Lighting Design and Simulation

Lecture 3. Light and Architecture

TDMU
Lecture overview
• Light and the built environment
• Design parameters in the environment
• Design parameters in the façade
• Designing with daylight

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Light and the built environment
• Form
• Feeling
• Function
Objects appear differently depending
on how they are illuminated

Uplighted arches in a cathedral Texture of surfaces

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Light and the built environment
• Le Corbusier
• “Architecture is the masterly,
correct and magnificent play of
masses brought together in
light”

• Louis I. Kahn
• “Without light there is no
architecture”
La Tourette Monastery Lyon
• To design space is to design
light”

National Assembly Building of Bangladesh

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Building envelope
• 80-90% of time is spent indoors
• Envelope
• Influences the daylight quantity and quality of a space
• Influences the outdoor view

(Herzog & de Meuron )

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Objectives
• Know the design tools
that influence the
daylight in a room
• Learn how to apply
these to realize the
required daylight
condition

(Mirthe Duindam )

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Daylight
• Sunlight
• Direct
• Indirect (via reflections)

• Processes in the
atmosphere:
• Absorption
• Scattering

Atmosphere from International Space Station

(©NASA)

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Direct and Diffuse Daylight
• Clear sky (sun)
• Direct, quasi-parallel beam
• High luminous flux
• Use/shield
• Overcast sky (sun covered)
• Diffuse daylight
• Worst case situation
• Use
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Overcast sky Mixed sky Clear sky

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Designing with varying sky domes
For climates with dominant cloudy sky conditions
• Large daylight openings
• Light interior surfaces
• Depth of space max. 2 times the window height
• Reside in daylit area near the façade
• Daylight from two sides

For climates with dominant sunny sky conditions

• Orientation and position of the sun are essential
• Warm periods: solar shading necessary
• (Large) window openings in the North façade (northern
hemisphere)
• Solar entrance of the south façade preferably only in winter
(northern hemisphere)

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Dynamic daylight

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Dynamic daylight – Correlated Color
Temperatures
Correlated Sky condition
color
temperature
3200 K Sunrise/sunset
5500 K Average daylight/sunny day around
noon
6500-7500 K Cloudy sky
8000 K Foggy sky
9000-12000 K Blue sky
2000 K Deep blue sky

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Different sky models
• Standardized by Commision Internationale de
l’Eclairage (CIE)
• Luminance distribution functions for standard
skies
• ,

Uniform sky CIE Overcast sky CIE Intermediate sky CIE Clear sky
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Sky condition: Uniform Sky
Most simple model of an ‘average’ sky
, = = = .

= = 0.5
2

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Sky condition: Overcast Sky
• CIE Overcast sky, ‘worst case situation’
• Luminance gradient (Horizon: Zenith 1:3)
1 + 2 sin
, =
3
.
= 90 + 9630 sin

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Sky condition: Overcast Sky
• Derived illuminances:
7
= = 2.44
9
3 +8
= = 0.396
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Clear sky
• Bright horizon related to
zenith
• Minimum brightness
opposite the sun
• Circumsolair area with
high luminance

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Clear sky – theoretical model

Z0
ζ E

γ
Richard Kittler

0.32
3 2
(0.91  10e  0.45 cos  )(1  e ) cos 

L( ,  )  Lz
0.91  10e 3 Z 0  0.45 cos 2 Z 0 )(1  e 0.32 )

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Daylight quality
Daylight impacts It provides
• Work quality • Natural lighting
• Health and well-being • A view to the outside
• Mood • A feeling of spaciousness

The quality of view is impacted by

• The distance to the observed buildings
• Observations of weather
• Observations of movement
• Observations of natural elements
• Privacy

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Thing to know: Overcast Sky
• Complete overcast sky
• 100% cloud coverage, no direct sunlight
• Minimum light conditions
• Calculation model for worst case situation
• Architectural perspective interesting when diffuse
lighting is to be assessed
• No harsh shadows compared to direct sunlight
• Window opening orientation (north, south east
west) not of importance

