Sunlight and daylight in the traditional built environment: case of the hot arid regions.

Sunlighting is an essential consideration in order to achieve an architecture that is environmentally conscious in hot arid regions. The aim of this chapter is to identify the sunlighting strategies and their resulting typology in some urban spaces, and different types of buildings and constructional details, as developed in the traditional hot and arid regions of the Islamic world. Various sunlighting strategies highlight inspiring elements with prominent environmental and energy savings potential. It is noted that the interest on traditional sunlighting and daylighting strategies arises first from its great availability throughout the year. Also, there is an ancestral tradition of adaptation to the intense sunlight with spiritual values associated to it. The chapter is based on analytical studies and classification of sunlighting strategies, which is a part of a broader research including people's reactions and attitudes toward various daylighting design strategies in different working and living spaces

Sunlight in the traditional dwellings of Algeria.

This paper aims to study the impact of sunlight and daylight on the dwelling's design in Algeria. The approach used for this purpose is the theory of structuration. In this work, the home is considered as the behavioural setting and five case studies are investigated from the coastal area of Algeria to its Sahara desert: traditional houses of Algiers, Kabylie, Constantine, Aures and Ghardaia. The preliminary outcomes presented in this paper are part of a broader research including people's reactions and attitudes, of an Islamic culture, towards various daylighting and sunlighting strategies in different working and living spaces

Sunlighting and daylighting strategies in the traditional urban spaces and buildings of the hot arid regions.

In hot arid regions, sunlighting is an essential consideration to achieve an environmentally conscious architecture. This paper aims to identify the sunlighting strategies and their resulting typology in some urban spaces, different types of buildings and constructional details as they have been developed in the hot and arid regions of the Islamic world

Occupants and daylight in office buildings under sunny skies.

It is expected that the climate of North Africa, one of the hottest regions of the world, will become still more extreme due to the effects of global warming. This would result in higher energy consumptions for cooling purposes in buildings. Daylight could be an efficient energy saving strategy as well as for enhancing productivity. This research aims to explore the relationships between occupants and climatic parameters, with a focus on sunlight and daylight. Previous research revealed the importance of daylighting design to office occupants. The POE method was used to assess the daylighting quality in South Algerian contemporary buildings where the sky is sunny and clear almost year around. This assessment investigates an office building that is over-protected against sunlight and aims to identify the occupant’s reaction (behaviour and satisfaction) to daylighting design. The results presented in this paper are the occupant’s appreciation of : i) The importance of daylight, ii) The illuminance levels under which the occupants are working, iii) The sunlighting control means operated by occupants, and iv) The current sittings (desks position and distance) of occupants in relation to the window location

An evaluation method for daylighting quality in buildings under clear sunny skies.

In buildings, daylight is a commonly-used source of wellbeing, aesthetic delight and energy efficiency. Daylight is therefore one of the main parameters considered in the design of buildings. Methods used by architectural designers may be quantitative and/or qualitative. In general, these methods feature detailed figures, charts and graphs; however, there are two criticisms of how these methods handle daylighting. Firstly, a figure or a chart is only really useful for evaluating the final outcome of a design, not helping an architect in the earlier stages of the design process. Secondly, these sorts of methods are based on theoretical models in which the building's occupants and their preferences or behavioural needs are either ignored or excessively generalised. In addition to this, some architects base their daylighting designs on their own ideas that actually conflict with those of the building's intended occupants. In spite of this, various research has shown that accounting for the preferences and behaviours of occupants are major factors in the success of a building project. It is therefore very important for architects and daylighting designers to better understand these factors, and to incorporate them into the earliest stages of their designs. Occupants' preferences should be translated into terms of relationships between the components of the architectural space (e.g. envelope, window, furnishings, colours and finishes) and the specific contextual aspects of the building's usage (e.g. climatic and socio-cultural environments). More research in this area is therefore required, particular within contexts that have previously received relatively little attention, such as hot, dry regions with clear, sunny skies. To this end, a first step is to decide on the most appropriate method for evaluating daylighting quality in buildings - subjectively, from the point of view of the occupants; or objectively, using strictly physical/statistical measurements. Surveys are generally chosen for large case studies or for experimental research, but the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) appears to be the most suitable method for this particular research. This method was therefore applied in the evaluation of several aspects of a building, and has since been extended to include daylight as a parameter. The daylighting POE method was used to assess two kinds of contemporary building in southern Algeria: offices; and flats within mutli-family housing projects. This paper presents the reasoning for - and implementation of - this method

The impact of sunlight and daylight on the dwelling's occupancy: case of the hot dry regions of Algeria.

