Dale Brentrup and
his research focus on the aspects of daylighting and utilizing this design
methodology to reduce the energy consumption of new architecture today. Since buildings consume about 40% of the
energy produced, and of that a bout 20% is devoted to lighting the
building. By reducing this load,
designers can create more environmentally friendly and cost efficient
buildings. Unfortunately, the key parts
of the design process where the buildings orientation and utilization of
daylight are largely determined are the most expedited parts of the design
process. This results in hasty
daylighting analysis, if any at all and is detrimental to the energy efficiency
of the building in regards to its daylight harvesting.
Dales goal is to
implement a Genetic Algorithm for daylighting in order to account for the short
amount of time that designers give to accounting for daylighting in the
design. Daylightning analysis relies on
taking luminance data from various control points in a given space. Through computer programs such as Radiance,
these points receive data from the sky vault and can calculate the amount of
light reaching the control point based on simulated weather conditions, date,
and time of day. From here, daylighting analysis would then utilize various
techniques such as manipulating the ceiling slope, shading elements, and the
window size and height to try to evenly distribute daylight throughout the
space. With the Genetic Algorithm, the computer creates various scenarios of
daylighting for a space then selects the most efficient method and builds from
that until an optimal lighting condition is reached. This process can speed up the analysis through
automation and can quickly give the designer optimal dimensions and measurements
for lighting elements such as light shelves, ceiling height, and ceiling slope.
Unfortunately,
there’s no way to determine the absolute efficiency until the systems are
implemented into the built environment. This
is simply because nature can act very differently than a computer program at
points. What the daylighting lab gives
us is a good representation of the general nature of daylighting specific to an
area. It allows us to prepare for given
conditions that have been previously recorded and averaged so that, as
designers, we can prepare for the trends that we have already seen.
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