Advanced solar envelope generation

Daylight is the source of illumination most appreciated by occupants of buildings for its capacity to render objects in their natural colours, contributing to the comfort of vision and the creation of shade and contrast between surfaces, thus improving architectural quality. Access to natural light also provides the proper perception of day-night alternation and exposure to luminous stimuli, which can improve humans’ physiological wellbeing through correctly entrained circadian rhythms. Among the various components of daylight, direct solar radiation can offer significant benefits for its quantity, quality and distribution potentialities. Building standards relating to solar access for occupants in new and existing premises exist in different countries to ensure the healthiness and comfort of dwellings. They require minimum hours of direct sunlight through room windows per day of the indicated period regardless of sky cover (e.g., in Germany, Regulation DIN 5034-1 states that every apartment must have at least one window receiving a minimum of 1 hour of direct sunlight on 17th of January and 4 hours on 21st of March and September). Designers often overlook direct solar access standards because they are challenging to take into account without appropriate design tools or, in some cases, not implemented into strict regulations by authorities, thereby compromising the well-being of building occupants.