A daylighting knowledge base for performance-driven facade design exploration

Abstract

Heuristics and simple design guides are important tools for designers who wish to incorporate daylighting into the early design process. This paper describes a simulation-based method for generating simple rules for facade design based on specific climate data. This approach uses a design of experiments methodology to populate a detailed daylighting knowledge base. To enable consideration of both visual performance and visual comfort, the knowledge base contains information about whole-year, climate-based illuminance and glare metrics. The design parameters considered include window and shading device geometry and glazing materials. The approach illustrates how various design elements affect daylighting performance and provides a simple way to approach daylighting early in the design process. It can be employed for design and in educational settings.

Keywords:

• Daylighting
• design of experiments
• design guides.