HOW CAN BUILDINGS

BE DAYLIT?

DISSERTATION
(2015-20)

Submitted By: Chintan Gupta

Email: archivizion01@gmailcom Guide: Ar. Gowind Rawat

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Declaration
This report has been prepared on the basis of my work. Where ever other published and unpublished
source materials have been used, these have been acknowledged.

Word Count: 5570

Student Name: Chintan Gupta

Date of Submission: 09/12/2018

Name & Signature of Advisor: Ar. Govind Rawat

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgment ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

List of Images ........................................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1: Overview ………………………………………………………….……………………………….…….….. 7

1.2 Objective

1.3 Scope and Limitations

1.4 Methodology

1.5 Hypothesis

Chapter 2: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9

2.1 Benefits of Daylight

2.2 Daylight Design

2.3 Norms and Guidelines

Chapter 3: Literature Review …………………………………………………………………………………….. 12

3.1 WELL Building Norms

3.2 ECBC Building Norms

3.4 LEED Green Building Norms

3.5. NBC

Chapter 4: Case Study .…….………………………………………………………………………………………... 19

Chapter 5: Design Interventions ………………………………………………………………………………... 27

Chapter 6: Analysis and Inferences ..………………………………………………………………………..… 29

Chapter 7: Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………..……..…….... 30

References ………………………………………………………………………………...…………………………...…….… 31

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Acknowledgment
I am really thankful to institution, MBS School of Planning and Architecture, for I received this great
opportunity to study the related topic and do a research on it. I am thankful to our department because
they provided helpful and expertise faculty for the guidance in the respective topic.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my guide, Govind Rawat for the continuous support of
my study and related research. His patience, motivation, and immense knowledge helped me to
complete my research. His guidance helped me in all the time of research.

I would also like to express my gratitude to my parents and family who supported me throughout my
study and who also gave me their insights.

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Abstract

Daylight is defined as the combination of direct and indirect sunlight from various sources. Daylight is
one of the abundant sources of light in nature. It gives out high illuminance and allows great colour
discrimination. These are major factors that help creating conditions for good vision. However, daylight
can sometimes generate glare and high luminance reflections that causes uncomforting and interferes
good vision.

Daylighting has many health benefits too apart from energy saving, aesthetics and cost reduction. Light
is the most important external cue for keeping the body’s internal clock synchronised i.e. Circadian
Rhythm. It has both psychological as well as physiological effects on human health.

Lighting spaces using daylight can prove to be very energy-efficient, cost-effective, proves to have good
effects on health and enhances aesthetic quality of the space. The buildings need to be optimally daylit
because apart from merits of the daylight there are certain demerits as well which needs to be
countered in order to make a space well-lit and efficiently usable. With high levels daylight, the problem
of heating up of space and glare becomes a factor of discomfort for the occupants of the space. With
low levels of daylight poor vision and workability reduces making the space non-useful for the
occupants. Therefore, there is a need to build optimally daylit keeping the glare, heat gain, under lit
areas and various other factors in mind which will ensure even distribution of daylight in spaces in order
to decrease the energy consumption, save on cost of lighting as well as electricity and gain the health
benefits of daylight.

This key objective of this report is to provide information about daylight, why is it important and the
how can spaces be lit. To achieve this, ancient practices were researched upon. The research includes
various norms that are to be followed. There are various daylight analysis methods that were discussed.
In the end case studies were studied for the same.

The output of this study can be used as a pre-design tool to ensure that building spaces meet
recommended daylight levels and protected from glare, reflections and direct sunlight. The results can
be converted to suggested guidelines towards an effective management for spaces that could provide
a strong outline for future design based not only on theoretical solutions, but also on practical terms.

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List of Images
S. No Image Title Page No.

1 Gothic 12

2 Early Christian 12

3 Ancient Egypt 12

4 Byzantine 12

5 Renaissance 13

6 Romanesque 13

7 Kimbell Art Museum 13

8 Large Openings 13

9 Various Design Strategies for Energy Efficiency 14

10 Location of The Main House and Its Surroundings 19

11 Rendered View of the House 19

12 Rendering By 2030studio Showing Shading Projections and Clerestory Windows 20

13 Initial Sefaira Daylight Analysis Showing Overlit And Underlit Areas 20

14 Annual Shading Analysis 21

15 Baseline Project and Proposed Building Project 22

16 3D View of Housing 23

17 3D View of Unit 23

18 Daylight Analysis – Unit Case Studied 24

19 AllianzKai 25

20 Showing Result of Daylight Factor in the Space 25

21 Showing Result of Daylight Autonomy in the Space 26

22 Showing Result of Useful Daylight Illuminance in the Space 26

23 Various Modern Design Interventions for Incorporating Daylight 27

24 Glazed Openings 28

25 Frame/ Support Systems 28

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1. Overview
1.1 Aim
The aim is to study daylight, its importance in a space, the various methods of daylight analysis and
find out which method of analysis is better to use while designing a space and relevant for designers
and stakeholders. And to find out how to optimally lit a building.