It is often asserted that the sun and traditional dwellings were in a perfect harmony, whereas the built environment produced in the last fifty years has in fact marginalized most of the climatic factors. Increasingly, an effort is being made to recover this lost relationship in the form of energy conscious, passive solar and high environmental quality designs. One of the main issues is the use of sunlight and daylight to light up building interiors. Natural light has obvious health benefits and is simultaneously helpful for energy efficiency. Several investigations have demonstrated that sunlight and daylight are well appreciated by building occupants; moreover, these investigations have proved that lighting standards are insufficient, and that there are important non-physical factors involves (e.g. psychological and cultural factors). These non-physical factors vary depending on their climatic and cultural contexts, on the season of the year and time of day, and on the specific people and tasks invovled. It is therefore important to avoid excessive generalisations. This study focuses on the context of a hot, arid region with a sunny sky. In such environments, sunlight penetration is combined with thermal discomfort and glare problems; as a result, the attitudes of building occupants are different from other environmental contexts in which the presence of sunlight is more desirable. This paper aims to study the impact of sunlight and daylight on the affective relationship between a home and its occupants, by analysis of a building's frequency of occupancy. In this work, the home is considered as the behavioural setting and the vernacular dwellings of the southeastern region of Algeria present the focus of this research. The preliminary outcomes presented in this paper are part of broader research investigating people's reactions and attitudes towards various daylighting and sunlighting strategies, in different working and living spaces within an Islamic culture

L’ECLAIRAGE NATUREL DANS LE BATIMENT. REFERENCE AUX MILIEUX ARIDES A CLIMAT CHAUD ET SEC. DAYLIGHTING IN BUILDINGS. REFERENCE TO HOT ARID LANDS.

Cette recherche expose les diverses techniques traditionnelles et contemporaines de l’éclairage naturel en architecture. Ellerelate aussi les apports des nouveaux produits de l’éclairage artificiel et qui peuvent fortement contribuer à une stratégied’éclairage mixte (naturel et artificiel). Elle présente également une revue critique non exhaustive des différents outils deprédiction et d’évaluation de l’éclairage naturel dans le bâtiment avec une référence aux milieux arides à climat chaud et sec.En conclusion, cette étude introduit les conditions de faisabilité de l’éclairage naturel (et mixte) en tant que stratégie deréduction de la consommation énergétique ainsi que les opportunités propres au cas de l’Algérie.Mots clés : Bâtiment, architecture, éclairage naturel, éclairage artificiel, aride.ABSTRACTThis research reports the various traditional and contemporary techniques of daylighting in buildings and the involvement ofthe new products of electric lighting for a combined (natural and artificial) lighting. Also, it presents a non-exhaustive criticalreview of the prediction and evaluation tools of daylighting with reference to the hot arid regions. In conclusion, thisinvestigation establishes the feasibility conditions and the opportunities for Algeria to take up daylighting (and the combinedlighting) as an energy consumption reduction strategy.Key words : Building, architecture, daylighting, electric lighting, arid

EVOLUTION DES MODELES D'HABITAT ET APPROPRIATION DE L'ESPACE LE CAS DE L'ARCHITECTURE DOMESTIQUE DANS LES ZIBAN

Il y a quelques décennies les communautés rurales de la région des Ziban vivaient encore en autarcie presque totale. Durant lacolonisation ces communautés sont soumises à la destructions des structures spatiales et sociales qui sous-tendaient leursétablissements humains ce qui engendra des conséquences graves et irréversibles sur l'environnement bâti.D'un autre côté, la confrontation avec le mode de vie et en particulier le mode d'habiter occidental généré par la colonisation adéclenché des mutations de grandes envergures. A l'indépendance ce phénomène s'est accentué sous l'influence des médias.Ces mutations ont, certes, engendré des bienfaits mais aussi beaucoup de problèmes imputables à la brutalité de ce phénomène;les populations locales n'ayant pas eu assez de recul pour assimiler les influences nouvelles. Ils se sont construits une idée duconfort et de la modernité qui n'est, en général, pas adaptée à leur mode de vie.Aujourd'hui, les ksouriens du Ziban essayent spontanément de transformer leur habitat suivant l'image qu'ils se font de lamodernité; une nouvelle architecture est en train de s'élaborer qui essaie à tout prix de se démarquer du traditionnel (matériauxnouveaux, nouvelle relation à l'espace extérieur, nouvelles valeurs esthétiques…). Les transformations du bâti précèdentsouvent la réflexion sur l'adaptation, c'est donc par l'usage que les habitants prennent conscience de l'inadéquation de leurlogement à leur mode d'habiter. Des mécanismes d'appropriation/réappropriation se mettent, alors, en place pour adapter lecadre de vie aux manières de vivre.C'est dans l'idée de révéler certains de ces mécanismes qu'une étude a été entreprise dans la région des Ziban (région deBiskra). Cette contribution donnera un aperçu sur l'approche adoptée pour l'étude des modes de transformations de l'habitatdans la région, des résultats préliminaires s e r o n t é g a l eme n t p r é s e n t é s