Overview
Climate analysis
Singapore is at 1.35° N: hot and humid all year, with high diffuse sky luminance, heavy monsoon rain and low wind speeds. There is no heating season and almost no seasonal swing, so the design problem is continuous heat and moisture rejection, glare from a bright sky, and making use of weak breezes.
- Latitude
- 1.35° N — near-equatorial, high solar altitude
- Air temperature
- ≈ 25–33 °C daily range, all year
- Relative humidity
- ≈ 70–90 %, dehumidification-dominated
- Annual rainfall
- ≈ 2,200 mm, intense short storms
- Prevailing winds
- NE monsoon (Dec–Mar), SW monsoon (Jun–Sep); low mean speeds
- Sky condition
- Predominantly overcast/hazy bright — high diffuse daylight, glare risk
What this means for the design
- • High sun angles mean horizontal shading works hard; the critical exposures are low-angle east and west sun, which orientation must handle.
- • Bright overcast skies supply abundant daylight, so glazing can be moderate and still daylit — the design task is glare control, not light quantity.
- • Latent load dominates cooling energy; efficiency comes from dehumidification strategy and chilled-water plant, not from chasing lower air temperatures.
- • Low wind speeds mean natural ventilation must be assisted (stack effect, ceiling fans) to be dependable in wards.
- • Driving rain plus constant humidity make façade water-tightness and mould resistance a durability mandate, not a detail.