1.2 Objective
The main objectives are -

1. To study what is daylight

2. To know about various merits of daylight and why should a space be daylit.
3. To study various norms governing daylight design
4. To study about the various methods of daylight analysis and comparison of the same
5. To study various design practices for incorporating daylight.

1.3 Scope and Limitations

The scope of our project is to learn about daylight, its importance and the different methods of
analyzing daylight by a literature review and thereby finding out the best method to help designers
create better daylit spaces. The study is limited to literature review, secondary data and study specific
guidelines and official norms available.

1.4 Methodology
1. Data collection with respect to daylight
2. Secondary data collection pertaining to ancient design practices for incorporating daylight in a
space.
3. Data collection and literature review of the various norms and requirements related to
daylighting.
4. Data review about the importance of daylighting within a building for occupants.
5. Understanding various methods of daylight analysis within a building.
6. Literature study for collection of various case studies.
7. Inferences drawn on the basis of the reviewed case studies to identify a more efficient method
of daylight analysis in a building design.

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1.5 Hypothesis
Daylight is renewable resource available to us. Although it is in abundance still its incorporation in the
buildings in recent times is neglected. Daylight incorporation was a key design consideration in previous
designs, but as the new technology ushered people and architects started to shift from daylight to more
artificial methods of lighting. Increased demand of electricity has been seen. This led to the realisation
that daylight should be incorporated. Norms and tools of daylight analysis came into existence. Even
after following the norms, laid by the competent authorities, buildings fail to be sufficiently lit. Now
the question arises, how can the new buildings be designed to optimise the use of daylight? Are there
better tools to analyse daylight in a space? And what interventions could be done for the existing
buildings to increase daylight performance in them?

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Chapter 2: Introduction
Light plays an essential role in the way people experience and understand the environment. It is the
medium that allows us to see and cherish the allurement of the environment built around. Also, it helps
in creating an experience for those who occupy and hence bringing an emotional value to the space.

There are two ways of lighting up a space:

a) Artificial lighting
b) Daylighting

Daylight is the amount of diffuse natural light coming from surrounding sky. Sunlight refers to direct
sunshine and is variable as the sun’s position changes consistently as the day progresses. Sun’s intensity
also changes with respect to time and seasons. Daylight levels also vary greatly depending on various
factors such as , the amount of cloud cover, type of cloud and the time of day. However, there exist
mathematical models that allow the calculation of how bright different parts of the sky will be under
different sky conditions. These models allow us to choose a set of worst-case situations around which
to design the building.

2.1 Benefits of Daylight

Daylight has a physiological as well as a psychological effect on human health. It makes a person feel
connected to the outdoor environment. The daylight does not only affect the human health but also
destroys the harmful bacterias present in the environment. Also, there are researches which prove that
the daylight can cure many diseases. Daylight enhances a space within which helps to transform spaces
and save energy. It is important for the quality, spectral composition, and variability. The amount of
daylight depends on the geographical / climatic conditions. It has been further demonstrated that
daylighting also has a positive effect on the mood for employees which results in increased job
satisfaction, work involvement, motivation, organizational attachment, and lowered absenteeism.
Other studies show that office workers’ productivity does increase with the quality of natural light.
Natural daylighting aids in increasing attention and alertness during the post-lunch dip and has shown
to be helpful in increasing alertness for boring or monotonous work (Heerwagen et al 2000). Li et al
(2005) research indicates the potential role that daylight plays in reducing electric demands with up to
33% reduction in energy use for the total electric lighting bill achieved simply by use sun shading
protections making daylight energy efficient.

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2.2 Daylight Design

A designer uses various tools and practices to optimise amount of daylight in a space.

2.2.1 Design Parameters

Some of the parameter governing daylight.

