Da 19
Da 19
Da 19
“We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders ish astrophysicist Michael Linden-Vørnle at the newly-opened IBA Hamburg 2013 –
of giants”. This quote by Isaac Newton explains the origin of this form of energy an urban laboratory where the inhabitants
expresses the fact that each generation that keeps us all alive – and when and how can influence and control their immediate
builds on the intellectual and material legacy it might end. surroundings.
of preceding eras. This is also the case in our Francesco Anselmo and John Mardaljevic The final article of D/A #19 summarises
cities, where the annual rate of newbuilds is then describe how and why the availability a discussion between members of Arup´s
less than 1%, and more than 65% of all build- of daylight varies in different regions of the global lighting design team and the D/A edi-
ings are more than 30 years old. We profit world and how people have been using day- torial team. Key messages of this discussion
from this gigantic treasure of buildings and light in their dwellings for centuries. Through are:
infrastructure while facing the challenge of which ‘eyes’ – i.e. windows – do these build- – Daylight is different everywhere you go. We
having to adapt them to future sustainable ings look out on the world? And what do need buildings that allow us to experience
requirements these eyes tell us about daylight and the the fundamental rhythms of nature, espe-
This issue of D/A discusses that challenge, climate in the place where the building is cially in view of the fact that we spend 90
and deals specifically with the role daylight located? per cent of our time indoors.
has to play in this endeavour. To gain a deeper We then focus on specific daylight per- – We need freedom of choice instead of aver-
insight into the topic, the VELUX Group col- spectives for climate renovations in four age solutions. Users of buildings should be
laborated with members from Arup´s global buildings, with daylight being at the very able to fine-tune their environment them-
lighting design team throughout the edito- centre of the projects. selves, depending on the conditions in which
rial process of this magazine. With their Taking the challenge of bringing more day- they feel comfortable, irrespective of what
knowledge and their points of view, the Arup light into our cities and indoor lives, we need some experts may think is best.
team has made an invaluable contribution to to think beyond the scale of the individual A final recommendation that we find espe-
the discussion about the role of daylight in building and commit ourselves to the objec- cially important is − talk about it! The more
existing and refurbished buildings. tives of urban daylighting design. The advan- we exchange ideas about daylight, the more
We know that better daylight provision tages are manifold, as the author collective precisely we can articulate our expectations
in buildings leads to healthier indoor envi- headed by Henning Larsen Architects argue of daylight in buildings. And the more the
ronments, lower energy consumption, more in their newly-published daylighting design advantages of daylight are communicated
useable floor space and a higher real estate manual What about Daylight and in this in public, the more likely decision-makers will
value. Daylight enhances general well-being issue of D/A. Signe Kongebro, Peter Andreas be sensitised to the issue as a crucial tool of
and efficient working. Daylight is indispen- Sattrup and Charlotte Algreen have investi- sustainable living in buildings.
sable for a healthy wake-sleep cycle, pro- gated what a redesign of our cities could look
tects against depression and boosts the like in a study that presents a new approach With this in mind, we wish you an
immune system. Furthermore, the sun is a to considering daylight in the city; not as an enjoyable read!
vital source of year-round energy in buildings. unalterable given but as a variable that can
With this in mind, this issue of D/A pro- be shaped and designed. The VELUX Group
poses a new approach to the discussion on In Germany, the approach to architecture
climate renovation of the existing building and urbanism with specific focus on light,
stock. What if we prioritise daylight first air and sun, dates back to the beginning of
when buildings and urban districts are to the past century. Since then, international
be renovated? building exhibitions (IBA) – which can be
Our exploration of the daylight theme compared to giant ‘tool boxes’ for planning
takes us through centuries, considering all strategies − have taken place regularly in
scales of building and many other factors. the country. In this issue of D/A, we take a
We start by going back to the beginning of all look back at some key developments in the
matter and all light: the Big Bang. The Dan- history of IBAs, as well as taking a glance
1
SPRING 2013 4 12
ISSUE 19
Contents
VELUX Editorial 1 European astronomers have made Many factors influence the availabil-
Contents 2 the oldest known form of light vis- ity of daylight on Earth: topography
First light 4 ible with the help of the ESA’s and vegetation, air and water cur-
Daylight mapping – planet earth 12 Planck satellite. In his article, as- rents and, in particular, people them-
Eyes onto the world 22 trophysicist Michael Linden-Vørnle selves. Francesco Anselmo and John
INSIGHT INSIDE 34 describes the way in which light Mardaljevic write about the insights
Poorterstraat, Montfoort 36 originated, the form it appears in achieved with modern methods of
Drømmebakken, Aarup 48 today and how all light may even- daylight mapping.
32 Blanche, Paris 58 tually end.
V&A, London 70
Creating brighter cities of tomorrow 90
Daylight as a driving force of urban renewal 106
Ideas for a daylit future 116
ABU DHABI
4 12 22
For centuries, anonymous builders Four project examples illustrate the Where can we make a start on bring- Will we have enough daylight in our
from all over the world have been potential of daylight refurbishment. ing more daylight into our cities and cities and buildings in the future as
designing buildings and their open- Ten Dutch terraced houses have living rooms? A Danish team of ar- in the past? With what tools will we
ings to match the local climate and been converted into Active Houses; chitects has now looked at this ques- plan this? And who will decide what
regional culture. Francesco Anselmo a Danish town hall has been turned tion for the first time. Their study role daylight plays in planning deci-
and John Mardaljevic explain what into a kindergarten and a warehouse entitled ‘What about Daylight?’ for- sions? In a conversation with the
contemporary architects can learn in Paris has been reborn as office mulates a completely new approach daylighting designers from Arup,
from the variety of traditional win- building. The Victoria and Albert to the renewal of houses and city dis- Daylight/Architecture discussed
dows. Museum is rediscovering daylight tricts, whereby the central focus is these questions and other issues
too, after museum curators around on people and their fundamental as well.
the world have sought to keep it out need for daylight.
of museum galleries for decades.
58 90 116
3
first
light
By Michael Linden-Vørnle
Our world has changed. Not literally, exactly this afterglow from the Big Bang
but because the ambitious European sat- that Planck has made the best observa-
ellite mission named Planck has given us tions of so far.
new insight about our knowledge of the This relic radiation fills the entire uni-
universe. We now have a clearer picture verse – it is all around us – but is continu-
of what we do understand and where we ously ‘diluted’ as the universe expands.
still have lots of work ahead. The expansion stretches the wavelength
The immensely precise measurements of the afterglow: when it was emitted
from the Planck satellite that were made 380,000 years after the Big Bang, it had a
public on 21 March 2013 tell us that the yellowish hue, similar to light from a light
universe is simple− but also challenging. bulb, whereas the wavelength today cor-
Simply because Planck’s measurements responds to microwaves. So the first light
basically confirm our overall theoretical will continue to exist, but in an ever-more
description of the universe. Challenging diluted form and with an ever increasing
because Planck has discovered very small, wavelength.
but potentially important deviations that
might require new physics to be explained. Framework law of the universe
The afterglow from the Big Bang is called
The cosmic fog the cosmic microwave background and is,
The Big Bang occurred almost 14 billion in its nature, a snapshot of the universe as
years ago, when the infinite universe was it looked 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
born in a very hot and dense state. Imme- The distribution and movement of matter
diately, the universe began to expand, at this early stage of cosmic history, as well
lowering both the temperature and the as the physical processes and conditions
density – a process that is still continuing present from the Big Bang (and up to the
today. In the first few minutes after the Big point where the radiation was released)
Bang, the fundamental building blocks of are, so to speak, ‘frozen into’ the micro-
our world where formed: protons, neu- wave background.
trons and electrons. Planck’s extremely detailed observa-
During the first many thousands of tions of the afterglow therefore allow us
years after the Big Bang, the universe to study the physics of the very early uni-
was so hot that it was a seething soup of verse, the so-called inflationary phase. It
matter and radiation, where light was occurred a minuscule fraction of a second
continuously scattered in all directions. after the Big Bang and caused an extreme-
After 380,000 years, its temperature had ly violent expansion of the universe. In
dropped sufficiently to allow matter and very broad terms, Planck’s observations
radiation to disentangle, so that light of the cosmic microwave background al-
could travel freely. The cosmic fog that low us to settle the framework law of the
had filled the universe since the Big Bang universe that describes how our world is
lifted and today we can see this first light put together using only six numbers. And
as a very smooth and weak microwave ra- this simple theoretical model fits the ob-
diation coming from the entire sky. It is servations with extremely high accuracy.
5
6 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
Using ESA’s Planck satellite,
cosmologists have compiled
the most accurate image so far
of the cosmic microwave back-
ground, the afterglow from
the Big Bang and thus the most
ancient light we can observe in
the universe.
7
Opposite page bottom Planck’s
data largely confirms the stand-
ard model of cosmology, accord-
ing to which the universe is
highly homogeneous and iso-
tropic. However, the new data
also reveal large-scale deviations
(shown here in different colours),
which will require more research
and might even require new the-
ories to be developed.
Named after Max Planck Danish telescope on board of Planck’s measurements, we now have
The Planck satellite is named after the Planck is a European project realised by to take these deviations very seriously
German physicist Max Planck who was the European Space Agency, ESA. The and work hard to find an explanation.
the first to describe how a body with a Space Agency delivered the satellite, with But that is exactly what science is about:
specific temperature emits radiation. the launch taking place on 14 May 2009. A to ask questions of nature and try to make
The afterglow from the Big Bang that French and Italian consortium delivered sense of the answers – even if they are
the Planck satellite has observed has
Planck’s two ultra-sensitive instruments completely unexpected.
exactly this property.
and Denmark contributed with Planck’s Luckily there is much more to come.
telescope. The data and results from Planck that
The Milky Way and other galaxies were made public on 21 March are based
The Planck satellite has not only looked Older and with a different on observations made during the first
at the afterglow from the Big Bang. The composition 15.5 months of scientific data acquisition.
Milky Way and other galaxies form a To a very large extent, Planck confirms About the same volume of data is still be-
natural foreground that has also been our current understanding of how the ing analysed and will make the final maps
observed by Planck and radiation from
universe has evolved from a fraction of a of the cosmic microwave background
gas and dust in them have been
registered. Data from Planck, therefore, second after the Big Bang and onwards. even better. This data will be made pub-
also allows us to learn more about the Though its measurements have given us a lic in 2014 and, together with the results
Milky Way and other galaxies. slightly higher value for the age of the uni- already presented, will form the basis for
verse. Based on Planck’s data, the entire studies of the universe and the Big Bang
universe was born with the Big Bang 13.82 for many years to come.
billion years ago, which is 75 million years
more earlier the previous value.
Planck’s observations have also given Michael Linden-Vørnle is an astrophysicist and
chief adviser at the National Danish Space
us new values for the overall composi-
Institute (DTU Space). He holds a PhD in
tion of the universe. About 4.9 % of the astrophysics from the Niels Bohr Institute in
universe consists of the normal matter Copenhagen, Denmark, and has been involved in
that stars, planets and humans are made the European satellite project Planck since 1995.
of. On top of that is 26.8% invisible dark Michael is also a very active science communica-
matter that affects its surroundings with tor. He frequently appears on TV programmes
its gravity. The remaining 68.3% is what and interviews in Denmark, and has written
researchers call ‘dark energy’ that ac- numerous popular articles on space research,
astronomy, space flight and related topics.
celerates the expansion of the universe.
Planck’s measurements have shifted the
balance between dark matter and dark
energy − where the previous values were
22.9 % and 72.5% respectively. 1. Senior scientist Hans Ulrik Nørgaard-Nielsen
from the National Danish Space Institute (DTU
More to come Space) led the development of the Planck
telescope. This work was done with the
The most interesting factor to emerge
support of the Danish company Ticra A/S. The
from Planck’s results, however, is the very Danish contribution to Planck has given Hans
small deviations from the framework law. Ulrik Nørgaard-Nielsen and his colleagues
Previous experiments have indicated de- direct access to the observations that Planck
viations, but with the unmatched quality has delivered.
Dark Energy
Observation
Model
Anomalies
9
Timeline of The first light was set free some From a yellow light (similar to
the universe 380,000 years after the Big that of a light bulb), the cosmic
Bang, when it decoupled from background radiation has
ordinary matter particles. The slowly shifted to microwave
cosmic background radiation radiation, which is invisible to
has existed ever since, filling the the human eye.
entire universe. Only its wave-
length has changed with the
expansion of the universe.
Big Bang Cosmic inflation Particles Ordinary matter particles are Recombination Dark ages
Origin of fluctuations form coupled to light and dark matter Ordinary matter particles Ordinary matter
particles start building structures decouple from to light and particles fall into
the Cosmic Microwave the structures created
Background is released by dark matter
-32 -30
0 10 seconds 10 1 second 100 1 year 100 years 380 000 years 200 million years
seconds seconds
11
DAYLIGHT
MAPPING
PLANET
EARTH
Astronomers and scientists have cal climate and with it also the luminous Francesco Anselmo is a Senior
told us for some considerable time about climate, that is the climate that interacts Lighting Designer at Arup in
the angle of the Earth’s axis to the sun, with visual perception. London. He holds a PhD in
the direction and speed of rotation of The need to understand and predict Environmental Physics and a degree
in architectural engineering. He is
our planet, the characteristic irregular weather, mainly for agricultural and
an expert in numerical simulation
distribution of land masses and oceans socio-economic reasons, has developed and visualisation systems and
that defines our geographic knowledge. climate science and created a network of develops computer tools for lighting
Sixty years of space exploration and weather stations that sense, log and moni- design, building simulation and
the images sent by a constantly increasing tor a number of environmental variables interaction design.
number of artificial satellites (there are on the ground. Stationary satellites have
more than 3,000 currently in orbit around also been deployed to gather weather pat- John Mardaljevic is Professor of
the Earth) have strongly ingrained in our terns remotely, allowing us to extrapolate Building Daylight Modelling at the
School of Civil & Building
personal and collective memory the emo- the ground readings, with good accuracy,
Engineering of Loughborough
tional view of our blue planet from space. to any location on Earth. University in the UK. Since the
But the experience of life on Earth is These data can be filtered statistically 1990s, he has pioneered the
still perceived from the vantage point of and visualised to give an insight on the application of climate datasets for
space travellers confined on the thin crust global climate history and future trends. daylight and solar modelling on all
of a planet orbiting at the average speed scales, from the urban to the single
of 107,200 km/h around a yellow dwarf building. He currently serves as the
star, the Sun. UK Principal Expert on Daylight for
the European Committee for
The rotation of the Earth around its
Standardisation.
axis defines the sequence of light and
darkness on the surface, creating the con-
cepts of day and night. The light of the day
becomes what we humans call daylight.
