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Façade design and our experience of space: the joint impact of architecture and
daylight on human perception and physiological responses

Conference Paper · December 2018

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3 authors:

Kynthia Chamilothori Jan Wienold

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Marilyne Andersen
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
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Kynthia Chamilothori
PhD Candidate, Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID),
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Advisors: Prof. Marilyne Andersen, Dr,-Ing. Jan Wienold

Daylight has an undeniable impact on our spatial experience, which has been broadly
acknowledged in architecture [1]–[4]. However, current lighting practices and metrics tend
to limit sunlight penetration, a trend that can lead to monotonous light landscapes [5].
Although daylight characteristics such as contrast and luminance variation [6]–[10], as well
as their spatial distribution [11], [12], have been repeatedly linked with impressions of
interest in lighting research, we have limited knowledge on how the façade geometry and the
resulting sunlight patterns affect perception. This work investigates the architect’s intuition
on how façade geometry can impact occupant perception and compares this intuition with
the evaluations of people experiencing scenes with different façade geometries.

Figure 1. The façade patterns used in the paper-based survey on architects’ intuition, based
on façades of existing buildings. The patterns have the same perforation ratio and were shown
in a random order.

Following an extensive review of architectural case studies, 20 façade patterns from existing
buildings were selected and adjusted to a 40% perforation ratio, shown as one of the most
preferred [13]. These patterns were applied to a sample scene and rendered with Radiance
[14]. The resulting renderings (Figure 1) were used in a survey where 80 architects working
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in Switzerland indicated three patterns at a time which would make a space the most exciting,
the least exciting, the most calming, and the least calming.
Patterns exhibiting great consensus regarding their potential to affect spatial experience
were selected to further investigate occupant perception (Figure 3). Six patterns were
applied to the 3D model of an existing building and were used to create omni-directional
stereoscopic scenes, following an existing workflow which combines the use of physically-
based renderings with projection in virtual reality [15]. The scenes were shown in an
experimental study in VR using the Oculus CV1 headset, where 80 participants who have
lived at least 2 years in Switzerland saw in random order all six façade variations, under two
variations of clear sky, with furniture corresponding to social or working activity (Figure 2).
The participants’ subjective evaluations (such as how exciting and calming the space was
perceived) and physiological responses (skin conductance and heart rate) were recorded
using a questionnaire and an Empatica E4 bracelet [16], respectively.

Figure 2. Photograph of a participant experiencing an immersive scene in VR (left) and

The assessments of the architect’s intuition show a high agreement, with cases of patterns
chosen by 38-49% of the architects (Figure 3). In the experimental study, the direction of
participants’ evaluations is in agreement with the architects’ intuition in the case of low
complexity patterns, and differs in cases of high complexity patterns (Figure 4). This
indicates cases of discord between expert and non-expert perception, and motivates further
systematic study. Initial results from the heart rate measures reveal different responses
between patterns, and highlight the potential for further research. Upcoming work will focus
on the detailed analysis of the experimental results to investigate their relation with previous
findings by the authors on the effect of façade characteristics on subjective and physiological
responses [17], [18], and broaden our understanding on the complex effects of daylight and
architecture on people.

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Figure 3. Distribution of the 20 patterns in the dimensions of calming and exciting based on
the survey of architect’s intuition, corresponding to the difference between how often a
pattern was selected as the most and least representative pattern in each dimension. The
highlighted patterns were used in the immersive scenes in VR.

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Figure 4. Distribution of the subset of patterns from Figure 3 in the dimensions of exciting and
calming based on difference between the percentage of responses where each pattern was
evaluated in the positive range (>5) and the negative range (<5) on a rating scale from 0 (Not
at all) to 10 (Very) in the experiment in virtual reality.

References
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[17] K. Chamilothori et al., “Perceived interest and heart rate response to façade and daylight
patterns in Virtual Reality,” in Proceedings of the ANFA 2018, 2018.
[18] K. Chamilothori, G. Chinazzo, de M. Rodrigues, E. Dan-Glauser, J. Wienold, and M. Andersen,
“Subjective and physiological responses to façade and sunlight pattern geometry in virtual reality,”
Build. Environ. (under review).

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