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“Uncharted territory: Daylight Performance and Occupant Behaviour...” by Nafsika Christa Drosou

672 views · Published 16 September 2015 · 12:34 · Indexed 29 October 2026

Channel: The VELUX Group · 2015 · Science & Technology

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Lecture from the 6th VELUX Daylight Symposium “Daylight as a driver of change” that took place in London on 2-3 September 2015. For more information visit http://thedaylightsite.com

ABSTRACT

Evidence on how the luminous environment is experienced by occupants is the subject of this work. The aim is to contribute to improved school design by addressing the gap in the designers’ and policy makers’ understanding of how building occupants perceive daylight; how they respond to daylight performance values; and how their needs and actions shape the operational daylight performance of classrooms. Exploring the above in a live learning environment is hampered by difficulties involving the collection of subjective data from children (and) access for continuously monitoring daylight performance and occupant interaction with the building design and its systems.

The need for evidence is all the more pressing for two reasons. The first relates to the 2013 UK schools daylight guidelines, introduced by the Education Funding Agency through the Priority Schools Building Programme. The use of climate based daylight modeling metrics to deliver the government’s new standards instead of the widely used daylight factor has ignited a heated debate, concerning the adequacy of existing metrics and benchmarks to guide designers toward the development of designs that translate into well daylit schools. The second reason involves the changing visual needs of classrooms due to the increasing reliance of modern teaching methods on visual display technologies, such as smart whiteboards and tablets.

A mixed method approach is described in order to establish the relationship between daylight levels and occupant behaviour in the ‘live’ environment of a classroom used as a case study. The quantification (and mapping) of the luminous environment is achieved by means of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging: a method followed in order to record luminance data on an image that closely resembles what is seen by the human eye. Additionally, HDR imaging enables non-intrusive continuous monitoring for extended periods of time (e.g. a month or longer) and allows recording of the interaction of occupants with controls such as electric lights and blinds, as required to satisfy their visual needs.

The qualitative side of the approach employs the Grounded Theory Method (GTM); a systematic procedure used as a tool to generate theory when a process, action or interaction is not adequately explained by existing theories. In accordance with the emerging research design, a classification of GTM, theory emerges from the data collected and not from preset categories. Data is sourced by means of questionnaires, focus groups and interviews involving students, teachers and school staff. This approach provides valuable information on the various tasks occupants perform in a modern classroom and the subsequent visual needs that arise. Furthermore, it explores the rationale behind observed actions and allows for the investigation of behavioral patterns that correspond to specific daylight design elements of the case study. Finally, the association of qualitative and quantitative data adds meaning to subjective occupant responses enabling the quantification of experienced daylight, while providing evidence of the real world daylight performance in occupied classrooms.

Nafsika Drosou is a second year PhD student in the School of Civil and Building Engineering of Loughborough University in the UK. With a background in Civil Engineering from the University of the Philippines, her professional experience includes working on housing projects of a real estate and development firm in Manila. In 2010 she completed an MSc in Low Carbon Building Design & Modelling at Loughborough University. She then joined Portsmouth University, School of Architecture, as a research assistant on SILCS (Strategies for Innovative Low Carbon Settlements), an EU Interreg IVC project. Returning to Loughborough University, she completed an MRes in Energy Demand Studies with a scholarship from the London-Loughborough EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Research in Energy Demand which also covers her PhD.

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