Daylight is composed of the light of
the sun (small directional source) and
the light of the sky (large diffuse source).
Skylight is sunlight that is scattered by the
air – without an atmosphere, the daytime
sky would be black, as it is on the Moon.
The surface of the Earth (with its ma-
terials, orography and vegetation, but also
with the results of anthropic activities) in-
teracts with the energy from the Sun, cre-
ating different events in the atmosphere
that, in the long term, characterise the lo-
13
A Global
Overview
Direct-to-diffuse
irradiation ratio
15
The maps presented on these pages at- The maps show the strength of sunlight The direct-to-diffuse irradiation ratio
tempt to display the luminous climate compared to the light from the sky for a map provides more insight into the dif-
at planetary scale. They make use of the typical year. ference in magnitude between the ir-
NASA SSE (Surface Meteorology and So- The annual number of clear sky days radiation from the sun compared to the
lar Energy programme) weather dataset, is represented in blue − the stronger the one from the sky. This map only shows
which is based on monthly data collected blue, the higher number of clear skies. The the ratio between the different kinds of
over a period of 22 years (between 1983 dark blue areas are the places on Earth annual cumulative radiation and there-
and 2005 by satellite measurements) and where sunlight is prevalent. fore contains no information about sea-
projected onto a grid of 1°×1° tiles over the sonal variation. However, it is useful for
world (1° equates to approximately 111 km understanding prevalent daylighting
on the surface of the Earth).1 conditions and whether daylight design
should address mainly shading or diffuse
illumination.
Annual number of
clear sky days
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1. The SSE dataset is a spatially continuous global Weather and Radiation Data from NASA:
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/
climatology source of insolation (i.e. sunshine) Monthly and annual averaged values for a 22-year period (July 1983
and meteorology data. It is derived from several – June 2005)
databases, including the Goddard Earth Observ-
NASA Earth Observations:
ing Systems (GEOS-1), the International Satel- http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov
lite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP D-1), from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/
data of the Geostationary and Polar Satellites for
Environmental Observation (GOES and POES),
the European Geostationary satellite Meteosat,
similar Japanese satellites. and many more.
17
The idea of using vegetation to read the The system is based on the concept that
local climate is not new. It was first used native vegetation is the best expression
by the Russian-German climatologist of climate. Climate zone boundaries have
Wladimir Köppen in 1884 to devise a cli- been selected using the vegetation distri-
mate classification system that is still one bution and combining average annual and
of the most widely used. monthly temperatures and precipitation,
and the seasonality of precipitation.
90 −160 −140 −120 −100 −80 −60 −40 −20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
World map of Köppen 80 80
Geiger Climate
ET
70 EF 70
Dfd
ET
Classification 60
Dsc Dfc
Dwd
Dfc
60
Dfc
Dfb Dwc
50 50
Updated with CRU TS Csb
Dfb Cfb Dfa BSk
Dwb
Dwa
Dfa Csb
2.1 temperature and 40
Cfb
Csa
BWk 40
Cfa
VASClimO v1.1 30
BSk Csa
ET Cwa
30
Cfa
precipitation data BWh BSh Aw BWh BWh
BWh BSh
Csa Cwa Cwb
20 20
1951 to 2000 Am
Aw
Aw
Am
Aw BSh Am
10 Aw Cwb 10
Af Am Aw
Am
0 Af Af 0
Af As
BWh Am Af
Aw
BSh
−10 −10
Aw Cwa Aw
Af Af
Aw BSh
−20 BSh −20
BWk Cwa Cfa
Cfa BWk
BWh Cwb BWh
−30 Cfb Cfa Csa −30
Csb Csb BSk
Csb
Cfb Cfb
−40 Cfb −40
BSk
−70 EF −70
−80 −80
−90 −160 −140 −120 −100 −80 −60 −40 −20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
F: polar frost
T: polar tundra
Af Am As Aw BWk BWh BSk BSh Cfa Cfb Cfe Csa Csb Csc Cwa
Cwb Cwc Dfa Dfb Dfc Dfd Dsa Dsb Dsc Dsd Dwa Dwb Dwc Dwd EF ET
Direct-to-diffuse irradiation
ratio in South America. The
map clearly shows how isolated
the climate of Chile is from the
rest of the continent, and what
differences exist between the
dry north and the humid, cold
south.
4.0
3.6
3.2
2.8
2.4
2.0
1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0.0
19
Another interesting phenomenon is the However, it is also true that an extremely
fact that, in temperate and humid cli- low level of cloudy skies is evident for Ant-
mates, the land areas show a prevalence of arctica. Hence the classification of this
cloudy conditions, while the sea has sun- continent as a desert – a frozen desert of
nier skies. Conversely, in desert areas it is snow, in fact, with little or no precipita-
typically the opposite. This is true for in- tion.
stance, of the Sahara desert, the Atacama
desert, Namibia and the desert areas of
North America and Australia.
Direct-to-diffuse irradiation
ratio in North and Central Amer-
ica. As in most of the Earth’s
humid and temperate zones,
the sky is often cloudy over the
land, whereas, over the sea, the
weather is usually sunnier. In
the desert regions of California,
however, the opposite is true.
Direct-to-diffuse irradiation
ratio in South Asia. What is strik-
ing is the large amount of direct
solar irradiation over the Hima-
layas and the extremely low lev-
els in large parts of China. These
levels are only partially due to
natural phenomena; man-made
smog is also a large contribut-
ing factor.
4.0
3.6
3.2
2.8
2.4
2.0
1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0.0
212.9
161.9
118.5
80.0
19.4 16.9
21
EYES
ONTO
THE
WORLD
Sheathing Header
Drip Cap
Inside Casing or trim
Casing
Blind Stop
Rail
Parting Bead Pulley
Head Stile
Muntin
Weight
Single glazing
Aluminum
storm
window
Double glazing
Weight
Parting bead
Weight pocket
Blind stop
Casing Studs
Sill
Jamb
Sill
Rail Stop
Sub sill
Stool
Siding
Apron
Sheathing
Our impression of a building is largely ability and method of pollination to seed the Italian finestra all derive from the
defined by the detailing of the facade. Irre- dispersal, structural integrity and protec- Latin fenestra, whose ancestral origin
spective of the building size, our attention tion from wind. has been tracked by etymologists to the
is immediately drawn to the windows. The The simplest distinction that we can word root fan or phan, meaning ‘to shine’.
shapes, proportions and sizes of windows, make is to categorise tree shapes into ei- The English word window, the Danish vin-
their materials and construction details, ther conifers or hardwoods. The steeply due and the Norwegian vindu derive from
the glass types, the methods of opening, conical shape of conifers that grow at high Old Norse vindauga, from vindr ‘wind’ +
the finishes of windows all contribute to latitudes is formed by branches that slope auga ‘eye’. This emphasises the functions
the character of our buildings, and so also downwards to shed snow and maximise of ventilation and vision. Similarly, the
our towns and cities. the exposure to sunlight, where the sun Spanish ventana has a direct connection
From simple rectangular openings is typically low on the horizon. to the word viento, wind.
to arched or intricately ornamented In contrast, Mediterranean pines have In their simplest, archetypal form, win-
screens, vernacular windows are care- developed an umbrella shape that can re- dows are openings in the walls. The depth
fully sized and located in buildings as part sist drying winds. It also maximises the of the wall is an integral part of the window
of a broader environmental and cultural area that provides shade from the strong- and how it performs. This depth, together
strategy. er and higher sun, thus promoting heat with the ratio between the window width
Vernacular window designs have been dissipation. and height and the overall window size are
developed and transferred from genera- The dome or spherical shape of hard- key parameters governing the overall lu-
tion to generation under the protective woods, which are more widespread in minous and thermal performance of the
wing of tradition. One might think that more temperate, cloudy climates, is window. They vary dramatically depend-
tradition is immutable, but transmis- adapted to diffuse lighting and tries to ing on the building location, typology and
sion is also the key to evolution. Genetic maximise the exposure to daylight com- construction materials.
information is transferred from parent to ing from the entire sky. If we exclude special functional open-
offspring through inheritance, with the Evolution and adaptation to the en- ings such as the arrow slits or loopholes
introduction of beneficial mutation that vironmental context have therefore cre- used in medieval castles, windows have
improves the fitness of the species. ated the rich variation in tree shapes that evolved into small apertures where it was
The idea of tradition as such is strongly we can see and experience today. necessary to avoid heat escaping from
intertwined with evolution. This means the inside in cold climates, or to mini-
that tradition can change in time, adapt- Shining holes and wind-eyes – the mise heat and solar gains entering in hot
ing to changes in context, be it social, cul- evolution of vernacular windows climates. Where cloudy conditions are
tural or environmental. Like leaves on trees, windows mediate be- prevalent, the balance between light and
tween the exterior environment and the heat allowed people to build bigger win-
Adaptation to context – interior space. They are filters that can dows that let more light in.
the example of trees either block or admit light, air, heat and Horizontal window shapes provide a
Take the trees for example. The ‘design other factors. Modulating these external more even distribution of daylight. Ver-
goal’ that governs a tree’s distinctive influences can require different solutions. tical windows are more likely to create
shape is to ensure that the leaves get the Windows, like trees, are therefore never contrasts between brightness and dark-
maximum possible amount of daylight. optimised for only one purpose. ness, but taller windows also mean deeper
However, the remarkable diversity in The etymologies of the words that we daylight penetration.
form that exists is testimony to nature’s use in different languages for windows A mere opening in the wall might work
ability to find an effective ‘design solution’ clearly express this role. Among others, in a climate with a relatively stable tem-
whatever the environmental context and the French fenêtre, the German Fenster, perature. However, it would not be able to
its restrictions, ranging from water avail- the Swedish fönster, the Dutch venster, accommodate all the conflicting require-
25
ments of illumination, vision and privacy, How to read the diagrams on the ing design options – in other words, they
ventilation as well as heat and sound insu- following pages can help us in the process of ‘evolving’
lation without the addition of an operable, The temporal luminous climate maps towards better building design solutions.
possibly glazed frame that can be opened presented in the next pages use different
and closed. colours to display the variation of exte- Illumination through windows:
The variations in design, materials and rior horizontal illuminance through one limitless complexity and richness
construction methods of such window year. This metric can be easily related to The remarkable complexity of natural
frames are enormous. They can include daylight brightness: the more exterior il- illumination through windows is appre-
transparent or translucent materials to let luminance, the more light outside. ciated in a direct, instinctual way. It is
in light but not outside air. Furthermore, These maps are like calendars or dia- impossible for us - unaided - to unpick all
they can be complemented with interior ries that, for each hour, indicate the av- of the interactions and transformations
or exterior accessories such as shading de- erage solar (direct), sky (diffuse) or total that occur between the source of daylight
vices, shutters or curtains to reduce solar (global) horizontal illuminance. (sun and skylight) and the resulting pat-
gain and increase visual comfort, privacy Days flow horizontally, from 1 January terns of illumination inside a room. We
and security. The design of these systems on the left to 31 December on the right. can however get a glimpse of them from
is typically mediated by local culture and Hours flow vertically, where midnight this simulated example of a very simple
art, creating outstanding examples of ho- is both at the top and bottom of the plot daylit space. The main image shows how
listic and interdisciplinary construction. and noon is the horizontal line at the cen- this space might appear to the eye, i.e. a
tre. simulation of the surface brightness (the
An inspiration for sustainable The lighting levels indicated in the light reflected off the surfaces). The walls,
design maps are those of a typical year, which has floor and ceiling have typical reflectances,
In fact, the examination of vernacular been derived using statistical techniques but no colour. To get an impression of the
windows offers many surprises, because that select the most relevant months from light moving around the space, the four
the invisible, evolutionary architect who a database of many years. inset images show the components of il-
has created their designs is the local com- Looking in more detail at the maps, it is luminance (in lux) for light falling onto
munity. This ‘architect’ often responds to possible to read the duration of the day in the surfaces. The four components are
the environmental challenges and physi- different seasons by looking at the length light arriving: (a) directly from the sky;
cal circumstances with inventiveness, of the coloured vertical lines. The areas in (b) directly from the sun; (c) indirectly
uses simple tools and local materials, but black indicate night hours. from the sky; and, (d) indirectly from the
also shapes his creations according to the By looking at the diffuse and direct sun. Indirectly means after one of more
culture, beliefs, customs and myths of the maps, it is also possible to see which days reflections and excluding the direct part.
community itself. are cloudy (high diffuse illuminance and This image allows us to ‘unpick’ some of
In this article, we have attempted to low or zero direct illuminance) and sunny the transformations and get a deeper in-
‘read’ the evolution of vernacular win- days (low diffuse illuminance and higher sight into the complexity of illumination
dows in the context of the local lumi- direct illuminance). This observation en- for this simple space. Now, imagine how
nous climate for a few locations around ables us to identify cloudy/rainy seasons such patterns might appear for the exam-
the world. Our aim is to demonstrate how and tell how strong the direct sunlight is ples of window design that follow. In each
different environmental conditions influ- compared to the diffuse skylight. case, the combination of (momentary)
ence the design and performance require- The pattern of hourly values in a cli- climate conditions and window/build-
ments of traditional windows. mate dataset is unique and, because of the ing form will result in a unique, highly
These designs are the fruit of simple random nature of weather, it will never complex pattern of illumination. This is
rules that have been shaped through time be repeated in precisely that way. Climate a large part of what gives distinctiveness
by the simple principle of maximising datasets are, however, representative of and diversity to our building interiors.
comfort using local resources as well as the prevailing conditions measured at the
the geometry and orientation of windows. locale, and they exhibit much of the full
We hope that the forgotten skills of our range in variation that typically occurs.
ancestors can offer new inspiration for a Furthermore, these standard datasets
more sustainable design of the building provide definitive yardstick quantities for
envelope. the evaluation and selection of compet-
Lux
10.000
1.000
27
STOCKHOLM We start our journey around the The low illuminance values (com- can be screened with curtains or
world of vernacular windows from pare them with the illuminance in other translucent layers to avoid di-
Scandinavia, located at the extreme the Mediterranean, tropical and de- rect view from the outside in.
north of Europe. sert examples) require windows to
The direct and diffuse maps for let in as much light as possible. This
Stockholm display clearly the sea- means that privacy might be an issue
sonal difference in duration between if windows must maximise lighting.
day and night. This has a direct im- A good approach to solve this issue
pact on the traditional window de- whilst mitigating glare from the pro-
sign: longer days mean that natural verbial low sun of northern climates
light can be present during sleeping is the separation of view/privacy
hours, therefore the addition of ex- and light in windows. The top parts
terior solid shutters helps to create of the windows can be left clear to
a night environment inside the house capture as much light as possible
during the summer months. from the sky, but the lower parts
10000 21 21
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29
ME
ROME Shading devices perform a triple includes glazing and an interior shut-
function: they keep out the sun’s heat, ter system for increased privacy and
block uncomfortable direct sunlight security.
and soften harsh daylight contrasts. The high degree of adjustability of
In the Mediterranean, the need to ac- this system allows the windows to
commodate the conflicting require- cope with high variations in illumi-
ments dictated by a climate that can nation conditions. The positioning of
have both cold, humid, dark winters the adjustable shading device on the
and hot, dry and bright summers has outside of the window is important
influenced the development of a flex- to minimise solar gains in summer.
ible window shading system.
