Optimizing Building Form for Daylight Access in Dense Urban Areas in the Early Stages of Design

Abstract

The urgency to address climate change, the energy crisis, and indoor air quality underscores the importance of utilizing daylight as a renewable energy source in urban environments. This study delves into passive design strategies to facilitate access to sunlight and daylight within urban contexts and architectural designs, aggregating essential parameters identified in the existing literature to improve building forms for daylight accessibility. The study then develops a multi-scale, multi-objective framework integrating these passive strategies to optimize building performance in densely populated areas. Suitable approaches for incorporating daylighting at both building and urban scales are identified by examining existing passive form-finding strategies and rules of thumb. Given the implications for dense urban areas, floor area is used as an evaluation criterion, with energy use intensity (EUI) and carbon footprint serving as additional criteria in the optimization process through manual analyses and computer-based tools. By adopting a workflow that considers multiple objectives and parameters, this study aims to guide designers in integrating optimal daylighting strategies during the initial design phases.