Ap

pertu
ures for
fo Da
ayligh
hting
The
e locatio
ons and size of aperture
a
s matterr a greatt deal if you wan
nt to utilize
nattural ligh
ht in you
ur buildiing. As mention
ned in th
he massiing and orientattion
pag
ge, wind
dows and
d other opening
gs facing the patth of the
e sun recceive mu
uch
mo
ore direct sunligh
ht than th
hose facing awayy. Howe
ever, morre daylighting is not
neccessarily better. Bringing
g in too much
m
light can cause glare and overheati
o
ing.
See
e Measuring Ligh
ht for Lig
ghting an
nd Daylig
ghting Design.
Evenly-distributed light is critical to
t good daylighting,, so apertu
ures that arre evenly d
distributed
d are
useful. Continuous-strip aperture
es are eve
en better, and aperttures on multiple
m
sides are often
o
besst. Otherw
wise rooms can have "hotspots"", both in terms of temperaturre and brig
ghtness. Often
O
thiss is accomplished witth horizon
ntal bands of window
ws that are
e placed high in a sp
pace (to avvoid
glarre and reflect light off the ceilin
ng), or with evenly sp
paced verttically orien
nted windo
ows that re
each
the full heightt of the roo
om.

Evenlyy-spaced windows on two walls provvide well-distributeed light

(See more on Anderson
A
Anderson
n ZEBRA project)

Side
e Light
Ligh
ht coming from side
e aperturess like windows can only
o
penetrate so farr into a bu
uilding. Th
his is
the reason why
w
shallo
ow floor plans are
e usually recommen
nded for daylightin
ng multi-sstory
buildings. A simple rule of thum
mb for mo
ost latitudes is that daylight penetratess into a ro
oom
roughly 2.5 tim
mes the he
eight of the
e top of the window.

Side lighting
l
only reach
hes so far into a ro
oom

Win
ndows facing away frrom the su
uns path ra
ather than towards the equato
or provide the
t most even
e
illum
mination, tthough nott the brigh
htest. East and west facing windows can provide ve
ery bright light
l
in the
t
mornin
ng or evening but insufficient
i
t light at other time
es of day, and are very
v
prone
e to
glarre. Window
ws facing towards
t
th
he sun's pa
ath get the brightest light; they can also have
h
glare, but
the glare is much easier to controll than on East
E
or Wesst walls.
In middle
m
latittudes and those closser to the equator, skylights
s
ca
an provide
e the brigh
htest and most
m
con
nsistent illu
umination, but in lattitudes clo
oser to the
e poles they are lesss bright and
a
much less
seasonally con
nsistent.

Top
p Light
Higher apertu
ures are more
m
effecttive at brin
nging lightt deep into the building. Thiss often me
eans
glazzing in roo
ofs.
Skyylights are not the only kind of
o aperture to bring light in through roo
ofs. Other "top lightting"
stra
ategies incllude cleresstories, mo
onitors, and
d saw-tootths or othe
er scoop-shapes. These each have
h
their own advvantages and disadva
antages in construction cost an
nd how the
ey bring th
he sun into
o the
space at different times of day and
d year.

Differrent kinds of top lig

ghting

Top
p lights arre usually much brrighter tha
an side lig
ghts per unit area, for the same glazzing
properties. A rough app
proximatio
on for moderate latitu
udes is tha
at a vertical monitor brings
b
in tw
wice
as much ligh
ht as a vie
ew window
w, an anglled monito
or brings in three or
o more tiimes as much
m
dep
pending on
n the anglle and a horizontal
h
skylight brings in fivve times as
a much light as a view
v
window.
Bafffles are oftten used in top lightting to hellp direct th
he light usefully into the room, and splayying
the edges of o
openings can
c help th
he light sprread more broadly th
hough the space.
s

Two kinds
k
of splayed op
pening
(Image from Sun, Wind, and Light by G.Z. Brown and Mark DeKay)
D

Day
ylight Apertures vs. View
V
Windo
ows
Goo
od dayligh
hting desig
gn conside
ers dayligh
hting aperrtures separately fro
om view windows,
w
e
even
whe
en the sam
me window is used
d for both. Daylightting windo
ows have different optimal sizes,
placcement, an
nd glazing properties from view
w window
ws. Window
ws used fo
or both fun
nctions usu
ually
com
mpromise performan
p
ce.
Dayylighting a
apertures are
a best lo
ocated as high as possible
p
on
n the walls or ceilin
ng, for dee
eper
pen
netration o
of light into
o the spacce. View windows
w
ho
owever, must
m
be at eye level for
f occupa
ants,
botth sitting a
and standing. View
w windows are usuallly preferre
ed to be large, while dayligh
hting
windows can be smallerr.
While dayligh
hting windows ideallly diffuse the light, view wind
dows mustt have clea
ar views. This
mak
kes the avo
oidance off glare a to
op concern
n for view windows. Often sha
ades and/o
or light she
elves
are placed be
etween da
aylighting windows and
a
view windows, to shade the view window while
w
diffusing and redirectin
ng light fro
om the da
aylighting w
window. Also,
A
view windows may be more
m
hea
avily tinted than dayliighting win
ndows to avoid
a
glare.

Daylightiing window vs. vieew window