Exterior, so-called Persian or Vene-
tian blinds are the exterior shading
layer of a complex system that also
10000 21 21
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31
ABU DHABI Mashrabiya screens are the most lent weather conditions are dry and biya is related to the Arab culture
widespread form of window in Mid- sunny. The weather data plots for and desire of privacy. The bright ap-
dle-Eastern architecture. They are Abu Dhabi show this solar prevalence pearance of the exterior screens from
projecting oriel windows enclosed very clearly throughout the year. This the outside conceals completely the
with wooden latticework, but more implies a clear need for shading and view of the darker interiors, while
generally the term Mashrabiya iden- ventilation. the dweller can observe the outside
tifies the latticework itself, that can The open latticework created by world clearly without being seen and
be made of wood or stone. In India, the wooden frame and pegs of the without needing to open the window.
Mashrabiya are indicated with the Mashrabiya screens is the best solu-
term Jali, while the projecting bal- tion to this problem. Leaving open-
cony decorated with Jali is called ings in all the windows promotes
Jharokha. Similar latticework is also continuous air flow and cooling inside
widely present in vernacular Chinese buildings, while the rounded shape of
architecture. the pegs disperse the light, reducing
This type of window has origi- the contrast and glare.
nated in countries where the preva- Another function of the Mashra-
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Diffuse Horizontal Illuminance Direct Horizontal Illuminance
Lux
100000 Hour Hour
90000
3 3
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6 6
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50000 12 12
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33
Insight
Daylight is an indispensable tool for the sustainable renewal of our cities. The
following pages provide insights into this great transformation. Here, four buildings
are portrayed that could hardly be more different – from a social housing estate to
an art and design museum and from a kindergarten to an office building – but that
have one thing in common: daylight was the prerequisite for their renewal. Daylight
allowed former residual and storage spaces to be put to new uses. Using natural
light, the architects created rhythm and atmosphere and, sometimes, a sense of
magic in the buildings. Daylight makes the rooms in a building appear larger while
energy bills become smaller.
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
Between 1945 and 1975, 2.5 million larged and turned into a living area, with a
houses were built in the Netherlands, new permanent staircase leading up from “The overall change that the
about 1.3 million of which were terraced the first floor. refurbishment has brought is
houses. Many of these are now waiting The increase in space is also visible tremendous. No more flaking paint,
their turn to be renovated, fit for the 21st from the exterior, most noticeably at the
no more draughty or leaking
century. gables of the houses. The architects have
For the houses at 29–47 Poorterstraat added a prismatic element covered with
windows. The new paint on the
in Montfoort, this future has already be- large expanses of glass, solar panels and walls feels much sunnier now, and
gun. In the last few months they have been zinc sheeting onto the existing asym- of course the attic is bright. I also
converted into the first ‘active houses’1 in metrical roofs. This new rooftop exten- like the views from up there – they
the country, and now achieve an A++ en- sion channels daylight from both sides make you feel as though you are at
ergy label for energy performance. into the attic. So if the residents have their the same level as the birds. We will
The term ‘active house’ indicates that bedroom on this floor, they are not only use the additional space as a study
the houses use only a fraction of the energy woken up by the morning sun streaming for my wife and me, because we
that new-build housing in the Netherlands in from the roof terrace in the east – they
both work quite a bit from home.”
would normally consume. Furthermore, can also enjoy the evening sun that enters
and possibly even more important, there through the high roof windows in the west
Gerard Michels lives in Poorterstraat 41 together
are high levels of daylight, fresh air, a good and is reflected back into the room from with his wife and two small children.
indoor climate, and healthy materials. the white-plastered inside of the opposite
The ten active houses are part of a roof.
larger estate of terraced houses in which The size of the lower two floors was not
the same owner, the GroenWest housing altered, neither was the size of the facade
association, has recently renovated a fur- windows; the old, poorly insulated win- On the ground floor there is an open-plan
ther 82 houses. The principal difference dows with their thin aluminium frames kitchen/dining/living area of around 45
between the buildings in Poorterstraat weremerelyreplacedbynew,triple-glazed square metres, stretching from the en-
and their neighbours is the extended top windows with timber frames. Nonethe- trance side right back to the garden. In
floor, literally every square centimetre of less, the rooms have become perceptibly order to keep this space as open as possi-
which makes use of the light of the sun. brighter, as the new open staircase now ble, the stairs consist only of treads, so that
allows daylight to penetrate right down to whoever enters the building can see right
A prism for more daylight – the ground floor and into the spaces that through horizontally. The surfaces in the
the conversion concept surround it. On the first floor, the timber rooms further contribute to better day-
The architects’ strategy for the conver- and glass partitions that previously sur- light provision, as the old light-absorbing
sion was to open up the centre of the rounded the staircase were replaced with spray plaster was replaced with smooth,
houses, and bring in daylight from above. a low balustrade, so that natural light now white walls and ceilings that reflect the
Previously, the attic had served simply as also floods the adjacent corridor. light. Next to the stairs, a white wall was
a storage space; accessible only via folding added in order to reflect daylight into the
stairs. Now it has been significantly en- 1. See www.activehouse.info living room.
39
houses. The facades were fitted with a new The triple benefit − less cost, more
“The refurbishment has brought a brick facing and dark weatherboarding. space, a better image
magnificent change to our house! From a distance, this range of materials Replacing the old gas boilers in the houses
Before, it was difficult to get it to a is reminiscent of the pre-conversion situ- by a stand-alone system that relies purely
ation. But the new bricks are only half as on renewable energies was a daring but
comfortable temperature due to
thick as the old ones, which means that forward-looking move in a country like
the lack of insulation, and the the wall cavity (and thus the space for the Netherlands, where gas prices are tra-
windows were draughty. If we thermal insulation) became wider with- ditionally low. However the client and the
wanted to have a temperature of out the need to increase the width of the architects expect that with rising prices
20°C inside our home, we had to foundations. The floor was insulated from for fossil fuels, this move will eventu-
set the thermostats to 23°C. underneath too, with extra insulation ally pay off. According to calculations by
Still, we liked the house because it being installed in a 50 cm deep, existing BouwhulpGroep, the energy costs for the
is one of the largest rental homes crawl space underneath the floor plate. residents will be reduced by around 130
in Montfoort, and also has an Euros per month as a result of the conver-
A complete solar solution – sion. Tenants pay around 115 Euros more
unusually spacious back garden,
the energy concept rent per month for their houses, which,
which you don’t find in newer Key to the energy concept is the new roof in turn, have been enlarged by 17 square
rental homes any more.” that was developed as an all-in-one ‘So- metres each.
lar Solution’ by VELUX and Danfoss. This The increased revenue from the hous-
Edwin Hamelink lives in Poorterstraat 33 with his
wife and four children. element combines numerous functions: es will help the GroenWest housing asso-
added space, the supply of daylight, venti- ciation to pay back the costs of the con-
lation and the generation of solar energy. version - about 130,000 Euros per house.
The orientation of the houses dictated Only a fraction of this sum however, was
how much solar energy could be ‘har- incurred by the Active House standard −
The natural ventilation also benefits vested’ from the roofs. the largest part went to standard mainte-
from the permeability between ground On the side of the entrance, which faces nance and refurbishment. Another ben-
floor and attic. Opening the roof windows west, each roof has a 21 square metre pho- efit of the conversion project is that, being
on the top floor creates a chimney effect tovoltaic installation. On the eastern side, a research and development investment,
around the stairwell that channels the right up against the roof ridge, is a row of it will help the company to future-proof
used air up from both the floors below, and solar panels that provide the houses with the thousands of other existing homes
allows it to escape through the roof into hot water. Positioning both systems on in their possession. As Peter Korzelius,
the open. This strategy ensures, above the side of the entrance might have im- former Chairman of GroenWest said be-
all, that there is some welcome cooling proved the energy balance by another few fore the start of the works, “We are faced
in the houses in the summer. In winter, a kilowatt hours. But the planners consid- with a situation in which we will have to
mechanical ventilation system with CO2 ered that exposing the attic floor to day- renovate one third of our housing stock
sensors guarantees a comfortable and light from both sides was more important – in other words 4,000 residential units
healthy circulation of air. than unilateral maximisation of energy – within the next five to seven years. This
yields. is an enormous task. By running this pro-
Social housing made attractive – The architects reckon that the houses ject, we wanted to gauge what it means to
the choice of materials will eventually use between 80 and 90 per really push back the boundaries of what is
The roof structure and the facades of the cent less energy than before the conver- technically feasible: as much incidence of
houses were almost totally revamped. sion. In addition, the buildings have been daylight as possible, coupled with as little
In this way, it was possible to attain the turned into all-electric houses that need energy consumption as possible.”
ambitious energy targets in the most effi- no gas boilers or chimneys. Heating is sup- For the tenants, the conversion will re-
cient manner, because these require good plied by a ground source heat pump and sult in a net saving – and, more important-
insulation and good solar gain from the two ground source heat probes in each ly, a distinctly improved quality of living
windows. house. The heat pump takes its power both in their houses and in the neighbour-
The choice of materials used for the fa- from the photovoltaic modules on the hood. Poorterstraat used to be a socially-
cade and roof was important for another roof. All the essential technological in- underprivileged part of Montfoort: it is
reason. The ten houses are part of the stallations – heat pump, hot water tank now a flagship district where residents
social housing stock – and in the Nether- and inverters for the PV system – are con- count themselves lucky to be able to call
lands there is an unwritten law that these centrated in a utility room in the annex on some of the most extraordinary social
should not look any different from other the street side. housing in the Netherlands their own.
cd/m 2
120
105
90
75
60
45
30
15
41
42 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
43
Generous, except by For a long time, Poorterstraat in day’s new buildings, but they were
Montfoort, a small town west of badly insulated and dark. The ceilings
daylight: houses in Utrecht, looked like hundreds of were low, the steep pitch of the roofs
Porterstraat 29–47 other estates of terraced houses in did nothing to contribute to the light
before conversion the Netherlands. Two-storey houses, in the rooms, and the entire attic was
built in 1976, with tiled roofs, brick fa- only used as storage space. In addi-
cades, and weathered, light blue tim- tion, the extensions on the street side
ber cladding, lined the street. cast shade on the entrance facades.
The row of houses already had a Most of all, the residents were not too
striking asymmetrical roof shape be- happy about the reputation of Poort-
fore the renovation: on the entrance erstraat. “I am really not proud of my
side, a string of almost windowless address,” admitted one resident be-
extensions stretched right to the fore the conversion. The renovation of
pavement, containing cloakrooms, the ten social housing units therefore
toilets and storerooms. While on the also became a social concern for the
garden side, flat roofs extended over GroenWest association. As former
half the depth of the building. Chairman of the association, Peter
When asked what they liked most Korzelius said, “It is good that this of
about their houses, residents would all streets has now become a flagship
typically reply, “The size. Otherwise project.”
there’s nothing special.” The terraced
houses offered more space than to-
Section
45
46 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
collaboration “The interest that our project
from day one has aroused shows us that we are
on the right track, and that other
Interview with Karin Verdooren companies also feel that some-
and Bernard van Dam thing has to change in housing
refurbishment in our country.”
Bernard van Dam
Mrs Verdooren, what was your ambition in a little extra money from the state, the fact residents feel better. If people feel better
being the first housing corporation in the that we did not receive any also helped us in their house, they take better care of it,
Netherlands to carry out an Active House to figure out what was financially viable. and you also have fewer problems in the
refurbishment? After all, if we are to do similar refurbish- area around the houses. Still, this is a very
KV: The decisive step forward to renova- ments in the future, there will not always long-term perspective and it may take ye-
te some of our social housing in as susta- be funding available either. ars to really see the effects.
inable a way as possible was made when BvD: The houses are entering a monito-
our former CEO, Peter Korzelius, spoke Mr Van Dam, what have you learned from ring phase now in which their energy use,
to the Mayor of Montfoort on the occa- the project that you can potentially apply the indoor comfort, and the well-being
sion of Duurzame Dinsdag (Sustainable to future, similar refurbishments? of the residents will be evaluated. We are
Tuesday) in September 2009. Sustainab- BvD: The project was unique for us be- looking forward to seeing the results of all
le Tuesday is a nationwide, annual event cause, for the first time, we considered this. We also hope that it will become more
where a jury awards prizes to the best sus- rent and energy costs together – that is and more common to deal with daylight
tainable ideas and initiatives developed so-called living costs. We wanted to achie- in this novel way in the future, so that this
by companies in the country. ve a trade-off between an increase in rent will no longer just be something that an
On that day, we decided we would re- (which is beneficial for us) and significant architect can do. That would certainly
novate the ten houses in Poorterstraat reductions in energy costs (which are be- help us in applying similar strategies to
to energy level A++. Soon afterwards, we neficial for the tenants). other refurbishments as well.
learned that VELUX Netherlands was also To really turn these refurbishments
looking for an ambitious refurbishment into a business case, however, we would What has been the feedback on the project
project to implement the Solar Solution have needed to increase the rent a little so far, both from the general public and
concept that VELUX had developed to- more than the law allows us to. In the from other housing corporations?
gether with Danfoss. So we got in touch Netherlands, there are legal limits to the BvD: There is definitely a lot of interest in
with each other to discuss a possible col- overall rent for social housing. But these our sector. We are the first in the Nether-
laboration. regulations consider only the rent itself lands to do a project like this, so everyone
and completely disregard the energy is looking at us as if we are experts already.
