Daylighting as an Aspect of Architecture
Daylighting in design is the introduction of natural light within a building. It’s important to have a design that allows natural light into the building. It is humane to have natural daylight in any design.
It is also important to make proper use of daylight. This ensures that you get enough daylight. It also means you don’t increase heat exposure within the building. Heat exposure is counterproductive to having daylight. You then have a building that’s generating a lot of heat and it’s uncomfortable for its users. So there needs to be a balance within the design process, to be able to consider the proper ways to design a building. A north-facing building is a good example. You don’t have direct daylight exposure. You instead have diffuse light that comes from the north, which still allows daylight to come in.
Other Sources and Benefits of Daylight
Light comes in from above through the use of clear stories or skylights. These are sources of indirect light and diffuse light as well. There are also ways to expand the daylight within the building. There’s been some new technology, like light tubes, for example. They’re not that new. They have been around for 10 or 20 years. They are very efficient ways of bringing natural sunlight into a building. It’s a fact that natural daylight affects a human being in very positive ways. Everything from mood regulation to well-being to providing Vitamin D, of course. It’s important to be able to incorporate this into every design.
Daylighting is important for allowing people to be able to look outdoors. A way to explain the importance of daylighting is to explain the statistics from Alaska. This is where the days are short in winter. This means that people get a very small amount of sunlight during the winter. It is a fact that cases of depression are high here, as well as suicide rates among teens. A lot of this connects to the lack of exposure of natural daylight. So this is a graphic example of how the lack of natural sunlight affects a human being.
Summer Light Changes Mood
You can imagine what it’s like for children to be out on the beach in the summer, outdoors. You can then see how healthy and important daylight is for human beings. In the same way when you are within a building. When you have big windows from which you can look outside, it does something to your mood. It has the ability to make you feel better to be able to look outside.
It is also known that people are more productive when they have regular exposure to daylight. So there are a lot of health reasons to have natural daylight come into the building. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the humane thing to do.
More Ways to Introduce Daylight
One of the simplest ways of bringing natural light is to use windows. Increasing the number of windows is the easiest way to bring in more natural light. Of course, there are other ways like sky lighting, clear stories, high windows, and bay windows. There are so many other ways that you can bring in natural daylight.
Also, I’ve also mentioned the use of light tubes. Light tubes are a tremendous way of bringing in natural light. There is another thing that we haven’t touched on. When you bring in natural daylight, you are saving on your electric bill. You’re lighting up the interior space without turning on your lights. This way, you help conserve our natural resources. It’s as simple as that.
