Occupant-Centric Daylight in Housing: Daylight Availability and Occupant Visual Comfort in Seattle Multi-Family Housing

Abstract

Housing is one of the biggest challenges in Seattle. The design decisions for floor layout and configuration of living units impact the quantitative and qualitative character of daylighting and therefore, determine daylight availability and occupant visual comfort. The goal to increase daylight availability may conflict with the need to maintain occupant visual comfort, but it is necessary to reach a suitable tradeoff. This study utilizes a simulation-based workflow for incorporating occupant-centric daylight evaluations in multi-family residential housing design starting from the schematic phases. Based on Seattle weather data, building typology of multi-family housing is studied using daylight availability and visual comfort metrics. By employing daylight analysis throughout the preliminary design, a series of design options for multi-family are developed. Comparative daylight analysis and spatial efficiency calculations are used to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different design proposals. The results are quantification and visualization of daylight strategies that could be taken as design guidelines by architects and developers to create well-lit spaces.