What is your usual approach to refur- costs. We can only hope that this law may But we are not experts yet. The future will
bishing homes, and how does the project change in the future to include both. tell us if what we did was right – particu-
in Poorterstraat compare to a standard We also learnt a lot from the planning larly as we did it in the midst of the finan-
renovation in terms of costs? process in this project. Usually when we cial crisis. Also, the costs were extremely
KV: Usually we aim to upgrade our houses start a refurbishment, we draw up the high. Nevertheless, the interest that our
from energy level F or G to level C in the plans, then send out a tender to several project has aroused shows us that we are
Energy Performance Certificate. As far contractors and ask them for their bids. on the right track, and that other compa-
as costs are concerned, I cannot give you In this case, though, all the parties worked nies also feel that something has to change
the precise figures, but for the same mo- together from the start and developed a in housing refurbishment in our country.
ney we would have been able to build new good solution together. I think that more
houses to level A, and you can imagine that and more projects ought to be developed
a standard renovation would have been si- like this in order to be truly sustainable.” Karin Verdooren is CEO of Stichting GroenWest,
gnificantly cheaper. But we wanted to try the owner of the ten refurbished houses in
Poorterstraat
out the experiment in this case because To what degree did the particular focus on
we believe that this is the way forward. daylight in this project open up any new Bernard van Dam is project leader of Groen-
perspectives to you? West.
Was there any public funding for the refur- KV: One of the main objectives of Gro-
bishments? enWest is that our tenants should live
KV: Unfortunately not, as the situation comfortably. And daylight can make a si-
regarding funding in the Netherlands is gnificant contribution to that. Daylight
rather difficult at the moment. However, makes homes feel bigger than they actu-
while we certainly would not have minded ally are, and I hope it will also make the
47
DRøMME
BAKKEN
AARUP
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
51
52 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
53
serves as a common room, permits an
“There are sensors in various places undisturbed view outside.
that measure temperature and
Ventilation and heating in synchrony – the
CO2. If the CO2 level is too high, the
technological concept
system makes sure that new fresh The design of the synchronised ventila-
air flows into the kindergarten. If tion and heating system is important to
the temperature is too high, the ensure a pleasant indoor climate. Instead
system reduces the underfloor of the air heating system which the build-
heating and opens the skylights.” ing had previously been equipped with,
all rooms now have a much more ener-
Ib Medegaard gy-efficient underfloor heating system.
Ventilation flaps above the facade win-
dows and 30 of the 49 skylight modules
automatically open and close to allow
each of the tunnels through two smaller air to circulate naturally. The vents and
skylights in the flat roof. All the other modules are controlled by a Window-
rooms have been painted matt white to Master system that is also responsible
ensure an even distribution of daylight. for regulating the underfloor heating. Ib
Many of the rooms were once large open- Medegaard, the construction consultant
plan spaces. To improve their acoustics, for the municipality, explains the system:
the architects placed numerous large “There are sensors in various places that
and small sail-shaped panels under the measure temperature and CO2. If the CO2
ceilings to absorb the sound. The panels level is too high, the system makes sure
additionally serve to conceal the technical that new fresh air flows into the kinder-
installations. garten. If the temperature is too high, the
The enormous roof of the former town system reduces the underfloor heating
hall was ideal for admitting daylight into and opens the skylights.”
the more than 1,200 square metre build-
ing. The eleven skylights consist of 49 in- Bringing nature inside – some users’ im-
dividual modules, each of which measures pressions
90 by 240 centimetres and is inclined at The reactions of the kindergarten teach-
an angle of five degrees. The building’s ers and of parents show that the architects
external walls, in contrast, have been left made the right choices: “There’s no doubt
almost untouched. Even the old window that the skylights have meant a lot to the
frames are still serviceable; they have sim- institution. We think it’s light and friendly
ply been provided with new security glaz- and pleasant to be in,” says the director
ing. Apart from the entrance tunnels, the of the kindergarten Helle Pia Sørensen.
only major changes to the facades are the Line Visby Hansen from the parents’
floor-to-ceiling glazed emergency exits in association has a similar impression: “Be-
every classroom. fore, it was as if there was a lid on the build-
Although the building was originally ing. It was quite boring to look at and you
designed for an entirely different pur- couldn’t see anything. But now, with the
pose, its facade design turned out to be large windows and all the light coming in
ideal for the kindergarten as it balances from the roof you can look in to something
privacy with openness to the external light.” Line Visby Hansen feels that it is
world. In the classrooms, the window sills almost as though the interior and exterior
are low enough for plentiful amounts of areas have moved closer together because
daylight to reach the inside, but prevent of the renovation: “It creates an organic
the children working on projects in the feeling and doesn’t seem like such a big
rooms from being distracted by visual change when you come in after being out-
contact with their peers playing outside. side. In a way, the light helps bring nature
In contrast, the floor-to-ceiling glazing into the building,”
in the former entrance area, which now
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
cd/m 2
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
55
Plenty of character but The former municipal administra- ports. Only in the entrance area was
tion building of Aarup, a small town the roof construction supported by
not much daylight: the of 5,000 inhabitants on the Danish is- wooden trusses.
town hall before its land of Funen, was surprisingly mod- On 1 January 2011, the municipal
renovation est and unrepresentative for a town administration packed its bags and
hall. The single-storey building with moved south to Assens. After the
a floor area of 1,260 square metres Danish municipal reforms, the former
stands in the centre of the municipal- town hall was no longer needed and
ity yet on the edge of a greenway that could be remodelled to serve a new
extends from the town centre to the purpose. Most of the building’s con-
outskirts. struction proved to be still usable, in-
The tripartite building was divided cluding the exterior walls, with their
into a central entrance area and two light-coloured brick sills, and the roof.
adjoining, virtually square pavilions With the exception of the middle part
on either side. The architects who of the building where the leaking roof
designed the building in the sixties needed to be redone, the exterior of
covered it with a projecting flat roof, the building did not even require ad-
almost as though they had wanted to ditional insulation.
exclude daylight from the rooms. Only
a few sparse skylights allowed a mod-
icum of daylight to penetrate inside.
Structurally however, the roof con-
Credits struction was a static masterpiece,
Client: Municipality of Assens, DK with concrete beams stretching from
Architects: CASA Arkitekter, Næstved, DK one side of the building to the other
Engineering: Rævdal ApS, Søndersø, DK and spanning distances of up to 25
Location: Indre Ringvej 2, Aarup DK metres without any additional sup-
Daylight
Factor (%)
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
56 D&A
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32
Blanche
PARIS
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
The Rue Blanche in Paris’ 9th arron- New ways to deliver light:
dissement is lined with five-storey office the renovation concept “First of all, I wanted to insert
and residential buildings, as well as a small This made it clear that the work of renova- something into this atrium that
theatre, their ground floors often being tion should pursue two main objectives: would accompany the light on its
occupied by small shops and restaurants. bringing daylight into the depths of the way and could take it even further
The buildings are mostly built of stone building and restoring its former, struc-
into the utmost depths of the
and typically feature kerb roofs which tural clarity. In addition, Franck Ham-
are characteristic of traditional Parisian moutène opened the numerous roof ter-
building. Secondly, it was to
architecture. races for the users. With the conversion, provide privacy for the office
A few buildings, however, stand out office space for around 1,500 users was workers on both sides of the
from their neighbours. One of them is created. Today, it would be inconceivable atrium. And thirdly, this object was
no. 32 with its sturdy, four-storey steel- for a completely new building of the same intended to protect the interior of
framed facade, filled in with large trans- size to be given a construction permit at the fully-glazed building against
parent glass panes. Suspended from the this location. The two adjacent residential excessive sunlight, similarly to
steel framework are translucent blinds buildings, 36 and 38 Rue Blanche, which what louvres or brise-soleils do.”
made of acrylic rods that sparkle in the had long ago been converted into offices
afternoon sunlight. Upon entering the by Galeries Lafayette, were also renovat- Franck Hammoutène, architect
spacious lobby, the visitor is drawn down ed, equipped with new roof windows, and
a gently descending flight of steps towards subsequently returned to their original
another source of light: an elliptical patio purpose as subsidised housing.
in the heart of the building, visible all the Franck Hammoutène compares his in-
way from the street. tervention in 32 Rue Blanche with a surgi-
Inside the spaces, there are few indica- cal operation whereby the existing steel
tions that 32 Blanche is, in fact, the con- skeleton was to be retained in its entirety.
version of an existing building. But its his- Hidden by the suspended ceilings, there
tory goes back 100 years to the heyday of are still the same lattice girders that have
early Modernist industrial architecture. been there for 100 years. What’s more, the
Built largely between 1910 and 1913, the round columns are made of plasterboard
huge 20,000 square metre structure origi- that encases the old steel supports and
nally served as workshops and warehouse protects them against fire.
for the nearby department store, Galler- The architects decided to make a start
ies Lafayette. With floor areas of some at two places in order to bring daylight
70×70 metres each, it was well adapted to into the building again: at the facades and
this purpose, but rather less so for later in the centre of the building. Thanks to
use as an office building. large glass surfaces, the facades regained
their original transparency. Next to these,
narrow thermally insulated opening pan-
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62 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
63
that Franck Hammoutène arranged to At the bottom of the atrium, there is the
“If I had to describe the project ‘32 be cut 30 metres deep into the former third section of the light and glass in-
Blanche’ in one word, this word warehouse. But he did not content him- stallation: a round, stainless steel disc
would be ‘light’.” self with merely creating a hollow space with a diameter of 14.6 metres slightly
for daylight here: “First of all, I wanted tilted towards the south, on the surface
Carole Benzaken, artist to insert something into this atrium that of which there are another almost 8,000
would accompany the light on its way and lens-shaped glass discs. They reflect part
could take it even further into the utmost of those beams of light that have found
depths of the building. Secondly, it was to their way all down to the bottom so that
provide privacy for the office workers on light thus transported enters the office
both sides of the atrium. And thirdly, this levels as well.
els in the few opaque areas of the facade object was intended to protect the inte-
serve to ventilate the office floors. The ef- rior of the fully-glazed building against A project with many beneficiaries
fect of opening the building in this way is excessive sunlight, similarly to what lou- Economists talk of a ‘win-win situation’
remarkable; the urban density prevailing vres or brise-soleils do.” when all parties to a transaction profit
at this location in Paris becomes visible, The ‘object’ that the architect eventu- from it. This situation also seems to have
with neighbours almost within touching ally developed in collaboration with the occurred in the case of 32 Blanche: the
distance of 32 Blanche. On each side of structural engineer, Jean-Marc Weill, is investor receives an office building in
the building, there is a view of another a filigree meshed cable structure in which the centre of Paris that will (hopefully)
interior courtyard, displaying zinc roofs, over 50,000 glass discs are hung, attached remain profitable for years. The city is
stone house facades, ivy-covered separat- to stainless-steel wires. The round discs enriched by an exemplary illustration of
ing walls and an adjacent fire station. How have diameters of 10 and 16 centimetres how the high density of buildings can be
much the original clients wanted to bring and an irregular light-refracting surface combined with high quality architecture
daylight into the basement floor of 32 structure. Depending on the incidence of and high quality of life. The neighbours,
Blanche 100 years ago also becomes vis- light and the imagination of the observer, rather than looking at dirty-white brick
ible. The rear facades of the building are they are reminiscent of a frozen waterfall, walls, now face transparent glass facades
surrounded by deep light wells, which are a cornucopia of daylight or a wafer-thin and planted roof terraces. The architects
enclosed by retaining walls and, in some glass veil. The latter image is also what were accorded recognition for the virtu-
cases, go down as far as three storeys into inspired Franck Hammoutène to come osity with which they breathed new life
the ground. up with a name for it; the Spanish man- into the old structure. And the environ-
Today, as in the past, the outer steel tilla or, in Berber, the serdal, is a delicate ment is spared many tons of building
load-bearing structure lends the greater lace veil with which women used to cover waste, greenhouse-gas emissions from
part of the facades their character. The their hair, neck and shoulders in bygone additional commuter traffic, and other
heavy double-T girders still carry the load centuries. negative effects that would have occurred
of the building. In the facade facing the In the Mantilla of 32 Blanche, the dis- if an attempt had been made to create the
street, filigree sunshades made of acrylic tribution of the glass discs is oriented to same office space in new buildings here
rods are suspended from the cross-beams the course of the sun. At the top on the and elsewhere.
to provide privacy for the offices and pro- north side – i.e. where direct sunlight is
tect them against the low sun in the west. most often to be expected – 50% of its
However, they are much more than just surface is made of glass. At the bottom
a technical tool – and it is exactly their on the south side, the proportion of glass
aesthetic added value that makes them decreases to below 20%.
symptomatic of the entire renovation At its upper end, the glass veil contin-
project. In the afternoon sunlight, the ues in a metal cone that arches over the
rods produce a multi-facetted interplay flat roof like a gigantic conch. Whereas
of refraction and reflection inside the the Mantilla is intended to filter people’s
building as well as in the narrow, shady view through the building, the metal
street at its feet. conch serves to conceal things – for ex-
ample, the heavy steel fastening anchors
A kaleidoscope of glass droplets: from which the 30 vertical cables of the
the Mantilla Mantilla are suspended, as well as the
A similar, but much more impressive, unavoidable technical installations that
spectacle of light and matter is offered have to be accommodated on the roof of
to the observer inside the oval atrium any office building.
Longitudinal section.
The funnel-shaped ‘mantilla’
continues on the roof terrace
in the form of a metal shell
accommodating the technical
equipment rooms.
67
Daylight was the “Daylight was the prerequisite for
prerequisite for this the implementation of the project.
project […] Our task was [...]to open the
building to the light and, at the
Interview with same time, create views that
Franck Hammoutène future users would find agreeable.”
