Shading and daylighting strategies in classrooms: A comparative study in the four climate zones in Greece using Daylight Factor values

Abstract

The present work focuses to the efficient use of daylight in school buildings, which has been proved that is able to create a pleasant atmosphere, increase student productivity and comfort and also contribute to energy savings if combined with a daylight-responsive control system. The architectural-bioclimatic design contributes to the creation of technical solutions that provide daylight in existing classrooms, taking into account the climatic conditions and the needs of users. The purpose is to investigate the most prevalent shading and light redirection systems in a typical Greek classroom, in every climatic zone of Greece and come up with the most efficient ones. Research takes into consideration the distribution of daylight on working level and the total heating energy consumption throughout the school year, ensuring conditions of visual comfort. After evaluating and comparing the data, the outcome of this research demonstrates the most efficient shading system for each climatic zone, in order to achieve visual comfort and energy savings.