• Quantity and Quality: Uniform daylight spread across the space for meeting requirements most
of the time.

• Obstructions and reflections on site: External factors on site influence daylight performance. For
eg, the amount of the sky being obstructed or unobstructed from neighboring structures.

• Orientation and Geometry of the Building: Orientation plays a major role in deciding the exposure
to the daylight. The geometry also has an influence on the amount of daylight received. A deep
building with just windows will receive less daylight.

• Fenestration: Fenestration design should be designed to optimise daylight performance in a

space.

• Shades: Shading devices shade the window from direct sun may allow diffuse daylight that can
help better distribution of light and it also prevents the internal spaces from the heat caused by
the direct sun radiation.

• Window Area: A critical factor for determining daylight entering a building is the window area.

• Glass Type: The type of glass plays a role in controlling amount of daylight entering a space
in terms of light and heat transmittance. Clear glass provides a high transmission of daylight
with typical visible transmittance (VT) of 0.88 but it also allows a large amount of solar heat
(high shading coefficient) to pass through into a building. Tinted glass absorbs a
considerable amount of infrared light with some reduction of visible light with the VT
ranging from 0.23 to 0.51. Reflective glass absorbs more heat than tinted glass and offers
good reflecting characteristic in the infrared region with a certain reduction of VT. The VT
can be a low of 0.12 with perfect heat protection but the rooms may look gloomy especially
with low illumination levels .With an average VT values, occupants can enjoy more natural
light as well as maintain a good visual contact with the outdoor.

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2.2.2 Norms and Guidelines

For centuries, daylight was the only light available as a predominant source of illuminating the buildings
and the architecture of the day was controlled by the urge to span wide expanses and creating openings
big enough to dispense daylight to the building interiors. Prior to the shift from daylight to artificial
lighting in the late 19th century, good daylight strategies were important. Luckily, by the last quarter
of the 20th century and early years of this century, architects and designers have acknowledged the
importance and need of introducing natural light into buildings.
With the need to incorporate daylight in the building design an importance of monitoring and
regulating the daylight strategies came into being and therefore, various norms and guidelines
provided by various authorities across the globe for the inclusion of daylight in the buildings for the
designer’s ease to design and for monitoring and assuring good amount of daylight in the buildings.
These norms use certain methods of analysis to measure the daylight entering any space.

2.2.3 Methods of Analysis of Daylight

When measuring daylight performance in buildings one needs to understand various ways to describe
the overall success and failure of a design. The different types of methods are enlisted below:

1. Daylight Factor
2. Daylight Autonomy
3. Continuous Daylight Autonomy
4. Daylight Saturation Percentage
5. Useful Daylight Illuminance
6. Glare Analysis

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Chapter 3: Literature Review

3.1 History of Daylighting Strategies

The history of daylighting strategies can be divided into three categories namely, Pre-industrial,
Industrial and Post-industrial architectural phases with the technological growth observed during each
phase.

3.1.1 Pre-Industrial Architecture

Throughout this period, daylight was a predominant source of light and illumination. The building shape
was an instinctive reaction for the distribution of daylight to the internal areas of the bIn climates
where daylight was abundant, architects acknowledged it by minimizing the expanse of openings and
using various ways to diffuse light.
Architecture in this period solely let light enter where it was required and hence all openings were
given remarkable importance within the building design. There were therefore significant changes in
the light levels within a building and in addition within a single expanse.

Fig 1: GOTHIC Fig2: EARLY CHRISTIAN

S
Fig3:dANCIENTdEGYPT Fig4: BYZANTINE

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SADV

Fig5: RENAISSANCE Fig6: ROMANESQUE

3.1.2 Industrial Architecture

Before the 1800s the building envelope was the only major connection between the exterior and
interior surroundings receiving light and manage heat. Illumination was added majorly by daylighting,
decided by climate, window opening size and placement as well as scheme induction. Supplements of
light at night were candles or oil lamps. Industrial revolution provided way to liberated buildings from
the restrictions radically and remarkably modifying the direction of architecture.

Fig7:aKIMBELLaARTaMUSEUM Fig 8: LARGE OPENINGS

The evolution of structural frame and the presence of low-cost, durable steel members permitted the
buildings to be fully supported by columns. The exterior wall was now supported by the frame at each
level and its task was minimized to that of a skin to eliminate wind and water, and its breadth and mass
were minimised to reduce its load on the columns.

