Daylight conditions in housing–Its role and priority in Danish building regulations

Abstract

In a Danish context, the Building Regulation is the legislation for our built environment. Therefore, the focus of this survey is to investigate how Danish legislation treats questions on daylight in relation to the build environment. Furthermore, it looks at whether the specific ways of looking at daylight influence the general understanding of light and the processing of daylight design in the built environment. When acknowledging both its multifaceted character and the impact daylight has, as well as the inherent implications regulation can have on the practices that apply to them, the question remains as to how Danish building regulations treat questions of daylight in relation to the built environment. Furthermore, what is the implication of understanding these ways of looking at daylight? This survey is a profound study of 14 Danish building regulations, from the first historical regulations in 1856 up to the latest regulation of 2018. To investigate the role of daylight and its priority in Danish building regulations, daylight is defined through three theoretical topics: vision, energy, and health. This survey focuses on daylight in relation to private housing. Reviewing the 14 Danish Building Regulations illustrates how the understanding of daylight in relation to the built environment has changed. The different requirements on daylight design varies through time and reflects the political agenda of each specific historical period. This underlines how daylight is subject to changing agendas; however, it is rarely an agenda on its own.

Window geometry and its effect on the experience of illuminated spaces – a study of three daylit architectural cases

“…Unfortunately, these aspects are not in focus much, as present agendas mean that focus is on energy consumption. In a Danish context this is reflected in the guideline on daylight design in the Building Regulation which has gradually moved from an awareness of the importance of a comfortable visual environment to primarily supporting energy consumption [23]. By leaving out the experience of light, daylight design might end up disregarding the fact that people need to occupy spaces with a comfortable visual environment.…”

To Shade or not to Shade (and how)? Annual heating energy balance and internal temperature in low energy houses in Wrocław, Poland.

“…Individual shading practices are developed based on the outcome of the two. Dynamic modeling studies typically target the former stage and provide analysis balancing energy, daylighting and thermal comfort to inform windows and facade design that may involve passive or active protection from direct sunlight entering interior spaces [1,2,3,4,5]. Some modelling studies focus on the occupancy stage, with data derived from field studies, to help identify window treatments optimized to address contextualized challenges for a given architectural setting [6].…”