Optimization of office building window lighting in Ahvaz
Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planing, Jundi-Shapur university of Technology, Dezful, Iran
Abstract
True and proper employment of daylight illumination is one of the principles of building design. Daylight has a dynamic nature which helps the designers to achieve suitable space quality. To employ the potentials of daylight, the proper model must be similar to light properties from the nature prospective. This study is aimed at investigation and explanation of an optimum dynamic lighting system to equip office building windows in order to deepen, balance and control the received light. For this purpose, physical variables including the floor height, the ratio of the occupied surface by window to the total surrounding surface (Window area or window-to-wall ratio (WWR)) and the dimensions of the reference office room were modelled in the Rhino software. The lighting of the reference room in Ahvaz climate was simulated by Grasshopper, Ladybug, Honeybee and Honeybee-plus plugins in the Rhino software, and the lightness parameters were analyzed based on the LEEDV4 standard. According to the results and software outputs, design strategies were proposed to overcome lighting defects by a dynamic lighting system, and their performance and effectiveness on improvement of office space lighting were investigated by the software. It was found that an optical niche with optimized dimensions and angle, and its installation on a window with optimum proportions in the office room studied leads to deeper light penetration into the room. The employment of movable window canopy with retractable plates containing sun location-sensitive sensors during whole daytime and critical days was found to control the glare phenomenon caused by the entrance of natural light and contributed to a space in the visual ease region.
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