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3.1.3 Post-Industrial Architecture

This was the phase of arousal of professional and public awareness to the environmental and economic
significance that the Modern Movement had shaped. For the architect the responsibility was more
dreadful and needed re-evaluation of previously approved design processes and scheme established
over the last one hundred years and addition of the basic technological knowledge mandatory to
retrieve the lost role of an integrative designer.

Fig 9 : Various Design Strategies for Energy Efficiency

3.2 Norms and Guidelines

Some major Norms and Guidelines taken into consideration are –

1. WELL Building Norms for Daylighting

2. ECBC Norms for Daylighting
3. LEED Norms for Daylighting
4. GRIHA Building Norms
5. National Building Codes

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3.2.1 WELL Building Norms for Daylighting

The WELL Building Standards is a system to measure, certify and monitor the features of built
environment that affect well-being of humans through water, air, light, mind etc.

It is managed by the International Well Building Institute. Daylight simulation reveal that following
conditions are the bear minimum requirement for daylight provision in building.

• Spatial Daylight Autonomy: Minimum 55% space should receive minimum 300 lux of sunlight
for minimum 50% of working hours in a year.
• Annual Sunlight Exposure: Not more than 10% of the area should receive more than 1000 lux
for 250 hours in a year

Daylighting Fenestrations

• Window sizes for workplaces: Wall-window ratio on external elevation should be minimum
20% and less than 60%. Between percentages 40 to 60 one should have external shading or
intelligent glazing to control glare and heat gain in a space through windows or openings.

• Window transmittance in work areas: Glazing above 7 feet from floor should have 60% or more
visual transmittance however glazing below 7 feet should have 50% or more visual
transmittance.

• Uniform Colour Transmittance: Windows should have transmittance in reference with circadian
lighting design.

3.2.2 ECBC Norms for Daylighting

The Energy Conservation Building Code, was put in motion by Ministry of Power, Government of India
in May 2007, as a first step to promote energy efficiency in the building industry. It is applicable to
buildings or complexes that have a connected load of 100 kW or greater or a contract demand of 120
kVA or greater and are meant to be used for commercial purposes. Private residential buildings are not
covered in these codes.

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Daylighting

Daylighting simulation method- BEE approved software for daylight simulation method. Building
should achieve illuminance between 100 lux to 2000 lux for 40% of the floor area for 90% of the
working daylit time. Illuminance level shall e measure as follows:

1. Measurement should be taken from the work plane height of 800mm from the finished floor
2. Eight hours per day between 8 am to 5 pm
3. To be calculated at one point per square meter of the floor area
4. man-made or natural obstruction shall be marked
5. modelled fenestration with actual visible light transmittance

Manual daylighting Compliance method- This method can be used without running simulation.

1. Daylight extent factors (DEF) manually calculate percentage of above grade floor area meeting
the UDI requirement for 90% of the potential day lit time in a year using the table below
2. A discrete architectural plan should be prepared with all day lit areas marked and a summary
should be provided showing compliance as per table.
3. Glazed façades, with non-cardinal orientation, should be considered under a particular cardinal
direction if its orientation is between ± 45° of that cardinal direction.
4. Any surrounding natural or man-made daylight obstructions should not be considered.

3.2.3 LEED Green Building Norms

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

It awards credits towards sustainable certification for achieving specified performance goals in a wide
variety of sustainable areas, including site selection, water retention, material selection, energy use
and interior environmental quality.

Interior Environmental Quality includes the Daylight Credit

• It intends to provide the occupants of a building a connection between indoor and outdoor
spaces through introduction of daylighting.
• Focuses more on the regularly occupied areas of the building.
• To be awarded the daylight credit a minimum factor of 2% (excluding all direct sunlight
penetration) in 75%of all spaces occupied for critical visual tasks.
• In the previous versions of LEED, daylight is calculated in terms of Daylight Factor (DF) and the
same methods were used.
• In the recent versions of LEED (e.g. LEED volume 4) a focus on reducing the use of electrical
lighting by introducing daylight into the space has been incorporated.

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Daylighting Simulation method:

Spatial Daylight Autonomy: By using annual computer simulations show that spatial
daylight autonomy of at least 55%, 75%, or 90% is achieved.

• Annual Sunlight Exposure: By using annual computer simulations show that annual sunlight
exposure of no more than 10% is achieved.
• Illuminance Calculations: Using computer modeling show that illuminance levels will be
between 300 lux and 3,000 lux for 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., both at the equinox on clear sky day.

