Lighting in the third dimension : laser scanning as an architectural survey and representation method

This paper proposes tridimensional (3D) laser scanning to architects and lighting designers as a lighting enquiry and visualization method for existing built environments. The method constitutes a complement to existing lighting methods by responding to limitations of photometric measurements, computer simulation and HDR imagery in surveying and visualizing light in actual buildings. The research explores advantages and limitations of 3D laser scanning in a case study addressing a vast, geometrically complex and fragmented naturally and artificially lit space. Lighting patterns and geometry of the case study are captured with a 3D laser scanner through a series of four scans. A single 3D model of the entire space is produced from the aligned and fused scans. Lighting distribution patterns are showcased in relation to the materiality, geometry and position of windows, walls, lighting fixtures and day lighting sources. Results and presented through images similar to architectural presentation drawings. More specifically, the lighting distribution patterns are illustrated in a floor plan, a reflected ceiling plan, an axonometry and a cross-section. The point cloud model of the case study is also generated into a video format representing the entire building as well as different viewpoints. The study shows that the proposed method provides powerful visualization results due to the unlimited number of images that can be generated from a point cloud and facilitates understanding of existing lighting conditions in spaces

Thermal comfort and comparison of some parameters coming from hospitals and shopping centers under natural ventilation : The case of Madagascar Island

Nowadays, in several countries in the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar island, Comores island, Seychelles island and Mayotte, no adopted and regulated building standards exist. Human health essentially depends on the quality of indoor air, and so several actions should be taken to solve this problem. The purpose of this study is to develop a database of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings inordertoimproveindoorairquality,mainlyinhospitals andshoppingcentersinthelargestislandoftheIndian Ocean.Toachievethisobjective,andduetoalackofdataregardingcomfortinbuiltenvironmentsinthisregion, experimental and subjective studies were carried out in 5 big hospitals and 50 small and large shopping centers, distributed in 25 districts of urban areas in Northern Madagascar. The adaptive approach was used for this purpose. A specific questionnaire based on the ISO7730 and 10551 was designed to collect these data. A total of 400 people participated in this study, and the survey was conducted during rainy and dry seasons. This study discusses the influence of gender, clothing, activities, voters’ mind state and occupants’ control strategies on adaptive comfort assessment. In addition, various comfort parameters were calculated for these buildings. Results show that, in both studied places, the lower and upper acceptable temperatures for 80% of the voters were 23.2 °C and 26.8 °C, while 90% of the customers and patients reported a comfortable temperature range of 24.5–26.2°C. This will help to define proper guidelines to build more comfortable buildings in Madagascar and other countries of the Indian Ocean

From History to Architectural Imagination: A physical ambiences laboratory to interpret past sensory experiences and speculate on future spaces

The built environment offers an impressive corpus of spatial typologies on which architects and users may build their knowledge based of ambiences. This corpus primarily consists of existing buildings originating from a wide spectre of historical backgrounds, but it could also include past ambiences. A physical ambiences laboratory has recently been developed, built, and inhabited to compare existing and past ambiences, but foremostly speculate on future ambiences. It consists of a full-scale, adaptable structure that allows for the experience of architectural typologies, and enables spatial transformations through time. Building the adaptable structure in an outdoors environment aims to connect the theory of ambiences with the actual complexity of experiencing on a site, which cannot be adequately approached with digital simulation. The definition of an ambience therefore involves complexity because of the changing nature of the environmental conditions that generates it, such as light, wind, sun, and sound, creating varying distribution patterns of natural fluxes. This research-creation project recognizes that the people-environment issue constitutes an essential basis to the creation of genuine genius loci. The research suggests that adaptive opportunities and reinterpretation of existing ambiences could ultimately translate into new spaces to experience environmental delight for responsive inhabitants

Dynamique lumière/architecture - Un processus de création et d'analyse de l'ambiance lumineuse et de l'espace architectural

International audienceThe research proposes an insight between the object and light through the elaboration of a design method that promotes spatial analysis to assist architects and designers in their creative explorations. Minimalist interventions using scale models and photographic images simultaneously represent the richness of spatial relations as well as information regarding luminous ambiances. A lexicon of parameters is formulated from theoretical notions related to space, objects, light and perception, into grids of interpretations. These serve as a frame of analysis, allowing the identification of the most active elements interacting within the visual field. They synthesize the visual hierarchy related to spatial complexity and act as beacons in the process of creating ambiances

Climate Form Finding for Architectural Inhabitability

This research aims to develop a design process through experimenting cold climatic fluxes with a combined tactile and digital approach to create new architectural forms. Through successive design stages, this experimentation intends to validate the habitability of these new typologies of forms shaped by climate, which could offer multiple architectural ambiances. This paper addresses the following questions: How can these new forms be transformed and manipulated through design stages to visualize their potential architectural inhabitability? How can the design process inspire architects and designers to engage a more tactile and digital reflection with climatic fluxes, such as wind and light? Physical models are produced through combinations of lights, materials and scales, which are then studied through photographic explorations to visualize their inhabitable potential of these new climatic form. Images are further contextualized through digital collages by inserting inhabitants and an external environment to create architectural renderings. The final result offers new visual images of lively climatic ambiances that suggest a more contextual relation to the environment and ultimately, a new representation of our relationship between winter and architecture

Dataset of images for visual and non-visual analysis of colour applications in architecture

This paper describes three datasets which include 443 folders and approximately 4430 images. The images were obtained from the interior of a 1:50 scale model using a fisheye camera connected to a Raspberry Pi microcomputer. This dataset aims to analyze the photobiological effects (visual and non-visual) of the interplay between coloured surfaces and different types of lighting strategies. The experiments were conducted under three types of light sources: simulated daylight through a mirror-box artificial sky simulator, direct daylight, and an electric lighting system that allows for colour temperature modification. This dataset includes low dynamic range images to generate high dynamic range images, which in turn can be used to plot false colour maps concerning photopic luminance, melanopic luminance, CCT of an image, M/P ratio, and brightness distribution maps. This dataset can be useful for architects, interior designers, and building engineers to integrate lighting and colour strategies according to the visual and non-visual needs of the users. This research was partially used in the research of Espinoza-Sanhueza et al. [1,2]. The datasets are published and shared through a Mendeley repository [3]