The building performance of Palembang's traditional houses

As one of old city in Indonesia, Palembang has some traditional houses at its old area. The houses are still occupied by modern people. The modern lifestyle threatens the authenticity of the houses as the occupants tend to change them. They change the design of the house to get the performance of the building to be in line with their activities and lifestyle. Paper aims to know the building performance traditional houses in Palembang. To achieve the aim, paper examined the natural lighting performance of three types of traditional houses in accommodating the visual comfort for current activities. The analysis of performance was done through the simulation of lighting performance. The result shows that the houses have different ability to accommodate the visual comfort. Paper shows that the changes need to be done to accommodate the current need of natural illumination. In order to maintain the authenticity, the change can be done by adding openings at building skin and roof.