Light and Privacy, A proposal towards a testing and education standard

Abstract: The transformation of the architects’ vision to architectural form is a lengthy process. From initial sketch to day-to-day life, a design is transformed through the reality of occupation. No matter how much effort is put into a design its final effectiveness is determined by the end user. The access to ample daylight balanced with an adequate sense of visual privacy within ones one home is not often accounted for within the planning process. With current legislation making access to daylight a right within many developed countries, guaranteeing that access within the dense urban environment can mean putting resident’s privacy into question when planning to meet these daylight requirements. Failing to consider the privacy needs of all residents, especially immigrant groups, can lead to privacy driven modifications counterproductive to the overall goal of increasing access to daylight. Resident modifications can, in turn, lead to reductions of daylight levels within the home. There is a need for a system of analysis when it comes to the balance of access to daylight and adequate visual privacy, connecting the critical impacts of these factors on the human physiology and psychology. This proposal puts forward a system to analyze the relationship between the effective light transmission and the perceived visual privacy provided by a given visual privacy solution. The study is based off the analysis of current research regarding the effect of daylight on the human body, the importance of privacy within the home, the impact of cultural background on perception of privacy, and the impact of changing urban density on how people live. The research proposes a system of measurement taking into consideration both the quantitative effective daylight transmittance and a systematic qualitative analysis of perceived visual privacy through participant survey. The data collected would eventually be combined in a way that could be easily communicated to architects, designers, manufacturers and most importantly the end user. This system would be used to ensure that residents are able to effectively balance the level of privacy they require while mitigating the loss of daylight within their homes helping to insure the most benefits for the resident regardless of what home they find themselves in.