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Quality under overcast sky
conditions

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Daylight entrance
Mean daylight factor
• >10% glare protection is almost certainly necessary
• > 5% Good daylighting, a little additional electric lighting may be
required during daytime
• 2 – 5%Day-lit space, additional electrical lighting is required
• < 2% Space feels dark, additional electric lighting is required
almost all the time
Daylight <1% 1%-2% 2%-4% 4%-7% 7%-12% <12% Very
factor Very low Low Reasonable Average High high
Brightness Dark to obscure Obscure to light Light to very light
Impression
Remarks Suitable for secondary spaces Suitable for working spaces Risk of glare for working,
(hall, storage) appreciated for other applications,
e.g., dwellings and public areas
Ambiance No relation between room and external Connection between room and external
environment evironment

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Visual comfort
Too much contrast can lead to adaptation issues

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Luminance ratios: Recommendations
• Too big contrast ratios lead to adaptation issues
Paper : Work area
3:1
Paper : Surrounding
10 : 1
or by daylight entrance
1 : 10
Screen : work area : surrounding :
Daylight opening /electrical light
1 : 3 : 10 : 40/20

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Things to know: Clear Sky
• Combined with a diffuse
sky condition
• Contrast
bright/shadows
• Orientation of the
window openings
important
• Luminance is greater by
a factor of 5 to 10

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Consider the direct sunlight

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When does direct sunlight enter the
building?

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Design Parameters in the environment
Objects obstruct daylight
• Other Buildings
• Vegetation and other
elements of urban planning
• Atria
• Fixed building elements,
e.g., architectural sun
shading such as
• overhangs
• balconies
• canopies

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Objects can reflect daylight

Rabobank Utrecht,
The Netherlands

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Objects can reflect daylight

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, O’Gehry

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Objects can reflect daylight -
reflective coating
• Less heat enters, therefore lower cooling load
• Less glare
• Users across the street might experience glare

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Skyscraper (Walkie Talkie Building) in
London melts down car

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Sunlight in Viganella en Rjukan

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External-reflected component
Luminous reflectance:
• Grass: 20 – 30%
• Snow: >70%

Daylight design of buildings, Baker & Steemers

(scutter)

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Urban planning aspects
• Check development plan
• Keep sufficient distance to buildings
• Use light-colored materials for horizontal planes

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Building shape

The building shape influences the daylight entrance

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 Building aspects
• Increase façade area
• Use profiling of cross section of building’s mass for daylight
entrance and shading
• Use materials with higher luminous reflectances in higher
areas of atria and large glazing surfaces in its lower section
• Position areas of activity that require daylight close to the
façade

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 Exercise
• Why is this situation not good with regards to
daylighting?
• What could be done better?

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Design Parameters
in the façade
General rules of thumb
• Use diffuse sky light and shield direct sunlight!
• A space can predominately be lit by daylight when
depth = 2 x window height

Daylight design of buildings, Baker & Steemers

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Position of daylight opening in the
façade

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Position of daylight opening in the
façade

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Position of daylight opening in the
façade

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Position of daylight opening in the
façade

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 Daylight opening: Design
• Window high in façade: light in back of the room
• Window at eye level: view
• Window low in the façade: decoration, no light contribution
• Vertical window (small high): ground view, horizon, sky
• Horizontal window (narrow wide): Panoramic view, limited variation

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Daylight opening: Design
• Importance of orientation
• Large transparent surface
• More light
• But also more control needed

North facade South facade

(NwA architecten)

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 Daylight opening: Design
• Position of daylight opening
• Façade
• Roof

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Skylights
• Overcast skies have high zenith luminance 
skylight:
• More daylight per glass area
• As a result
• Higher uniformity
• Hardly a view
• Not possible for every floor
3

1 CIE Overcast sky

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Skylights – Shapes and Types

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Daylight opening: Combination