3.2.4 GRIHA Building Norms

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment.

It is India’s national rating system for assessing buildings based on certain nationally acceptable
limits/benchmarks. GRIHA aims to quantify aspects such as energy consumption, waste generation,
renewable energy adoption etc. to manage, control and reduce it in the best possible way. It evaluates
the environmental performance of a building holistically throughout its entire life-cycle.

Daylight Credit

Alternative 1

• WWR <= 60%

• SRR <= 5%
• Daylighting Fenestrations:
• SHGC requirement of ECBC 2007/Weighted Façade average SHGC (for each orientation)
meets SHGC requirements of ECBC-2007
• Shading to ensure that the window is completely shaded for the duration between 10:00
am on 1st April to 15:00 on 30th September
• At least 25% of living area should achieve Daylight Factors

Alternative 2

• Mean DA requirements (300 lux or more) are met over the total living area for at least 25% of
total annual analysis hours (annual analysis hours - 800 to 1800 each day).
• Mean DA requirements (3000 lux or more) are never exceeded over the total living area for
across the total annual analysis hours.

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3.2.5 National Building Code (NBC)

It is a building guideline and codes which talks about various considerations to be undertaken for
constructing as well as designing the building but it does not say anything about the daylight
incorporation in the buildings.

3.3 Methods of Daylight Analysis

The most common methods that are taken into considerations by the monitoring and regulating bodies
are Daylight Factor, Daylight Autonomy, and the most recent one is Useful Daylight Illuminance.
Daylight Analysis can be both manual or software based.

Daylight Factor (DF): it is a very commonly used tool and measure daylight quantity in the space.
It is the ratio of outside illuminance over inside illuminance, expressed in percentage. The higher
the DF, more is the daylight available in the room. The mathematical expression is given as:
DF = 100 * E / E in ext

E : illuminance due to daylight at a point on the indoors working plane

in

E : simultaneous outdoor illuminance on a horizontal plane from an

ext

obstructed hemisphere of overcast sky

Daylight Autonomy (DA): Daylight Autonomy (DA) was the first of a string of annual daylight
metrics, now commonly referred to as ‘dynamic daylight metrics’. It is represented as a percentage
of annual daytime hours that a given point in a space is above a specified illumination level. It was
originally proposed by the Association Suisse des Electriciens in 1989 and was improved by
Christoph Reinhart between 2001-2004. It is a major innovation since in considers geographic
location specific weather information on an annual basis. It also has power to relate to electric
lighting energy savings if the user defined threshold is set based upon electric lighting criteria. The
user is free to set the threshold above which Daylight Autonomy is calculated.

Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI): Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) is a modification of Daylight
Autonomy conceived by Mardaljevic and Nabil in 2005. This metric, bins hourly time values based
upon three illumination ranges, 0-100 lux, 100-2000 lux, and over 2000 lux. It provides full credit
only to values between 100 lux and 2,000 lux suggesting that horizontal illumination values outside
of this range are not useful. There is significant debate regarding the selection of 2,000 lux as an
‘upper threshold’ above which daylight is not wanted due to potential glare or overheating.

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Chapter 4: Case Studies

4.1 Case Study 1: 2030 Studio: Optimizing Daylight in a New Build

Residence in Brazil

Fig 10: Location of The Main House And Its

Surroundings

Project type – Residential

Location – Balneario Camboriu, SC, Brazil
Building type – House Fig 11: Rendered view of the House

This is a house which is three stories. On each floor there are three bedrooms. Their initial design was
to place private spaces on the upper floor and public areas on the lower floor. There were large glazed
openings. So the team members were quite concerned that they will have a negative impact on solar
gains and glare within the spaces.

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Fig 12: Rendering By 2030studio Showing Shading Projections and Clerestory Windows

Fig13: Initial Sefaira Daylight Analysis Showing Overlit And Underlit Areas

They made a Whitebox model of the house on this concept and analysed it using a software Sefaire’s
real-time plugin and daylight features to test the assumptions which area is underlit and over lit.
Initially it gave a sDA value of 84% and ASE value of 31%. So after diagnosing the issue they improved
the overall daylight problems which was possible after the test.

