Daylighting in the architectural design process: an APP development

• Grant number: 17/24479-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Sergio Scarazzato
• Grantee: Jéssica Cristine da Silva Fonseca Matos
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The benefits of daylight in buildings are known: best lighting quality when compared with electric lighting sources, reduction of electrical energy consumption, positive impact on productivity, well-being, comfort and health of users due to the balance of the circadian rhythm. These benefits justify the inclusion of issues related to the use of daylight in the early phases of the architectural design when important building variables such as orientation, volumetry, ambient layout, openings, and shading are defined. However, the architect's in daylighting rarely goes beyond a basic approach. Thus, the proposed research aims to develop an artifact, in the form of an app for mobile devices, following the methodology of "Design Science Research" designed to permit the inclusion of daylighting issues in the first steps of the architectural design process. In order to do this, the app will provide several patterns of daylighting in different scales as follows: (i) urban; (ii) neighborhood; (iii) terrain; (iv) building; (v) indoor environments; (vi) interiors and furniture. The app will be used experimentally in a discipline about daylighting design that figures as curricular at the School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design of the University of Campinas, Brasil (FEC-Unicamp). Once the research is complete, the app will be available for free download. (AU)