<![CDATA[Rising urban and campus surface temperatures, driven by hard building envelopes and limited vegetation, challenge outdoor thermal comfort in humid tropical climates. Vertical gardens have been proposed as space-efficient microclimate mitigation strategies, but field evidence in tropical university campuses remains limited. This study experimentally evaluated wall surface temperature, adjacent air temperature, and relative humidity at a vertical garden-covered facade and a comparable bare control facade on a university campus in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Measurements were conducted over 20 days at 09:00, 13:00, and 16:00, producing 60 paired observations for each variable. Paired-samples t-tests showed that the vertical garden reduced wall surface temperature by 3.91°C (SD = 0.78; t(59) = 38.86; p < 0.001) and air temperature by 0.76°C (SD = 0.40; t(59) = 14.71; p < 0.001), while increasing relative humidity by 4.45 percentage points (t(59) = 26.15; p < 0.001). ANOVA indicated significant variation in cooling effects across the day, with maximum reductions at 13:00. These findings provide field evidence that vertical gardens can serve as effective passive cooling measures for humid tropical campus microclimates and outdoor thermal conditions.]]>
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