Abstract
Increased daylight levels are associated with greater well-being of building occupants and energy efficiency. Daylight levels are directly linked to the building floorplate depth, whereas shallow floorplate and elongated buildings are usually related to higher daylight levels. However, creating buildings that have more natural light comes with a greater construction cost due to larger envelope areas as well as greater operating costs due to the energy loss through the envelope. This research addresses the question of identifying basic design strategies for buildings that optimize between two opposing trends: enhancing daylighting in buildings while also reducing the amount of building envelope and energy transfer loss. We analyze a sample of fifty floorplates of key buildings of the 20th century considered best practice examples of architectural precedents. We inquire about the effect of building size on the complex relationship between natural lighting and building compactness, which is linked to cost. First, all the buildings are scaled and brought to the same floorplate size in order to evaluate the effect of building formal typology on daylighting. Second, the shapes of building floorplates are analyzed and categorized according to their shape compactness and fragmentation. The statistical analysis of the sample enables the identification of the cases that perform best regarding both daylight levels and the extent of the outer envelope. The findings can be used to inform the design of buildings in the future with important implications for the sustainability of the built environment.
Presenters
Andrew WelchStudent, Civil Engineering, Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Architecture, Daylighting, Energy Efficiency, Morphology, Scale, Floorplate