Franck Hammoutène
Mr Hammoutène, what were the most im- same time, create views that future users reflector became a surface that we wanted
portant qualities of 32 Blanche before its would find agreeable. to make out of as many small individual
renovation? parts as possible. And we wanted to keep
The building had three essential What design strategies and tools did you the number of different parts to a mini-
strengths. Firstly, an urban strength – 32 use to develop the daylighting concept? mum – like the alphabet, where a very
Blanche is completely interwoven with That depends on what aspect of daylight limited number of letters can be used to
its surroundings, which are among the we are dealing with. We calculate quanti- express any conceivable notion.
most architecturally diverse in Paris and tative variables such as the daylight fac-
possess an almost painterly quality. Sec- tor, for which specific minimum levels In many European metropolises, there is
ondly, a constructional strength that de- are prescribed by law. In this way, all our currently a discussion about density and
rives from its homogeneity. Basically, the design decisions are checked numerically how it can be balanced with the inhabit-
building is very simply constructed but in as we go along. ants’ quality of life. To what extent could
a very pragmatic and systematic way. And Achieving a good quality of light, on your project contribute new viewpoints to
thirdly, a spatial quality; due to its large the other hand, is more a question of ex- this discussion?
volume and its depth, the building offers perience. In the case of 32 Blanche in par- 32 Blanche was a purely private construc-
enormous spaces that can be used. ticular, photorealistic visualisations were tion project, but the city of Paris was very
extremely helpful. They don‘t show the interested in it and organised public visits
What considerations led you and the later quality of the daylight in the interior of the building once it was finished. The
Carlyle Group, to retain the existing load- spaces exactly, but they do provide an im- city administration evidently saw it as a
bearing structure almost entirely instead pression of how the light is distributed and reference project that, in an interesting
of erecting a new building? what lines of sight there will be between way, illustrated how density can be rec-
The starting point was a very simple the different spaces. For example, there onciled with quality of life, urbanism and
consideration. The volume and the floor are many places where it is possible for a neighbourly coexistence.
space of the existing building were much person standing on one side of the build- Indeed, almost all our neighbours
larger than would be permissible for a ing to look through the patio into the op- have attested to the fact that they them-
new building at this location today. In posite offices and then further through the selves are profiting from the renovation,
addition, our investigations showed that rear facade to see the panorama of Paris. even though 32 Blanche continues to be
it would not have been worthwhile to We used drawings to verify these viewing spatially very close to them. But they are
tear down, replace or alter the existing relationships in the context of the design. relieved that the renovated building has
load-bearing structure. On the contrary, not turned out to be an unprepossessing
retaining it had great advantages, not only How did the idea of the Mantilla originate? intruder but is an agreeable neighbour
in terms of construction time and costs The building could only continue to exist with all its openness to the street and the
but also with regard to the architectural if we hollowed it out and placed this inner patio-type courtyard. The building has
quality. From then on, our client virtually courtyard in the form of a patio or atrium many qualities that tend to be atypical of
had no choice but to agree. inside it. Its geometry is such that it cap- a building financed by investors, but they
tures a maximum amount of daylight. do have something to offer everyone – the
What role did daylight play in the refur- In contrast to the building, the atrium is staff who work in it, the neighbours, the
bishment, and how great a challenge was precisely aligned in a south-north direc- passers-by in the street, and, finally, the
it to bring more light into the interior? tion, for example, and its south facade is investor as well.
Daylight was the prerequisite for the inclined at a slightly greater angle than
implementation of the project. After all, the north one.
the building was in the middle of a densely However, we also needed a reflector
built block of buildings and was itself so that would guide daylight right down into
compact (with floor spaces on each differ- the atrium. After some consideration, we
ent storey of around 70×70 metres) that realised that the most efficient and least
large parts of the interior received almost expensive way of doing this would be to
no light at all. Our task was therefore to detach the geometry of the patio from the
open the building to the light and, at the geometry of this reflector. As a result, the
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
Finding common ground between between, there used to be an open light- At the heart of the exhibition organisation
conservation and accessibility was one of well, which had, over the years, been built are the objects themselves. MUMA placed
the main tasks that the Victoria and Al- into at the lower levels for behind-the- particularly striking or important exhib-
bert Museum (V&A) and architects MUMA scenes use by the Museum. its at the end of lines of sight and in other
faced when they created the new Medi- strategically significant places in order to
eval & Renaissance Galleries. In terms of Establishing connections – guide the visitors. To divide up the spaces,
lighting, their aim was to allow as much the spatial concept including the largest ones, they almost ex-
daylight as possible to enter, but without The architects identified the lack of spa- clusively the exhibits, together with their
harmful UV radiation and, wherever pos- tial interconnection as a significant chal- pedestals and the frameless glass show-
sible, without direct sunlight on the ex- lenge of the project: how would it be possi- cases in which they are displayed.
hibits. Apart from its aesthetic value and ble to join together the spaces distributed While each room has its own narrative,
benefits for energy efficiency, daylight over three levels and separated from each there is also an overlapping chronology
also had an almost didactic meaning in other by an open lightwell? MUMA’s so- that structures the exhibition. It covers
the project: “It was particularly impor- lution was to remove some connecting 300–1500 on the lower level, and 1400–
tant to dispel the still popular notion stairs and delivery ramps, excavate the 1600 above, complemented by often larg-
of the medieval ‘dark ages’ by creating lightwell down to basement level and er-scale objects dating from 1350–1600 in
spaces that feel light,” says project chief put a glass roof over it. This strategy made Gallery 50.
curator, Peta Motture. “This is no mean the former outdoor area usable as an ad- In terms of atmosphere, the curatorial
feat, given the constraints of combining ditional space for exhibitions, as well as brief sought a change of pace and rhythm
materials requiring different light levels, for a new stair and lift providing access to throughout the galleries. Aston Webb’s ar-
notably sensitive objects such as textiles all six levels of the museum. chitecture provided a sequence of spaces
and drawings.” The challenges were thus The newly-created gallery, which of changing scale and MUMA reinforced
considerable but they have been resolved curves in a U-shape around the apse of this rhythm with the use of light and col-
in a way that may well make the newly cre- Gallery 50, now joins what used to be our. Along the south facade, light-filled,
ated galleries a model for future daylit separate spaces. The character of the ex- elongated spaces alternate with darker,
museums throughout the world. ternal walls has been retained, and this quadratic ones on both the exhibition lev-
The Medieval & Renaissance Galleries tranquil space is an ideal place to relax els. In Gallery 50, in contrast, the lighting
are located in the south wing of the V&A, and contemplate the works of art. levels become more and more subdued
which was completed in 1909 to designs from the entrance in the west to the apse
by Aston Webb. They comprise three se- Light structures space – an orien- in the east. This dramaturgy of light cor-
ries of spaces located on three different tation system without signposts responds to the composition of the exhi-
levels that were, before their recent con- In the new sequence of spaces made up bition. The first half of Gallery 50 mainly
version, partly used for non-exhibition of ten galleries altogether, several order- accommodates sculptures and other
purposes. Two of them are located in the ing systems are superimposed on each light-insensitive works of art. In the sec-
lower ground and on the first floor next to other, which largely manage without any ond, there are religious art objects, some
the south facade of the museum; a third is classical aids such as partition walls and of which are sensitive to light to a degree.
adjacent at ground level (Gallery 50). In signposts.
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76 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
Congenial collaboration – into account: the daylight atmosphere de- several times, with varying light transmis-
MUMA and Arup sired by the architects, and the light sen- sion values for the windows, until even the
In the architects’ competition submis- sitivity of the individual exhibits. For the most sensitive exhibits in the room would
sion, daylight already played a key role. most sensitive exhibition pieces, a limit of receive only the permitted amount of day-
The Museum’s Board of Trustees there- 200,000 lux hours per year was imposed, light.
fore commissioned two specialists to do which corresponds to an illumination of The maximum permissible light trans-
the lighting design; DHA Design was re- 50 lux over a period of 10 hours per day. mission thus determined for each window
sponsible for the artificial lighting and The engineers now had to balance this now had to be achieved through a suitable
Arup for the daylighting design. “This requirement with the amount of daylight combination of window, light diffusors,
was an extremely exciting and, at times, in each space. First they calculated the UV filters and shading elements. At the
challenging brief,” said Steve Walker, As- cumulative light exposure (in lux hours) same time, the great variability of the
sociate Director at Arup. “The luminous in the course of a year for each window daylight had to be taken into account, ac-
qualities of natural light cannot be repli- using the weather data available for Lon- cording to Francesco Anselmo, because,
cated artificially and, in this project, it was don. From this, they derived the annual “we wanted to darken the spaces that the
a fundamental goal to illuminate these light exposure for every given point both architects’ concept required to be dark
new galleries as far as possible with natu- horizontally and on the walls in each gal- and we wanted to make those spaces that
ral light – for the way it can beautifully il- lery space. This calculation was repeated were supposed to be bright as light-filled
luminate materials and objects, its ability
to create atmosphere and, of course, be-
cause it is an energy-free source of light.” Daylight calculations and simulations
At the beginning of the daylighting
design stage, the Arup engineers created 1. 3D Model
a detailed 3D computer model of the exhi-
bition spaces and the surrounding build- 2. Weather data analysis (luminous climate for london)
ings. This formed the basis for further cal-
3. Lighting Survey
culations and modifications. Most design
decisions were checked mathematically 4. Galleries along the south facade
and visually with reference to this model. a. Lighting exposure profiles on external windows
It was only in the final design phases that, b. Cumulative lighting exposures on external windows
for some of the spaces, the client had 1:1 c. Sun views study for external windows
mock-ups built in order to verify the in- d. Daylight factor analysis
teraction of daylight, materials and wall e. Lighting exposure plots withhighlighted sensitive objects
f. Optimisation of control strategy to maximise daylighting
colours.
I. Comparative study of 5 options:
1. Static diffusing fabric blinds (no control)
Step-by-step optimisation – 2. Seasonally adjusted blinds (manual control)
galleries on the south facade 3. Automatic open/close roller blinds (9/18)
In terms of daylighting, the galleries on the 4. Automatic venetian blinds
south facade posed the greatest challeng- 5. Fixed interstitial louvres (”egg-crate”, 1 to 1 ratio)
es in that they receive direct, sometimes II. Lighting profiles on the most sensitive object
very strong sunlight and are only naturally III. Cumulative lighting exposure on the most sensitive object
g. Selection of display case glazing to avoid veiling reflections
lit from one side. Without shading, the
h. Comparative logarithmic chart for brightness evaluation
rooms can be intensely illuminated dur- i. Characterisation of brightness for each gallery room (both visual and quantitive)
ing periods of strong sunshine and yet, j. Visual simulation of translucent stone appereance in sunny and cloudy sky conditions
when the sky is cloudy, they might only
receive lighting levels in the order of 10 5. Gallery 50
lux. “We had to bring these extreme fluc- a. Sun views study for external windows
tuations of brightness down to an accept- b. Daylight factor analysis
able level without completely suppressing c. Lighting exposure plots with highlighted sensitive objects
d. Seasonal illumination matrix
the dynamics of the daylight,” explained
e. Sun path diagram and selection of glazing to limit solar penetration
Francesco Anselmo, who was responsible
at Arup for daylight simulations. 6. Daylit Gallery
In their calculations, the engineers a. Characterisation of brightness
proceeded one room at a time and, in do- b. Daylight factor analysis
ing so, had to take two important aspects c. Sun hours analysis
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79
sible to create completely satisfactory the section in the west; direct light does
“This was an extremely exciting daylight conditions in the galleries in not reach the more light-sensitive exhib-
and, at times, challenging brief. this way. In some cases, the calculations its. Light-diffusing film that excludes UV
The luminous qualities of natural also showed that relocating individual radiation, and whose light transmission
exhibits (to areas further away from the ratio varies from pane to pane, has been
light cannot be replicated artifi-
windows) would open up the possibility of applied to all the panes of glass in the
cially and, in this project, it was a considerably increasing the overall level roof. Only from the open west end does
fundamental goal to illuminate of daylight in the space. direct light occasionally enter the ‘church’
these new galleries as far as space, with spots of light wandering over
possible with natural light – for The roof as light filter – the floor from time to time, but never
the way it can beautifully illumi- Gallery 50 coming near the more sensitive artefacts.
nate materials and objects, its Another challenge was presented to the
ability to create atmosphere and, daylight planners by Gallery 50, which Guided views – the Daylit Gallery
of course, because it is an energy- received light from above. Before rede- In the former external lightwell, con-
velopment, the gallery’s roof, which was verted into a daylit gallery, the key to
free source of light.”
made of wire-reinforced cast glass, had controlling daylight is the inclined glass
not been fitted with any means of protec- roof with its approximately 50 centimetre
Steve Walker, Associate Director, Arup
tion against the sun. A daylight factor of high structural glass beams. The glazing
17.5% and more frequent, direct ingress for the roof was chosen to ensure that it
of sunlight were the consequences. The transmits as much visible light as possible
aim was to reduce these values to a level but no ultraviolet radiation.
compatible with the exhibits and to mini- The glass beams (some of which are
mise glare, which would be inappropriate more than nine metres long) are ar-
in a museum. A further objective of the ranged to allow vertical views of the sky
architects’ concept was to clearly mark above but are opaque to oblique views
out specific zones. The west section of towards neighbouring buildings. Still,
as possible – irrespective of the weather the gallery – the Renaissance Courtyard their translucency relieves them of any
conditions outside.” and Garden – was to be flooded with day- appearance of heaviness. At one point in
Altogether, Arup simulated five types light, whereas the east part – entitled In- the design process, due to a need to con-
of shading devices in their computer side the Church – was to be given a more sider cost savings, there was a discussion
model. It soon became apparent that only controlled lighting atmosphere and ac- about whether to use aluminium beams
an automatically-controlled system that commodate some exhibits that required instead. To help explain MUMA’s prefer-
reacted to natural variations in daylight lower light levels, including a fresco and ence for an entirely translucent structure,
would deliver the best possible results. several polychromed altarpieces. the Arup engineers simulated the lighting
Above all, this system – commercially This resulted in two strategies of light effect of each variant by means of lumi-
available venetian blinds with rotating control and diffusion. In the west part, nance renderings. The simulation results
louvres that are automatically adjusted wide, rigid light-directing louvres were clarified that whereas the aluminium
to let in the right amount of light – is mounted under the glass roof. They keep beams cast stark shadows on the brick
able to exclude any direct sunlight from most of the direct light out of the space, walls of the apse in sunlight, the contrast
the south, which would otherwise be re- so that even the most exposed part of the of brightness in the case of the glass beams
sponsible for most of the fluctuations in north wall receives no more than 200 is substantially more gentle – and more
brightness. hours of sunlight per year. In addition, pleasing to the observer.
