Sustainable design must optimize
daylighting and also control when and how sunlight
enters the building. With careful design, daylighting
can be used for task lighting during most of the day for
much of the year. Utilizing daylighting and so avoiding
artificial lighting is also an important way to reduce
total energy costs, especially in non-residential
buildings.
More than that, though, natural light
can be used creatively to provide visually stimulating
indoor environments. The variability in natural light –
colour, shadows, brightness contrasts, sun angle – over
the day and across the seasons should be part of a
designer's palette. Daylight and controlled pools of
sunlight both create visual interest and buoy up
occupants' health and emotional well-being, comfort, and
productivity – which tends to increase occupant
satisfaction with the building. While high levels of
daylight are preferable, simply having natural
light in interiors has positive effects.
Furthermore, emotional well-being and
cognitive performance are better supported by buildings
and urbans spaces that allow connection to the natural
environment. Daylight and sunlight in a building are, of
course, direct links to the ever-changing light
outdoors, so they can also help users of the building to
feel more connected to the outdoors.
This practice holds that buildings and
urban spaces should be designed to go beyond necessary
utilitarian, task-oriented requirements: buildings
should promote well-being and give delight. Daylighting,
careful use of indoor sunlight, and variation in colour
and pattern of light should be utilized in building
design:
- To support occupant well-being by
addressing the basic human need for sensory
variability.
- As connection to the natural world
outdoors to address the innate human preference for
connection to nature.
- As a palette for designing for the
senses, for the intellect and for the human spirit,
not just for the eye-as-visual-organ.
If you, too, consider natural light to
be a key aspect of sustainable design, and you think
buildings and urban spaces should be carefully designed
to make best use of daylight and sunlight, then perhaps
you should incorporate into your design process the
advice and analytical techniques that this practice
offers:
- Average Daylight Factor calculations
- Detailed simulations of the
variability of daylight in spaces, through the day and
the year
- Sunlight penetration and shadow
studies
- Vertical Sky Component calculations
- Annual Probable Sunlight Hours
calculations
You can
contact Catherine Alexandra on 020 7148 3450 or 01933
788 500 or by using the contact form.