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Fig 14: Annual Shading Analysis

They prevented it by adding shading projections and light shelves to prevent glare in the dining area
and, added clerestory windows. With the help of Sefaire’s software they were able to analyse the
solutions for better daylight distributions in the spaces. They were able to significantly reduce glare in
most spaces, driving ASE levels down from 31% to 9%.
Implementing the shading strategies reduced sDA by only 3% - thus in order to keep visual comfort and
spaces well-lit they were able to reduce the EUI up to 17%. This tells how the proposed changes
improves daylighting throughout the home’s interior.

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Fig 15: Baseline Project and Proposed Building Project

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4.2 Case Study 2: Early Stage Building Environmental Analysis Case

Study of a Large Residential Community In India

This is a case study of a large government residential community located in New Delhi, India. In these
simulations are used to assess and integrated passive design solutions in which climate and
microclimate have been considered of the site through an Environmental analysis.An Environmental
tool i.e. LADYBUG is used in which optimal shading for fenestration can be done and another tool is
used which is DIVA which is used for Daylight analysis.

Fig 16: 3D View of Housing Fig 17: 3D View of Unit

This case study involves analysis methodology with the help of the new tools. Also, possibilities and
capabilities of few features. So, for better visual quality and selection of better fenestration design
DIVA is used in which various daylight metrics were evaluated and compared for the interior spaces.
For the proposed housing an environment analysis was carried with three methods climate, shading
and daylight analysis. Among these we are covering shading and daylight analysis. So, in shading
analysis, the team members study the sun path of the site and factors were carried out by LADYBUG.
This analysis was used to calculate the size of the overhang which resulted in 3.25m depth of the
overhang. That’s why deep balconies and horizontal louvres were designed because the required depth
was very larger to cut off high sun angles. And daylight analysis was performed by DIVA in which
climate-based daylight factor (DF), illuminance level (IES), spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), and annual
sunlight exposure (ASE) were calculated to ensure better visual comfort with respect to other shading
depths. In these two cases were taken with shading and without shading, initially they evaluated
according to both the cases that DF exceeded by 5% according to the norms of residential building, sDA
was 100% in both cases, ASE was well in both cases (54%,24%), and IES (13%).

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Fig 18: Daylight Analysis – Unit Case Studied

SOURCE: http://www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS2015/p2280.pdf

The conclusion was that these software’s that were used are easy to use and tells highly visual
interactive results which are helpful for the architect in converting technical information to design
solutions. When these tools are used in 3D environment the need of additional analysis model was
reduced. Design solution making can be undertaken in real time. These tools were used to find out
optimal shading solutions while maintaining acceptable daylight levels.

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4.3 Case Study 3: Allianzkai, Germany

This case study of an office workplace located in Frankfurt, Germany known as Allianz Kai. This space is
used to study different methods of daylight analysis and get a better understanding of which method
is more suitable for office workspaces.

Fig 19: AllianzKai

There are varying observations seen for this structure using different methods.
Daylight Factor outputs are helpful in making quick comparisons of relative daylight penetration under
overcast sky conditions and is arguably less useful in climates with a great deal of sun. However, most
climates across the United States have substantial periods of overcast skies and DF is a useful metric to
inform design decisions for these periods. In Allianz Kai, Although under Useful Daylight Illuminance,
the building’s 73% floor area achieves at least 50% UDI.

Fig 20: Showing Result of Daylight Factor in the Space

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Fig 21: Showing Result of Daylight Autonomy in the Space

Fig 22: Showing Result of Useful Daylight Illuminance in the Space

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Chapter 5: Design Interventions

5.1 Passive Solar Design

Fig 23: Various Modern Design Interventions for Incorporating Daylight

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Combination of daylight and passive solar heating methods to aid in heating, cooling and lighting a
building.

5.2 Other Considerations

• Balancing needs - glazed openings creates a thermal weak point, so the amount of heat lost in
cold months and amount of heat gain in warm months needs to be assessed and a balance
needs to be maintained between meeting lighting needs and thermal ones.

Fig 24: GLAZING OPENINGS

• Uv Protection

• Minimising Noise Pollution

• Wind Exposure

• Atmospheric Pollution

• Safety and Security

• Frames/Support
Structures
Fig 25: FRAME/ SUPPORT STRUCTURES

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Chapter 6: Analysis and Inferences

The buildings need to be optimally daylit because apart from merits of the daylight there are certain
demerits as well which needs to be countered in order to make a space well-lit and efficiently usable.

With high levels daylight, the problem of heating up of space and glare becomes a factor of discomfort
for the occupants of the space.
With low levels of daylight poor vision and workability reduces making the space non-useful for the
occupants.