On the room side of the shading ele- they complement the barrel vault, the
ments, each window was equipped with shape of which was formerly implied only
a UV filter membrane and an additional by the arched steel beams of the roof. De-
light-diffusing layer. The latter consists spite the new shading elements however,
of open-weave fabric or – where called this gallery still counts among the bright-
for by the scenography of the respective est spaces in the entire museum.
spaces – a material with an appropriately In the east part of the gallery, in con-
atmospheric impact. In one of the galler- trast, the lower three quarters of the vault
ies, for example, ceiling-high glass panels are now covered by plaster-board; only a
with a layer of white, translucent onyx skylight along the roof ridge lets in light.
laminated onto them cover the windows. In terms of the average daylight factor,
Nevertheless, it was not always pos- this space is less than 1/15 as bright as
100 100
5 5
10 10
5 5
1 1
lux lux
1900 1900
1700 1700
1500 1500
1300 1300
1100 1100
900 900
700 700
500 500
300 300
100 100
DF (%)
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Galleries on the south facade In their computer model, the engineers from
Arup simulated five different methods of
providing shade against the sun. A combination
of adjustable blinds, UV filter membranes and
fabric light-diffusion screens (centre, right) met
the requirements most precisely.
Option 1: Option 2:
Static Diffusing Seasonally
Fabric Blinds Adjusted Blinds,
Manual Control
Option 3: Option 4:
Automatic Automatic
Open/Close Roller Venetian
Blinds (9–18) Blinds
Option 5:
Fixed
Interstitial
Louvres
(1 to 1 Ratio)
82
Perceived brightness (top) and
daylight factors (bottom) in the
rooms on the south facade. The
rhythm of brighter, elongated
and darker square rooms
is clearly visible.
DF (%)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Daylighting Analysis -
Annual cumulative
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM - MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE GALLERIES Daylighting Analysis - App
Annual cumulative ligh
Lux hours
2.00e+07
1.80e+07
1.60e+07
1.40e+07
1.20e+07
1.00e+07
8.00e+06
6.00e+06
4.00e+06
t
2.00e+06
0
af
83
84 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
The Daylit Gallery
1.000 20
light and dark on the walls and
500 15
exhibits than the alternative 10
solution with aluminium beams 100 5
(bottom). 50 3
10 1
cd/m 2 cd/m 2
10.000 800
50.000 500
300
1.000 200
500 100
75
100 50
50 30
20
10 10
85
Credits:
Client/Developer: The Board of the Trustees
of the V&A, London, UK
Architects and
Exhibition Design: MUMA, London, UK
Daylighting Consultant and
Environmental Engineer: Arup, London, UK
Location: Cromwell Road, London, UK
The Victoria and Albert Museum – The eastern section of the lower
Lots of light and then still known as South Kensington ground floor had been partitioned,
lots of shadow: Museum – was founded soon after the with a mezzanine level inserted to
the galleries before London World Exhibition in 1851 as accommodate offices, and the win-
the conversion a publicly accessible treasure house dows in the areas used as gallery were
of objects chosen to inspire designers blacked out. Similarly, the galleries on
and manufacturers. Erected between the raised ground floor were not fully
1857 and 1909, the Museum building devoted to displays, although origi-
in the London district of South Kens- nally designed to be so.
ington covers an area of around five Only Gallery 50 had retained its
hectares; with 4.5 million exhibits, it original size. A vast daylit hall, cov-
is still regarded as the world’s great- ered with glass roofs, it is separated
est museum of art and design. into two areas by a rood-loft from
The final part of the museum, com- the Netherlands, and terminates in a
pleted in 1909, is the south wing. De- semi-circular apse in the east, which
signed by Aston Webb, it features a houses a Renaissance chapel. In these
220-metre long street facade and a spaces, however, there was an exces-
huge entrance rotunda, and is now sive amount of uncontrolled daylight;
home to the new Medieval & Renais- without protection against the sun
sance Galleries. Their completion was under the glass roof, the gallery was
a significant step in the V&A’s ongo- anything but ideal for the contempla-
ing Future Plan to renovate their tion of art and completely unsuitable
premises in order to meet the needs for the presentation of light-sensitive
of a modern museum and its diverse artefacts.
audiences.
Aston Webb’s architectural design
followed the tradition of the large mu-
seums of the 19th century: high, light-
filled galleries in the neo-renaissance
style, often with glass roofs and large
windows. Although artificial light was
already commonplace in the museums
of his time (in 1858, the V&A even in-
troduced the first late-night openings
under gas light), it was not inexpen-
sive; daylight in the museums was
therefore considered to be essential.
Not much of this spaciousness re-
mained, however, when the London-
based firm MUMA was given the job
of designing the Medieval & Renais-
sance Galleries in 2003.
Peta Motture, what were the intentions Still, these galleries were very much dif To what extent could the opening of the gal-
of the V&A eleven years ago when you set ferent from what is commonly found in leries to the light and your return to pas-
about redesigning your Medieval and Re- museum architecture today, where there sive methods of climate control be a model
naissance Galleries? can be a tendency to create generic ‘black for future refurbishments at the V&A and
PM: The aim was to bring together the Mu- box’ spaces that exclude daylight. other museums?
seum’s outstanding European collections PM: For several years, the V&A has been
from the years 300 to 1600 and to make What were your main conceptual inten- making great efforts to ensure we save en-
them accessible to the widest possible au- tions when you started work on the gal- ergy and reduce carbon emissions, for in-
dience. At the same time, we wanted to leries? stance in the Medieval & Renaissance Gal-
remain true to the character of the Grade SM: Our competition submission already leries, where we chose a system of more
1 listed building. The objects were to take emphasised maximising the use of natural passive environmental control. But, given
pride of place, and we wanted to create a light. Furthermore, we wanted to recover that this is a new approach, we will need
variety of pace and mood in the galleries spaces and use colour, tone and light levels to monitor it for the long term. We have
and displays, and for visitors to be able to in order to reinforce the original rhythm to continually re-negotiate the need for
have a sense of discovery. This ambition of Aston Webb’s architecture. In terms of visitor-friendliness on the one hand, and
is reflected in both the exhibition and the the exhibition design, our goal was to min- the protection of sensitive exhibits on the
lighting design. Objects are placed so as to imise the method of display to maximise other. Future projects will also be as pas-
allow as much daylight to enter the gal- the impact of the objects themselves. sive as possible, depending on the nature
leries as possible, and to use the lighting of the specific objects being displayed.
to complement the narrative of the dis- Peta, to what extent does your ambition of Other museums have been interested
plays where appropriate. It was especially bringing more daylight into the galleries in our approach, for example in the reduc-
important for us that the lower level gal- mean a return to the roots of your museum? tion of casing, but not everyone will feel
leries, which house collections from the PM: You could say that we have been tak- comfortable in taking the same approach,
earlier periods, were as light as possible, ing a step into the future while simultane- as no doubt local traditions, climate and
as we were determined to overcome the ously recollecting our roots in the past. We other relevant issues will play an impor-
still popular misconception revealed in are continuously working to improve on tant role in their decisions. But they can
our audience research of the ‘dark’ middle how we open up the collection and make it at least see what we are doing and then
ages, which – in contrast to the Renais- relevant to today’s audiences, while at the weigh up the issues, taking into account
sance – were not associated with art. same time aiming to recapture the quality their own specific needs.
The effect of the daylight changes the of the original 19th-century building. For
way in which visitors can relate to the ob- example, in the lower level galleries (Gal-
jects on display. We want them to encoun- leries 8–10a), we removed the cladding
ter the works directly so that they might from the previously blocked windows to Peta Motture was chief curator of the Medieval
resonate in their memory, and we have let daylight in again, and opened up some & Renaissance Galleries Project at the Victoria
and Albert Museum in London.
therefore also shown as many objects as behind-the-scenes spaces for display.
possible on open display. This transformation also had the benefit Stuart McKnight is a founder and partner
of regaining the spatial proportions that of MUMA (McInnes Usher McKnight Archi-
Stuart McKnight, how would you char- had been lost, and some rooms that were tects), who were responsible for the design of
acterise the qualities of the Aston Webb designed as galleries are now being used the new Medieval & Renaissance Galleries.
galleries as they were originally designed? as such for the first time. Elsewhere, in
SM:They were bright sidelit galleries Gallery 50, MUMA improved the effects
with a rhythm of spatial sequence that for viewing by controlling the previously
had been designed in consideration of unmediated daylight from the roof with
proportion and scale. Unfortunately the louvres, and by adjusting the lighting to
east wing was isolated for many visitors, work with the narrative outlined by the
which was a fundamental flaw in the origi- curators.
nal architecture.
What made the refurbishment of the Me- somewhat different approach to what has ingrained that they have coalesced to be-
dieval and Renaissance Galleries stand traditionally been practised in museums, come a tradition with its own logic. Such
out from other projects that you have been whereby both room temperature and hu- traditions are often difficult to change
working on in the past few years? midity usually have to be kept constant but, in this project, the design team and
SW: In this project, there were many dif- throughout the year. With this concept, client were successful. And the more the
ferent interrelated aspects: the unique we estimated that the V&A could save 20 younger generation, which has grown up
collection, the special way of handling to 30% of the energy costs that normal air- with the idea of sustainability, takes over
daylight and the indoor climate, not to conditioning would incur. What’s more, responsibility, the more frequently it will
mention the quality of the building itself. the equipment is less complex, so the be possible to question the current, often
The intervention of MUMA is subdued and, construction costs were reduced consid- energy-hungry and expensive-to-run
yet at the same time, self-confident in that erably since fewer changes were needed technical installations that we still have
it allows what is most important about the to the building’s existing fabric. in many museums.
exhibition − namely the variety of exhibits FA: Currently, I see a strong trend towards
− to speak for itself. Moreover, architec- What tools did you find particularly use- introducing more daylight into museums.
ture and environmental solutions work ful for communicating the results of your In almost all of the museums we have re-
particularly closely together here. This is daylight planning to the client? cently worked on, daylight is used as an
true of the daylight as well as the largely SW: Not everything that a technically ac- element to create an experience of space,
passive environmental control system for complished architect would understand to provide character and a sense of time.
the exhibition galleries. Such a strategy is suitable for communication with a cli- Because if you cut down UV levels, and if
enables the V&A to create a stable indoor ent. The computer renderings turned out you skilfully model daylight in terms of
climate and simultaneously save operat- to be useful, as well as photographs of the amount and direction, you can display the
ing costs compared with similar galleries. existing building, material samples and, exhibits in the best way possible.
FA: I found it remarkable that the archi- in the final phase, full-scale mock-ups.
tects assigned such an important role to FA: We often walked through the museum
daylight from the very beginning. Their and took HDR photos1 of the existing gal- 1. High Dynamic Range, a photographic technique
design was comparable to a narrative leries, which we then compared with the that makes it possible to examine the
whose vocabulary consists of materials, results of our own simulations. In this luminance distribution in existing spaces.
colours and light moods. The close at- way, we were able to show the client ref-
tention of the architects to natural light erence spaces with which the light mood Steve Walker is an Associate Director of Arup
is something that I have not experienced in the new galleries would be comparable. in London. As Arup’s design leader, he was
so strongly before in any other project. This comparison made it possible to con- responsible for daylighting design and M&E
engineering in the new Medieval and Renaissance
cretely experience our abstract simula-
Galleries.
What is special about your strategy for air- tion results.
conditioning the spaces? The mock-ups were useful for a simi- Francesco Anselmo is senior lighting designer at
SW: In this case, ventilation involves no lar reason. With their help, we were able Arup. He was responsible for the computer-aided
mechanical cooling at all. A sophisticated to judge how a certain material or a wall daylighting modelling and simulations.
control system constantly monitors con- colour, for example, would look under real
ditions both inside the galleries and out- lighting conditions. A computer simula-
side the building and determines the rate tion is hardly a substitute for this experi-
of outside air supply, recirculation and, at ence.
certain times of the year, how much heat-
ing is necessary. Here, the key criterion What opportunities do you see for applying
is humidity, which has to be kept within the ‘low tech’ approach to lighting and ven-
tight limits for conservational reasons. tilation practiced here in other museums?
But with this system, the indoor air tem- SW: I see a great deal of potential. It is pos-
perature can indeed fluctuate; the spaces sible that we are seeing one of those gener-
are relatively cool in winter and can be- ational problems where certain attitudes
come relatively warm in summer. This is a and received wisdom have become so
89
Nørre
BRO
KøBEN
HAVN
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
The light of the sun contributes to human furbishment measures for an individual
well-being and is an important source of apartment can be planned and imple-
energy for a building. Even the market mented within a relatively short time,
value of a property can be increased by a strategies for an entire city district take
good supply of daylight. What is more, im- longer to carry out because they involve
proving the daylight situation is one of the more people and a large number of build-
few measures that is effective at all scales ings. The most complex and long-term
of architecture – from a whole residential conversion strategies are those encom-
area to an individual room. passing entire districts. But these too are
It seems only logical, therefore, to important, because they provide a last-
make daylight the starting point of any ing basis for smaller-scale interventions
building refurbishment. Yet how to im- to take place. “Furthermore,” says Signe
plement such an approach in practice? Kongebro, “an important message of our
The potential and possibilities of holis- study is that the effects of interventions at
tic ‘daylight refurbishment’ of cities and all three scales – the city, the building block
buildings have now been summarised in and the apartment – add up. In order to
the study Hvad med Dagslys? (What about ensure that an intervention has maximum
daylight?)1. It was compiled by a group of benefit, all three scales should therefore be
seven architects from the Danish firm, considered in a holistic design strategy.”
Henning Larsen Architects, in collabora-
tion with Peter Andreas Sattrup (Techni- Tightly-packed, multifaceted and
cal University of Denmark) and Charlotte popular: Nørrebro, Copenhagen’s
Algreen (Algreen Arkitekter). The study former working-class neigh-
was funded by the Danish association, bourhood
Realdania. Before we concentrate on the results of
Using design creativity and modern the study, it is worth taking a look at the
simulation tools, the authors investigated area that ‘What about Daylight?’ investi-
what the benefits of daylight renovation gates. The district between Stefansgade
are for everyday life on the streets and and Jagtvej in the Copenhagen district of
in public spaces, as well as for residents’ Nørrebro is, in some ways, extreme, but
comfort levels and year-end energy bills. also typical of many tightly-built resi-
They also suggest a practical refurbish- dential areas in the city centres of Scan-
ment strategy that can be applied at three dinavia. The findings of the study are
levels: for an entire residential area, for a therefore not only applicable to the city
Next spread, right page: Rendering
of a potential daylight renovation single apartment block and for individual of Copenhagen, but to many cities across
in Nørrebro by Henning Larsen apartments. Northern Europe.
