Quantification of Effective Temporal Exposure to Daylight Illuminance Levels in Healthcare Settings

Abstract

The purpose of this study is the quantification of the exposure of occupants to daylight illuminance levels. The case study is the typical floor of a patient tower occupied by nurses in twelve hours shifts, from 7 am to 7 pm. Significant evidence exists regarding the positive impact of access to daylight on staff outcomes in healthcare facilities in terms of reduction of stress, absenteeism, medication errors, and burn outs. However, the standard daylight simulation methods evaluate the building and do not capture the dynamic nature of people's behavior while moving through the space. The proposed approach combines agent-based simulation and daylight performance analysis to compute the occupants' exposure to daylight levels throughout the year. The results show the discrepancies between building-centric and human-centric types of analysis and the contribution of dynamic simulation methods to design occupancy schedules to warranty equitable access to daylight to building occupants.