Daylighting in Buildings: Investigating the Relationship between Daylight Levels and Building Compactness in House Types

Presenters

Logan SmithFollow

Disciplines

Architecture

Abstract (300 words maximum)

Daylighting of interior spaces is a key architectural design issue, which closely affects inhabitants’ well-being and work efficiency. While the reduction of floorplate depth can potentially increase the percentage of daylit areas in buildings, it also leads to less compact volumes and more extensive building envelopes, which in turn affect a greater heat gain/loss through the envelope and more expensive buildings due to the higher cost of constructing the envelope. It has been shown that certain shapes of buildings can be easier to illuminate through natural lighting than others. The purpose of this research is to accurately identify the most effective building shape and typology that achieves high levels of daylighting while satisfying the condition for compact volumetrics as related to lower energy transfer through the exterior walls and lower building construction costs. In so doing, the research aims to find affinities between two opposing trends in sustainable building design: increased daylighting and reduced energy for artificial lighting, cooling, heating, and the overall building cost. My research focuses on houses and compares this typology with other building types, which are investigated by other research team members. A large sample of houses is selected as best-practice examples from the book “Key Houses of the Twentieth Century”. I measure the percentage of daylight strips in floorplates falling between the perimeter and 15’, and between 15’ and 30’. These percentages are investigated against the building compactness. The statistical analysis of the sample reveals clusters of buildings that perform best in the two opposed sustainability criteria. Using these conclusions, the research proposes normative guidelines of buildings, uses, and typologies that fit the most effective criteria to inform the future generation of architects and designers on how to build houses while minimizing artificial lighting to save on heating and cooling costs.

Academic department under which the project should be listed

CACM - Architecture

Primary Investigator (PI) Name

Ermal Shpuza

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Daylighting in Buildings: Investigating the Relationship between Daylight Levels and Building Compactness in House Types

Daylighting of interior spaces is a key architectural design issue, which closely affects inhabitants’ well-being and work efficiency. While the reduction of floorplate depth can potentially increase the percentage of daylit areas in buildings, it also leads to less compact volumes and more extensive building envelopes, which in turn affect a greater heat gain/loss through the envelope and more expensive buildings due to the higher cost of constructing the envelope. It has been shown that certain shapes of buildings can be easier to illuminate through natural lighting than others. The purpose of this research is to accurately identify the most effective building shape and typology that achieves high levels of daylighting while satisfying the condition for compact volumetrics as related to lower energy transfer through the exterior walls and lower building construction costs. In so doing, the research aims to find affinities between two opposing trends in sustainable building design: increased daylighting and reduced energy for artificial lighting, cooling, heating, and the overall building cost. My research focuses on houses and compares this typology with other building types, which are investigated by other research team members. A large sample of houses is selected as best-practice examples from the book “Key Houses of the Twentieth Century”. I measure the percentage of daylight strips in floorplates falling between the perimeter and 15’, and between 15’ and 30’. These percentages are investigated against the building compactness. The statistical analysis of the sample reveals clusters of buildings that perform best in the two opposed sustainability criteria. Using these conclusions, the research proposes normative guidelines of buildings, uses, and typologies that fit the most effective criteria to inform the future generation of architects and designers on how to build houses while minimizing artificial lighting to save on heating and cooling costs.