Architects according to the study These three assessment levels also
”Hvad med dagslys”? represent three time frames: while re- 1. See www.dagslysrenovering.dk
93
94 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
95
Nørrebro is the most densely-populated rigidly with the points of the compass.
Assessment level 1: Urban district urban district in Denmark and also has the However, despite this, some streets and
least green area per person. And the popu- courtyards still get very little daylight.
Method: lation levels are still increasing, as what This is because the building height of 22-
was once a working-class area is becoming 24 metres is considerably greater than the
Investigation of climate, daylight and
energy potential by means of: more and more popular, in particular with average width of the streets (18 metres)
– Shadow analyses for different times of year students and young families. The reason – and some of the courtyards are only 10
– Investigation of solar radiation on facades and for this is that relatively affordable living metres wide. So how can the sun be let into
roofs at different times of year. space is still to be had here. the streets and courtyards – and how can
In this district, the floor area ratios the amount of sun that shines on the fa-
Suggested measures: range from 2.0 to 4.5, depending on the cades be increased? For it is this sunshine
– Complete or partial demolition of individual property. Most of the buildings here were that is essential to provide good light and
buildings
erected around 1900 as speculative rental improve the well-being of residents who
– Building on roofs and densification
– Greater variation in building styles and build- development by investors. Typically they live in the apartments.
ing heights have 5½ storeys and often contain two-
– Allowance for solar radiation in the design of room apartments with a surface area of Measures for the city district:
new buildings less than 60 square metres. The ground breaking up the monotony
– Specific use of surface materials: floor levels along some of the wider streets The most important finding in the study
Light-coloured materials to improve daylight are used intensively by shops, cafes and at district level is that variety is of the
levels restaurants, which also enliven the pave- essence. Greater variety in the types of
Dark, heavy materials to store solar heat
ments in the summer with their outside building, height and spacing allows for
Smooth materials for light reflection
Raw materials for light dispersion tables. new ways of using buildings and more di-
The layout of streets in the district is versified open spaces. And it can also im-
certainly advantageous for good lighting: prove the daylight situation significantly.
the grid pattern is angled at about 60 de- The study concludes: “Variety allows for
grees to the four points of the compass. something unique. It gives an unexpected
This means that daylight is distributed ray of sunlight the opportunity to find its
more evenly within the streets than it way into a narrow courtyard. [...] it lets you
would be in a network of roads aligned create a diverse cityscape and provides
2000+
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
97
Assessment level 3: Refurbishment Energy consumption Daylight factor
cost per room [kWh/m2] (average)
[DKK]
Individual
apartment
99
Page 98–99 contain an over- passive solar heat pass through.
view of all of the proposed strate- This will improve the E-ref value
gies for renovation at assessment (annual energy balance) of the
level 3 from the study “Hvad med window and improve the overall
Dagslys?”. Besides the solid num- U-value of the construction. It is
bers of energy consumption and therefore essential to consider all
renovation costs, the aim is a high factors when analyzing and com-
light transmission and G-value in paring the strategies.
windows to let more daylight and
This strategy demonstrates the effect of replacing and • Energy consumption can be • The daylight factor increases
enlarging the windows. reduced by approximately by 30% due to the larger
25% by replacing existing win- window area
The cost is a one time investment with a high amenity dows with French windows
value from day one, and an increased financial value of • Very large windows, however,
the apartment for a future selling situation. • The construction becomes can cause overheating if
more energy efficient with shading is not integrated,
the increased window area, depending on the orientation
because of the installation of and the surroundings
windows with a better (lower)
U-value
50
Existing French
window window
Daylight
DF = 2% DF = 2%
101
Dare to do things “Here he is, his name is Daylight.
differently Please accept him. He has a great
many skills, but you need to work
Interview with with him, instead of forgetting him
Signe Kongebro and locking him up behind three
layers of glass and a thick layer of
insulation”
Signe Kongebro
Signe Kongebro, what inspired you and duced a new pupil to the class’ and said, right way, it can even be increased while
your team to compile the handbook ‘What “Here he is, his name is Daylight. Please still bringing more daylight into the city.
about Daylight’? accept him. He has a great many skills, By no means do we have to give up our
We have always worked intensively with but you need to work with him, instead ideal of a densely-populated city with
daylight at Henning Larsen Architects of forgetting him and locking him up be- mixed uses if we want more daylight. This,
– one might say that natural light is our hind three layers of glass and a thick layer however, assumes that density is seen as
trademark. It has become increasingly of insulation”. a qualitative and not a quantitative meas-
clear to us during the past few years that urement and that it is considered in detail
daylight, unlike any other tool, can gen- How could your concepts fit into an overall block by block, building by building.
erate synergies between the energy side strategy for the buildings we already have?
of construction and many other factors, We already see our study as being part of Wouldn’t this mean adopting a completely
such as levels of comfort experienced by an overall strategy. It deals specifically different view of cities from what we are
people using the building. Or put a differ- with all those tens of thousands of build- used to nowadays?
ent way: daylight pays off in both hard and ings all over Denmark that are often over- It certainly would. Working this way
soft dollars. looked: they are not listed buildings, they means you end up with urban design
These facts have really been common don’t benefit from being in any particular that aims to improve the performance
knowledge in architecture for more than location and are not usually completely of a city rather than to generate building
2000 years. But now we are faced with the refurbished because their owners simply volume. It is time the planning offices
challenge of having to measure them, be- cannot afford it. It is for precisely these stopped making detailed requirements
cause there is now an extreme movement buildings that we have found a way of sav- for building boundaries, roof heights, roof
towards measurability in architecture ing about a quarter of the energy and at pitches and distances between buildings.
world-wide. the same time creating added value for the Instead, they should be defining qualities
Another factor is that daylight can be owners and the people who live in them. they want to achieve – a certain building
an incredibly attractive means of com- density, open spaces that are protected
munication: everyone understands its use How can your strategies be implemented from the wind, and specific amounts of
intuitively and without long explanations. in practice? Do architects need more and sunlight per year – and leave the creative
And so daylight gave us the opportunity better tools for daylighting design, for ex- part up to us architects.
to talk about ecological architecture in ample?
a context other than simply energy effi- The tools for working with daylight in
ciency. architecture are really all available. The
difficult part is that working with daylight Signe Kongebro is an associate partner and head
To what extent is your study a reaction to calls for a holistic approach. However in of the sustainability team at Henning Larsen
Architects in Copenhagen. Together with a team
the current practice of building refurbish- my opinion it just takes courage to tackle
of eight other authors, she initiated and
ment in Denmark? these things positively and put them into co-authored the study ‘What about Daylight?’.
Refurbishment is a big issue at the mo- practice. And they are, in fact, being put
ment but has a lot of uncertainty bound into practice. I am increasingly becom-
up in it. People are frightened of damaging ing aware of competition designs by other
valuable buildings with redevelopment architects’ offices in which daylight plays
work. Also, we architects in particular a vital role, and to me that indicates that a
are gradually becoming tired of the one- new agenda is rising.
sided view that energy refurbishment is
entirely a matter of thermal insulation. In your recommendations for the rede-
Sustainability is not only a technical prob- velopment of urban areas, you argue for
lem – we want to make this clear to all the greater differentiation in the way build-
engineers and political decision-makers ing density is handled. What is new about
in charge of building refurbishment in your concept?
Denmark at the moment. Of course, high building density can be a
This is why we have, in a way, ‘intro- problem – but if it is approached in the
Interview with
Peter Andreas Sattrup
“This sensitivity for daylight can Peter Andreas Sattrup, your study ‘What universities. But we also need to take this
also be found in the works of many about daylight?’ shows the influence ar- knowledge and technology from research
chitects can have on our built environ- and put it into practice in architecture
great architects like Alvar Aalto,
ment when they use daylight. How would and planning. Until now, people have
Henning Larsen or Jørn Utzon – you characterise the attitude of architects only used simulations to verify simple
and it is also taught to us at to daylight? design parameters like the daylight fac-
university. For this reason, I think I think that, in Denmark and probably tor, for which there are minimum levels
one can speak of a ‘trained sensi- in the Nordic countries in general, all required by law. However, these tools
tivity’ towards daylight in Nordic architects value daylight as an extremely could be used for much further-reaching
architecture.” important quality in our environment. It analysis, which also integrates the aspects
is also a fact that many people experience of energy use and comfort. We now under-
Peter Andreas Sattrup a lack of daylight due to our indoor life- stand the complexities of this field with
style here in northern Europe, especially much greater detail than before, and we
in the winter. This has important health can use them to develop innovative design
and psychological effects on people living solutions that are both energy efficient
here. and provide good daylight conditions.
This sensitivity for daylight can also This is also what we seek to demonstrate
be found in the works of many great ar- in ‘What about daylight?’
chitects like Alvar Aalto, Henning Larsen
or Jørn Utzon – and it is also taught to us How important are new measurement
at university. For this reason, I think one methods that go beyond a static under-
can speak of a ‘trained sensitivity’ towards standing of the daylight factor?
daylight in Nordic architecture. I believe assessment methods like day-
In contrast, the analytical and quan- light autonomy or useful daylight illumi-
titative aspects of daylighting design are nance are very promising and should be
still somewhat underdeveloped in our integrated in new standards for daylight-
design culture. Now, however, new digi- ing assessment. Because they are based
tal simulation tools give us the opportu- on real climate data, account for the tem-
nity to bring together the measurable and poral changes in daylight and take direct
non-quantifiable aspects of daylight. sunlight into account. By doing so, they
I do not think there is a contradiction give us a much deeper understanding of
between the aesthetics and the physics of daylight and all its many facets – including
light. Rather, the new digital simulation heat energy. We do, however, need a great
tools may help us refine our sensitivity effort on the part of architects and schools
and feelings for daylight and achieve a of architecture if we are to improve our
much more precise kind of design, which design practice in this way.
can at the same time be efficient, poetic
and delightful. There is huge potential In your study, what value have you found
here, particularly for future generations daylight to have, apart from energy effi-
of architects. ciency and comfort levels?
Our study involved questioning numer-
You mentioned new digital simulation ous experts from very different fields
tools for daylighting. To what extent are – health and real estate experts, and rep-
they already being used, and what would resentatives of welfare organisations.
be the ideal way to use them? Across the board, they were all of the
Simple simulation tools are becoming opinion that daylight has huge poten-
increasingly widespread in the archi- tial in their special areas. One real estate
tecture and engineering departments of developer told us that there is a strong
103
correlation in his projects between the What do you think we need to do to improve
“It is important to understand how
value of an apartment and the natural the supply of daylight to our cities?
the different assessment levels, lighting in that apartment. With every Our ideas for refurbishing city districts
from the city to individual build- storey that takes you closer to the sky, the are designed for the long-term and may
ings, interact with each other. sale price of an average 80 square metre seem radical at first sight. After all, it is cer-
This is the only way we can achieve apartment increases by about 20,000 tainly a controversial idea simply to tear
greater quality in our city environ- Euros. Of course these price differences some buildings down, and build on top of
ments – and after all, that is what are also due to issues such as privacy and others, in order to improve the availability
should really be the goal of energy views, but daylight definitely plays a role of daylight in public spaces. If, however,
refurbishment.” here. We were rather fascinated by this measures of this kind are embedded in a
insight. Architects often have to fight to long-term strategy they definitely make
Peter Andreas Sattrup prove that design decisions also have a fi- sense. They have the potential to make the
nancial value. Now, if we can demonstrate urban environment and its daylight more
that we improve daylight and solar access complex, dynamic and lively. If, then, we
in an urban area, it will be easier to argue were to begin using bright, matt surfaces
that we create not just a good place to live to reflect daylight into narrow back court-
but a place with a high financial value too. yards and canyon-like streets, this would
be the start of a completely new kind of
urban daylighting design. It would not
How has your study been received by the even be necessary to decrease the urban
general public so far? density in this case. We have shown in our
We have observed that local administra- study that it is possible to achieve both
tions are becoming more interested in greater density and, at the same, more
the subject and that daylight is allocated daylight. It is, however, important to un-
a much more important role than it used derstand how the different assessment
to be, for example in the granting of plan- levels, from the city to individual build-
ning permission. And we have noticed ings, interact with each other. This is the
that some of the more innovative prop- only way we can achieve greater quality in
erty owners and developers are keen to our city environments – and after all, that
use this knowledge too, as it improves is what should really be the goal of energy
their businesses. refurbishment.
On the other hand, the term ‘daylight
refurbishment’ that we coined in our pub-
lications has now become an established Peter Andreas Sattrup, PhD, is an architect and
term among architects and engineers in Associate Professor at the Technical University
Denmark, and has become a separate field of Denmark. Amongst other fields, he has
specialised in sustainable design methods, energy
of activity that they can apply themselves
optimisation, and daylighting and was one of the
to. This is a great achievement for us, be- authors of the study Hvad med Dagslys? (What
cause the holistic approach of ‘daylight about Daylight?).
refurbishment’ covers a much wider
spectrum than pure energy refurbish-
ment. It shifts the focus from purely sav-
ing the costs of energy to an improvement
in the quality of life. I think that is what we
should aspire to.
