Daylight Optimization: A Parametric Study of Atrium Design : Early Stage Design Guidelines of Atria for Optimization of Daylight Autonomy

Abstract:

This thesis investigates the design of atria for daylighting in large scale buildings. Athree dimensional test building with a central atrium was constructed and variousparameters of the atrium altered. The impact of these changes was studied throughcomputer simulations of annual daylight distribution by implementing state of theart software. Daylight autonomy is simulated for an annual climate file for Stockholm,Sweden.In the thesis, notion is made of basic daylighting concepts, the importance ofbringing daylight into buildings is argued, and the daylighting criteria of three environmentalcertification tools introduced. Furthermore, a detailed comparison ismade on several well known daylight simulation tools.A newly developed, state of the art, daylight simulation tool called Honeybee,is used in the simulation process. The tool utilizes the calculation engines of wellknown daylight simulation software Radiance and Daysim, which apply backward ray-tracing to reach accurate results. Honeybee is coupled to the graphical algorithmeditor Grasshopper for Rhinoceros 3D, which allows for an efficient way ofparametric modelling.The comparison of five different daylight simulation tools showed that Honeybeeoutweighs the capabilities of many of them by offering a wast range of simulationcapabilities and also giving the user exceptional control of result data within multiplezones of the test building.The results of the daylight study have been compiled into a document whichpurpose is to serve as early stage design guidelines of atria for architects. Manyfactors have been shown through simulation to have a dramatic impact on daylighton an annual basis, and several suggestions have been made on how to maximizethe quantity of daylight within buildings containing atria.