and cause for the increase of urban temperature. Change of urban microclimate caused the phenomenon identified as urban heat island effect which is identified from the temperature difference between urban and rural area. In Sri Lanka few researches have conducted on UHI effect for developed and existing cities. Identifying potential UHI mitigatory steps is vital when designing urbanities. Therefore, analyzing UHI effect and possible mitigatory strategies for proposed cities through simulation studies are highly beneficial in developing sustainable cities. The research focused on investigating the potential of utilizing simulation studies to identify UHI mitigatory steps for proposed cities in local context. Rhino 3D simulation software was utilized for the study. The paper presents the results of initial studies conducted. Research methods and workflow developed through the study can be utilized to evaluate the UHI effect, mean radiant temperature (MRT) and universal thermal climate index (UTCI) to identify the outdoor thermal comfort. This software and methodology can be used for future developments to identify the UHI effect as a result of the completion of project and mitigation methods that can be used to negate the UHI effect and enhance the human comfort. 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6468 Contribution of green buildings towards achieving sustainability: A perspective of LEED-certified buildings in Sri Lanka Weerasinghe, S; Ramachandra, T; Madushika, UGD : Recently, the focus on green buildings has fore fronted in countries. However, in the context of Sri Lanka, the number of green certified buildings seems to be still at a minimal level and the focus is solely on the energy efficiency features. Although green buildings are meant to be sustainable, the level of incorporation of sustainable features and their contribution to sustainability is questionable. Therefore, the current study aims to examine the extent of incorporation of sustainable features in green-certified buildings in Sri Lanka. A review was conducted into the USGBC database and the profile of green-certified buildings in Sri Lanka was examined to identify the extent of green certification in Sri Lankan buildings and their level of achievement of sustainable features. The reasons for the level of achievement of those sustainable features were then identified by interviewing professionals who engaged in green buildings. Accordingly, the selected buildings have over 80% of achievement in terms of water efficiency and sustainable sites, while other design features, such as energy and atmosphere, indoor environmental quality, and material and resources are below 50% achievement. Further, energy and atmosphere, and indoor environmental quality features require alternatives with higher initial cost, early commitment, and an integrated design process. Most of the time, energy and indoor environmental quality features seem easy to achieve, but often turn out to be far more complicated, and thus less feasible, than anticipated. Knowing sustainability achievement of features would enable green building investors to select the most appropriate features for a given construction 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6467 Sustainable Tourism in Hikkaduwa; Evaluations of Sustainability Parameters & Design Recommendations Silva, THSPL; Warakagoda, DM; Ariyarathne, KGKS; Mendis, T; Lakmali, RGN This research intends to identify the factors that influence tourism industry of Hikkaduwa coastal area and to give an overall architectural guideline to implement resulting in sustainable tourism. At present, rapid and unsustainable development of Hikkaduwa area have caused different kinds of environmental, economic and social issues. Many of those cases have been identified and studied on coastal tourism, sustainable parameters and existing regulations that related to architectural or urban planning to give out solutions. Based on these studies, a case study was done for identifying the special characteristics of Hikkaduwa for modifying and adjusting the parameters that are fitting for Hikkaduwa. While following these parameters, the study has proposed a suitable design guideline for overall Hikkaduwa study area. These proposed parameters and guidelines are supportive to the existing regulations and these architectural solutions have been implementing the criteria for sustainable development automatically. Therefore, the study has been given proper contribution for achieving the sustainable development and creating a sustainable tourism city. 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z