By Jakob Schoof
Photography by Torben Eskerod
107
108 D&A SPRING 2013 Issue 19
Light, air and sun – it was no more than be more than just a building exhibition Even if it may not be possible – or even
80 years ago that this battle cry of classical – it must also deal with the coexistence adequate – to directly copy the urban
modernism sounded like a promise of bet- of different cultures, with education and planning models of previous decades, the
ter health and higher quality of life. Sun- employment. The event has brought a history of German building exhibitions
light was considered an important cure number of improvements to the city dis- may hold some clues to answering these
for diseases and a means to keep dwellings trict: educational facilities, training work- questions. Let us therefore take a look at
warm, dry and hygienic. shops for young people and several new how it all began, the first German building
Today, modern sanitary installa- social meeting points. The Weltquartier exhibition in Darmstadt in 1901.
tions, antibiotics and disinfectants have (World Quarter), a working-class housing
contributed to ensuring that epidemics estate from the 1930s with 1,700 inhabit-
such as typhus and tuberculosis (which ants from 30 different nations, has been
sunlight was once supposed to cure) have renovated in line with the current social
largely disappeared from Europe. How- situation. Above all, however, Wilhelms- 1901:
ever, recent scientific research shows how burg has been given a ‘new middle’, with
much people really need light. We require a hotel and medical centre, a sports hall Life reformers on the way into
1,000 lux to readjust our ‘inner clock’ to and swimming baths, a municipal admin- a shining new century
the 24-hour cycle every day and we even istration building and 17 new apartment
need 2,500 lux or more before light can buildings. The new century started with an exo-
unfold its well-known anti-depressive dus from the city – albeit to somewhere
effect. However, long-term studies show Technical solutions rather than only a few hundred metres away. In 1899,
that most people only spend from 10 to new planning paradigms Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig von Hessen-
20% of their time in surroundings with The City and Climate Change is one of the Darmstadt founded the ‘Darmstadt art-
such an intense level of lighting.1 three main themes of this international ists’ colony’, which was to be located on
A process of rethinking is essential building expo. One might thus assume the Mathildenhöhe, a tree-covered hill on
for the future – but in order to start it, we that the sun and its energy take centre the eastern outskirts of the city. For a first
need to be aware of how the relationship stage in the redevelopment of Wilhelms- show of the colony’s work, he planned a
between our cities and the sun evolved in burg. And indeed, many of the new build- large art and architecture exhibition that
the 20th century. Our historical digres- ings at IBA use one or another form of solar
sion starts with a current event that aims energy to improve their energy balance.
to pioneer new approaches to urban plan- This includes experimental technologies
ning: the Internationale Bauausstellung such as novel types of solar cells or facade
(IBA = international building expo) in -integrated algae bioreactors. A World
Hamburg in 2013. This expo is the last in a War II bunker has been converted into
series of building exhibitions in Germany a power station for the district and sup-
that goes back to 1901 and represents an plies some 3,000 households with heat
exemplary cross-section of urban plan- and electricity from the sun.
ning and architecture in the 20th century. Yet in terms of the use of space in the
city, ‘building with the sun’ does not ap-
pear to be a guiding principle for IBA
Hamburg. Only a few isolated projects
explicitly strive to improve the supply of
2013: daylight. And the ‘solar urban planning’
of previous decades has long been on the
The city and climate change retreat in Germany – as elsewhere in Eu-
rope. Instead, the aim now is to build dense
The venue of this year’s IBA is the Ham- city districts for a variety of mixed uses,
burg city of Wilhelmsburg – Europe’s whereby the buildings are to be compact
biggest river island, located right in the and well insulated with low energy con-
geographical centre of the seaport city sumption. This approach may be justified
and yet, socially speaking, still more of a – but is it sufficient in itself? Might there
marginal problem district. In some resi- be more to urban planning than density,
dential areas, migrants make up over 50% compactness and mixed-use? Can health
of the inhabitants and the unemployment and human well-being once more become
rate far exceeds the average for Hamburg leading paradigms for the planning of ur-
as a whole. In this context, an IBA has to ban spaces?
109
was to take place in 1901 under the lead- However, neither Howard’s (circular) pioneering approach to building. Only
ership of the Austrian architect Joseph prototype of the garden city nor the architects who “worked in the spirit of a
Maria Olbrich. Darmstadt artists’ colony were ‘solar-op- progressive artistic form adapted to cur-
timised’ in today’s sense. Their network rent conditions” were to be allowed to
The new nakedness: life reform of streets was primarily based on artistic participate.2
and artistic renewal considerations or the topography but not
Olbrich himself once referred to the art- on the course followed by the sun during The Weissenhof settlement –
ists’ colony as a “milestone on the way the day. Good lighting was to be achieved a built representation of health
to a renewal of the way people live”. The solely by restricting the building density reform?
colony was influenced by a broadly-con- and imposing limitations on height. The buildings that Le Corbusier, Mies
ceived reform movement among the pro- van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and their
gressively-minded German bourgeoisie. colleagues erected at the Weissenhof lo-
This ‘life reform movement’ propagated cation have been widely publicised and re-
natural healing methods and vegetarian- quire no further description. What is more
ism, clothing reform and naturism, the 1927: interesting is the question as to what hy-
protection of nature and the establish- gienic considerations their architecture
ment of communities far away from the Sunlight therapy was based on. For decades, the German
city. As early as 1853, Arnold Rikli had for German cities building laws – in line with the opinion of
set up the first ‘sun healing institute’ in leading hygiene experts at the time – had
Switzerland; in 1906, the naturism move- Germany in the 1920s – the First World assumed that the volume of air in a room
ment in Germany already operated 105 War had been lost, the political situation determined the quality of the air in it. This
so-called Luftbäder (air spas). was unstable and there was still wide- explains the high (still popular) ceilings in
The sun increasingly gained admis- spread social deprivation and hardship. many late 19th century buildings.
sion to the homes of the bourgeoisie as In 1927, there was a shortage of 600,000 It was only gradually that these atti-
well. In the 19th century, bourgeois resi- homes, mainly for poorer city dwellers. tudes changed. Scientists realised that it
dences were regarded as the antithesis of The trauma of the unhealthy, over-occu- was not the volume of air but the replace-
the anonymous, public world and were pied blocks of flats that prevailed in large ment of air that was responsible for good
shielded correspondingly. Curtains and German cities was still ever present. The quality air in rooms. And people learned
shutters protected the sumptuous inte- Berlin illustrator Heinrich Zille (1858– to appreciate the direct positive effect of
rior furnishings against the unwanted 1929) once wrote about this, saying that sunlight on human health.
effects of sunlight, which was regarded “an apartment can kill people just as much Correspondingly, the introduction of
as harmful. as an axe can”. the Modernist ideas led to a lowering of
Around 1900, the protective barriers The representatives of the ‘New Build- ceiling heights and a reduction in room
gradually began to be disappear; home ing’ movement wanted to remedy this cri- volume. The permeability of the facades
furnishings became brighter, progressive sis with a radically new architecture for to light and air became more important –
designers rebelled against the profusion all layers of the population and not just as did the limitation on room depth – in
of curtains and heavy drapery. Furniture for the privileged few as did the reform order to boost natural lighting and cross-
and everyday objects were divested of movements of the preceding decades. ventilation. In many respects, the Five
their excessive ornamentation. The name The first opportunity to implement Points Towards a New Architecture that
of the new art style that replaced it – Ju- their ideas on a large scale presented itself Le Corbusier published in the run-up to
gendstil or, in French, Art Nouveau – re- in Stuttgart. The progressively-minded the Weissenhof exhibition are a testimony
flected the concept of newness while in- mayor of the city had released funds for to this new attitude. In his essay, Le Cor-
corporating nature in the images it used. a model village to ‘showcase’ the new busier advocates, among other things, that
buildings be placed on supports (pilotis):
Exodus from the city: “As a result, the rooms are moved away
the garden city movement from the dampness in the ground; they
Ernst Ludwig’s small exodus from the city have light and air [...]”. He also calls for
was also inspired by the social and health the creation of roof terraces and gardens
reforms introduced in Great Britain in the as well as the use of horizontal, elongated
course of the 19th century. In 1898, the windows, the reason being that “the rooms
year when the Darmstadt artists’ colony are then lit uniformly from wall to wall. Ex-
was founded, Ebenezer Howard published periments have shown that the intensity of
his vision of the garden city as an alterna- light in a room that is lit in this way is eight
tive to the dirt and misery of the large times stronger than in a room that has high
industrial cities of the late 19th century. windows with the same surface area”.
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in 1996: “the Ruhr district, especially the further in this direction – the Solar City
Emscher area, […] was long regarded as a was both the high point and the end point
synonym for silicosis, smoke-filled skies, of solar urban design in the last decade.
soot-coloured miners’ faces, coal heaps,
steelworks and ruined nature.”6
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Daylight is indispensable for the sustainable renewal of our cities. But
how do we convince politicians, investors and citizens of its advantages?
What means of communication do we need to convey our experience of
daylight to others? And how is daylighting design likely to change in the
future?
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What tools are available to architects and with the tools and sometimes calling
“We should strive for a variety of engineers for daylighting design today? them into question.
spatial situations in which users And how could these tools be improved? The Arup lighting team uses design tools
can make their own choices. Here Talking about tools, we shouldn’t for- according to this principle. At the start of
there are close parallels to urban get the past. Many young designers are a design process, there are open questions
very enthusiastic about computers and arising from the design – for example,
planning, which is currently
computer-aided simulations. However, when the architect has designed a par-
turning away from the monofunc- we should also value the physical, manual ticular shape of building that Arup wants
tional urban districts of the past tools previously used for working. to optimise in respect of daylighting. In
and trying to generate a small- It has been very important for Arup to such cases, the team often develops spe-
scale, more vital mix of living and nurture this ‘craft’ of daylighting design cial tools, because standard software does
working. Now is the time to – and with it, the intuition regarding day- not offer any solutions. This is what can
promote such ideas; people all over light that can only be acquired through make a project fascinating – it is neces-
the world are learning to re-assess attentive observation, absorbing sensory sary to be creative and develop your own
the value of variety and local experience and engaging in experimenta- spirit of research.
tion. The Arup lighting team starts many
identity.”
The best tools we have are our senses. projects in a very conceptual manner,
Florence Lam But people today often look at buildings with a sketch or an inspiring image. Then
and rooms through cameras – and through the work is continued with a physical
the pictures they make – rather than with model relatively soon after. In many of
their own eyes. At the same time, all out- their projects, especially museums, the
standing architecture involves spatial lighting designers insist on seeing spaces
and sensory experience, which can only in a model or even on a scale of 1:1 before
be had in situ and with sufficient time be- they are actually built. To Arup this is the
ing allowed. It is essential to re-acquaint only way they and their clients can really
architects with this insight. experience the effect of light. With num-
This also applies to the schools of ar- bers alone, this would be impossible.
chitecture, where we are experiencing a
wave of parametric design at the moment. What potential do digital simulation tools
This design practice focuses closely on offer?
form and geometry, but are the new com- Computer simulations can be useful, par-
puter-aided tools also well suited for the ticularly in very early design stages. The
selection of materials? The question as to level of daylight in a room often has to
how materials interact with light and how satisfy certain minimum requirements,
they are perceived, for example, can only for example. With computer simulations,
be answered by means of observation. it is possible to judge at a very early stage
Thirty or forty years ago, architecture whether you are on the right track. The
students were encouraged to develop an VELUX Group has developed such an intu-
instinct for daylight and its qualities in itive program, the VELUX Daylight Visual-
different parts of the world. This part of izer. The program is intended to enable
their education has become somewhat architects to maintain control over the
neglected today. Nevertheless, it is still daylight and the indoor climate instead
useful to improve one’s powers of ob- of delegating these matters to specialists.
servation, boost the imagination and Computer programs can also play
acquire an inner receptiveness. Facts another important role: if we want to ex-
and figures are great when it comes to press daylight’s variability over time and
precision and, of course, we have to cor- in a space, enormous amounts of data are
roborate our concepts. At the beginning created. The challenge will be to process
of every design, however, imagination this data digitally so that people who are
should come first. less used to working with computer mod-
Essentially, every tool is appropriate els also understand it.
in the design process – but the timing is Furthermore, computer simulations
what counts. Furthermore, what matters are useful for developing and doing the
is taking time to become closely familiar calculations for a large number of design
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variable is missing from current build- How will the practice of daylighting design
ing standards. We have made progress in change on the whole?
moving beyond previous, static methods We have a great opportunity to revive the
of measurement such as the daylight fac- forgotten art of daylighting design in ar-
tor, which only considers diffuse daylight. chitecture. Let’s hope that the profession
But there is still a lot to be done before we of the daylighting designer will become
have understood the fluctuating nature established in architecture – as a spe-
of daylight sufficiently to incorporate cialist right at the beginning of the value
it in standards and design criteria. This chain, whose advice clients request at the
concerns not only the climate-dependent very start of a project. At the moment, the
variability of light but also the individu- problem is that many specialist planners
ally different needs of human beings. are consulted much too late, i.e. when they
A good tool or a set of rules is one that can no longer exert an influence to gener-
answers the crucial questions. And, in ate added value for the building.
the case of daylight, these are: can I work Furthermore, daylighting should be
under certain lighting conditions and do made into a mainstream issue. We must
I feel comfortable in doing so? Future ensure that daylighting design does not
standardisation will have to address these become a hermetically-sealed discipline
questions. So far, standards often tend to that is excessively fixated on figures. If we
be a result of lobbying and the intention want to make daylighting into an every-
to sell some product or other; they are less day issue, we must speak a language that
frequently aimed at improving living con- people understand and with which they
ditions. can intuitively gain access to the topic!
Francesco Anselmo is a Senior Lighting Per Arnold Andersen is Head of the Daylight, Torben Thyregod is concept developer
Designer at Arup in London. He holds a PhD in and Indoor Comfort Knowledge Centre in the spearhead for sustainable transformation in
Environmental Physics and a degree in VELUX Group. He worked for more than twenty the VELUX Group. He has worked with radical
architectural engineering. He is an expert in years as an architect and planner before he joined innovation and a holistic approach, bringing a
numerical simulation and visualisation systems the VELUX Group. He is active in European cultural context to natural elements. He has
and develops computer tools for lighting design, lighting standardisation and has been co-organis- initiated a number of prize-winning and
building simulation and interaction design. ing the VELUX Award for Students of Architec- thought-provoking films about people and their
ture and the VELUX Daylight Symposia since dependency on light. He started the Nordic
Arfon Davies is a lighting designer and Associate 2004. magazine, DAYLIGHT in 2003 and has been
Director within the lighting studio of Arup. He has responsible for the layout of D&A, since the
particular interest and expertise in the design of Christine Bjørnager is communications advisor first edition.
daylighting systems for projects in all parts of the in the VELUX Group, working with corporate
world. Arfon has authored the daylight section of communication, corporate strategy communica-
the British Council for Offices lighting guide, soon tion and key messaging. She is responsible for
to be published, and is also a member of the communications in International VELUX Award
committee rewriting the UK’s Society of Light and for Students of Architecture and has been part of
Lighting guide for daylight and window design. the editorial team of the magazine since it was
issued for the first time in 2005.
Florence Lam is a Director with Arup, where she
leads the global lighting design practice. Her Lone Feifer is Programme Director for
particular interests in visual perception and Sustainable Living in Buildings in VELUX. M.Arch.
natural lighting have played key roles in many of and postgraduate Master in Energy and Green
her design solutions on projects, such as the Tate Architecture. Led the award-winning VELUX
Modern in London, the New Acropolis Museum in Model Home 2020 demonstration project
Athens and the California Academy of Sciences programme, engages internationally into
Building in San Francisco. operational and strategic elaboration of
sustainable buildings with holistic focus; Lone
is an active panelist, speaker and educator.
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daylight & architecture
magazine by velux
SPRING 2013 Issue 19