Daylighting Simulation in Buildings

Emphasis on daylighting is given to non-domestic buildings because in such buildings the specificity of the activities or the high levels of illumination demand a more careful control on daylighting examined for design purposes. Clearly energy saving in that situation is one of the reasons for that emphasis. This paper deals with light coming into the rooms through the window providing natural light onde the window is considered the only system that provides and controls light flux and distribution. Rooms can be classified according to their occupancy and use, and then many different activities requiring different illumination levels can be developed in the same space. Therefore the aim of the present work is to investigate windows' characteristics as a mean to assess daylighting. Windows' parameters were taken up to calculate daylighting for 12m2 rooms. The simulated cases were accesses varying windows position, shape, size and geometry, maintaining in all cases 3.60m2 area. This methodology can be applied in architectural education aiming students' comprehension about users' comfort and energy savings. ECOTECT and Radiance softwares were used to simulate the proposed parameters.