Daylight for sustainable development of historic sites

Consideration of daylight is one of the contextual ingredients for maintaining a sustainable identity when intervening in a heritage site. Appropriate consideration of daylighting ensures not only visual and thermal comfort in the urban setting, but also contributes to the preservation of the place visual identity. The historic district of el Darb al-Asfar is undergoing a rehabilitation project that raises questions about the new &lsquo;sparking&rsquo; look of the place. The ongoing cultural debate in old Cairo on the extent of success of the rehabilitation efforts in preserving the place identity identified a gap in literature regarding the ingredients that constitute identity in heritage settings. The paper argues that the project using new finishing materials of facades has led to changes in daylight levels in the space and hence the visual perception of the place itself. This paper aims to assess the impact of such intervention on the visual perception and the space identity. A digital model is built utilising a combination of photogrammetric and 3D digital technique. The TOWNSCOPE simulation package is used to trace the performance of direct, diffused, and reflected components of daylight within the original and recently resorted scenes. The output of the simulation exercise has been validated by empirical data. The paper concludes by suggesting a set of measures for achieving an appropriate daylight performance in heritage sites Eastern Mediterranean climatic conditions.<br /

Evaluating indoor environmental performance of laboratories in a Northern Nigerian university

Poor environmental comfort in learning spaces can have an impact on the learning capacities of students. It is not unusual to find learning spaces in Nigerian higher institutions in which the indoor environmental qualities do not meet the occupants’ requirements. Despite being in the tropics, where solar radiation is in abundance, Nigerian building industry professionals pay little attention to passive energy utilization. Knowing how buildings perform in the country may appeal to their consciousness in reconsidering this situation. This paper is part of an ongoing study on comfort in higher education facilities involving lecture theatres and laboratories in Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. Objective and subjective assessments were undertaken during the wet-warm season of August 2016. It reports the assessment conducted on two laboratories, with a view to finding how they perform environmentally in comparison to occupants’ preferences and international comfort standards. Although some of the measured and calculated physical parameters, have not met the thresholds specified by ASHRAE-55 and EN 15251, the respondents expressed their acceptance of the laboratories’ situations subjectively. This is not surprising as these standards are often based on experiments implemented in developed countries, where the severity of the climatic conditions and the culture are dissimilar to sub Saharan Africa.</p

Turkish D-light : accentuating heritage values with daylight

Historic buildings have their own cultural identity, which is often related to their aesthetic qualities such as period characteristics (geometry, size, colour, form and shape), materials and construction. Daylight is one of the primary elements contributing to the distinctiveness of the visual environment of many historic buildings, but is rarely considered as one of the components that shape the character of a building when adaptive preservation schemes of historical buildings are planned. Many historic buildings were originally designed to accommodate activities different to their new use and preserving the quality of daylight that originally contributed to their visual identity is a challenging task. Maintaining the ‘day-lit appearance’ of a building can be particularly problematic if the building is to be used as a museum or a gallery owing to the artefacts’ conservation requirements. This work investigated the opportunities of maintaining the original ambient conditions of renovated historical buildings while meeting the required daylight levels of the proposed new use. The study utilised an annual daylight simulation method and hourly weather data to preserve daylight conditions in renovated historic buildings. The model was piloted in a Turkish bathhouse situated in Bursa, Turkey, that is currently under renovation. The simulation model produces 4483 hourly values of daylight illuminance for a period of a whole year using the computer program Radiance. It is concluded that daylight characteristics should be taken into account when developing a renovation scheme. With increasing pressure on valuing historic buildings in many parts of the world, the work reported here should be beneficial to those concerned with the conservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. The study findings could also be useful to those interested in predicting potential energy savings by combining daylighting and electric lighting in historic buildings

Daylighting and sustainability of place in cultural built heritage contexts

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Role of daylight in preserving identities in heritage context

The narrow alleys and the small neighbourhood squares are the most recognisable urban configuration forms that highlight the fabrics of Old Cairo. Parts of Old Cairo are currently going through major conservation projects. The extent of the success of some of these projects in preserving the identity of the Cairene context is currently under scrutiny and has created a debate among local residents, professionals, and politicians. Preliminary investigation has been conducted to assess the rehabilitation strategy of the selected case of el-Darb el-Asfar in relation to its context. Daylight is an essential contextual ingredient that characterises particular places from its counterparts. The rehabilitation project, using new finishing materials, has led to changes in daylight levels and reflections in the space and hence modify the visual perception and the identity of the place itself. This paper aims to assess the impact of the proposed intervention on the visual perception and the identity of the selected built heritage. Daylight variables in open spaces, a combination of sunlight, skylight and the reflected light from the facades and the ground, are identified. Using TOWNSCOPE, daylight\u27s components are calculated pre and after the implementation of the project. The performance of reflected component is traced by simulating the impact of the original and recently used materials. The paper concludes by suggesting a set of measures to achieve an appropriate daylight performance to achieve a sustainable development in the area and maintain the identity of the old city.<br /

Daylight for sustainable regeneration of built heritage sites

Daylight is an essential contextual ingredient of place making. Research in daylighting has recently received major attention for its valuable contribution to the sustainability of the built environment. Previous research has investigated the role of daylighting in energy efficiency, its regional qualities in relation to the fa&ccedil;ade configuration, and its contribution to the sense of visual comfort. This paper argues that appropriate use of daylighting will ensure not only visual and thermal comfort in an urban setting, but also contributes to the place identity and hence sustainability of urban regeneration projects. The paper identifies the daylight variables that affect the success of the regeneration of heritage sites in Eastern Mediterranean. Daylight variables in public open spaces include a combination of sunlight, skylight and the reflected light from the facades and the ground. The Solar altitude, the geometry of sectional profiles, the reflectance of the opposing facades, the width of the street and the density of the urban built environment are examined to simulate the daylight performance in the selected heritage sites. Located in the historical Darb al-Ahmar district, Aslam Square is selected as part of one of the rehabilitation project in Cairo. This paper examines the photometric and morphological properties of the existing configuration using daylight simulation software. Various spherical projections were developed to represent full 3D visual environment. The paper calculates and analyses the direct radiation energy, the sky diffused energy and the reflected energy in the case study.<br /