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Design guidelines light openings
• Use ~40 % of the façade as a
daylight opening
• Place openings as high as possible
in the façade
• Adjust the height of the light
openings to the depth of the
space
• A window below work plane is
useless from a lighting design
point of view;
• Create daylight openings in
façades on both sides of a space.
• The building orientation should
impact the façade design, the size
of the openings, the choice of sun
shading devices and the choice of
glass.
• Carefully design and detail the
light openings (shape and
materialization of wall edges)
• Roof lights are more effective
than vertical light openings, but
the view and the restriction to top
levels are points of attention.
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Selection of glass
Glass properties influencing the
daylight design
• Luminous transmittance
• Color
• UV transmission
• Blinds necessary?
• Function

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Selection of glass
Characteristics of different glazing materials

Material g- LT=τ
Double glazing 0.76 0.81
Non coated green glass - cavity- clear glass 0.48 0.64
Neutraly coated clear glass - cavity - clear glass 0.32 0.60
Specular coated clear glass - cavity - clear glass 0.31 0.29
Printed clear glass – cavity - clear glass 0.52 0.51
Clear glass - lamellea - clear glass 0.24* 0.09*
* Depending on the slat angle of the lamellae

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Example: Landeszentralbank
Meiningen, Hans Kolhoff

(Gunter Binsack)

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Example: Landeszentralbank
Meiningen, Hans Kolhoff

(Gunter Binsack) (Schott)

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Example: Museum MUSAC, Léon,
Mansilla + Tunon

(Bauwelt)

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Example: Museum MUSAC, Léon,
Mansilla + Tunon

(Bauwelt)

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 Transparency vs. Privacy

(Jeroen Groenen)

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Design Guideline – Usage of glass
• Architecture
• High adds to the
transparent character of a
building; translucent or
specular glass
• Interior
• Colored glass influences the
perception of objects in the
space
• Max. of 25% colored glass is
accepted
• Ambiance
• Color and determine the
view and connection to
outdoors
• Low gives gloomy feeling to
the room, even during sunny
days.
• Low lowers the chances of
glare

(Zonneveldt)

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Example: Glass House – Carlo
Santambrogio and Ennio Arosio, Milano

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Example: Glass House, Carlo
Santambrogio and Ennio Arosio, Milano

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Designing with daylight
Developing strategies
• Early design decisions will impact the daylight that
can be used inside a building
• Building potential
(design parameters in the environment)
• Daylight system potential
(design parameters in the façade)
• Room potential
(design parameters in the space)
• It is important to consider and test the strategy
against
• Direct sunlight over the course of a day/year
• Diffuse light from the sky over the course of a day/year

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Printed ceramic coatings

Source: Seralite

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Examples printed facades
City hall, Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands

H.Hellinga H.Hellinga

Mercedes Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany

Ukko

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Sunlight strategy
Important design parameters
• Location on earth
• Orientation
• Environmental factors
• Building shape
• Horizontal and vertical light openings
• Daylight systems

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 1
Sunlight design strategies
1. Shading
2. Directing 2
3. Control
4. Efficiency
5. Integration

3 4 5

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Daylight design strategies
1

1. Maximize solid angle with the sky

2. Luminance screening
3. Do not obstruct light
4. Place openings high in facade 2

5. Shape the space

3 5

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Examples for Daylight Design
The good the bad and the ugly…
Daylight design examples

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Daylight design examples

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Transparency?
• BLOB Eindhoven, Massimiliano Fuksas

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Transparency

Headquarters Rabobank Utrecht, The Netherlands

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Daylight design examples

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Daylight design examples

Church on the water Hokkaido, Tadao Ando

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Daylight design examples

University Alicante, Alvaro Siza

University Porto, Alvaro Siza

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Daylight design examples
Test facility
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Daylight design examples

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON

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Daylight design examples
Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

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Daylight design examples
Berlin Hauptbahnhof

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Daylight design examples
FG Lichttechnik, TU Berlin

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Questions?