‘The Penang Hospital began life as a double-storey, colonnaded brick-and-timbre building. As was the norm for most bungalows in Penang at the time, the building would have been raised on a brick plinth, allowing for air to flow underneath. The floors were probably hardy and washable, and tiled with terra cotta. The veranda on the first-floor was 5ft wide and protected by a roof jack, a feature developed by builder designers of the day in observance of tropical architecture.
“A roof jack,” explains conservation architect Laurence Loh, “is a secondary roof located at the ridge that is literally jacked up for the hot air within the space to rise up and escape through the open gaps between the two roofs, based on the principle that air, once warmed, becomes more buoyant, with a tendency to rise.” This process employs what is known as stack effect or ventilation. The surrounding cool air is pulled into the building from openings like doors and windows at the lower level, with the heated air being pushed up and out.’
But how has it evolved?
Read here (Penang Monthly, October, 2021)