Therefore, there is a need to build optimally daylit keeping the glare, heat gain, under lit areas and
various other factors in mind which will ensure even distribution of daylight in spaces in order to
decrease the energy consumption, save on cost of lighting as well as electricity and gain the health
benefits of daylight.

DF remains same for all the facades of the building. It doesn’t consider the real time sky conditions. To
cater to such condition dynamic metric tools came like daylight autonomy, useful daylight illuminance
etc. Daylight Autonomy takes care of issues like glare. It is task specific and pertains to the set levels
of luminance by the competitive authority. It doesn’t account for higher levels. It is hence insufficient
for heating problems. Useful Daylight Illuminance is a new concept. UDI is more complex metric and
provides an effective mechanism to highlight an area which needs a shading device in a building. As
been noted by Nabil and Mardaljevic (2006), UDI provides a convenient method of assessing daylight
as it considers the different types of real-life sky conditions and is highly flexible in terms of weak or
over exposed spaces. UDI scheme is informative and user friendly. Based on the readings of graphs one
could evaluate the daylight performance of a space.
Despite everything, Daylight factor is still the most prominent tool used because of its straight
forwardness. Taking into consideration all the benefits of UDI scheme one can say it has the potential
to replace the present static metric for a better and a detailed analysis of daylight in a space.

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Chapter 7: Conclusion

As per the recent concern of energy consumption in buildings, interests in daylighting has particularly
increased. Research has shown productivity can be increased in the presence of daylight.

Research shows that, with good exposure to natural light, the occupants are healthier, happier and
better performers. Daylighting also reduces a building’s energy load and, in some cases, can generate
energy themselves.

A daylighting strategy is a crucial part of the design of any building that is to be used or occupied by
living beings. To achieve the best results, daylighting should be part of the earliest stages of planning
and design. The best approach is a holistic one, factoring in: building location and orientation, interior
layout and purpose, aesthetics, visual and thermal comfort levels, seasonal, weather and daytime light
changes, and energy implications. Other factors to consider include security and safety, noise pollution
and weather events, and cost and ease of maintenance.

While considering daylight metrics a lot of aspects pertaining to daylight have to be kept in mind.
Despite everything, Daylight factor is still the most prominent tool used because of its straight
forwardness. Taking into consideration all the benefits of UDI scheme one can say it has the potential
to replace the present static metric for a better and a detailed analysis of daylight in a space.

After analysing the space with a suitable tool and matching the result with the norms, one could
incorporate various design interventions like light ducts, light shelves, reflective blinds etc for optimally
daylighting a space.

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References

• Ghazi, M. (2009). The Use of Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) to Test New Designs for
Improving Daylight Performance of Office Buildings in Dubai-UAE. [ebook] Dubai, pp.13-26.
Available at: https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/115 [Accessed 11 Sept. 2018]

• ECBC (2017). Daylighting. [online] Available at:

https://beeindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/BEE_ECBC%202017.pdf

• Wellcertified.com. (2018). Daylight modelling. [online] Available at:

https://www.wellcertified.com/sites/default/files/resources/WELL%20Building%20Standard%
20-%20Oct%202014.pdf [Accessed 8 Oct. 2018].

• LEED. (2018). LEED v4 for Building Design and Construction. [online] Available at:
https://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-v4-building-design-and-construction-current-version
[Accessed 8 Oct. 2018].

• GRIHA. (2016). GRIHA VERSION 2015. [online] Available at:

http://www.grihaindia.org/files/GRIHA_V2015_May2016.pdf [Accessed 8 Oct. 2018].

• Wbdg.org. (2018). Daylighting | WBDG Whole Building Design Guide. [online] Available at:
https://www.wbdg.org/resources/daylighting [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018]

• Advancedbuildingsnet. 2018. Advancedbuildingsnet. [Online]. [9 December 2018]. Available

from: https://patternguide.advancedbuildings.net/using-this-guide/analysis-methods

• ArchDaily. (2018). Light Matters: 7 Ways Daylight Can Make Design More Sustainable. [online]
Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/471249/light-matters-7-ways-daylight-can-make-
design-more-sustainable [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018]

• Velux.com. (2018). Parameters influencing daylighting performance - Daylight, Energy and

Indoor Climate Book. [online] Available at:
https://www.velux.com/deic/daylight/parameters-influencing-daylighting-performance
[Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

MBS SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE