An Investigation Of The Luminous Environment In Nottingham H.O.U.S.E

Kankipati, Lakshmi Soudamini; Rodrigues, Lucelia; Kiamba, Lorna

Abstract

Daylight makes an important contribution to indoor quality and building occupants’ wellbeing and productivity. Although it is well known that different spaces need different lighting quality for tasks to be performed effectively, the issue of change of use is rarely explored. This is particularly relevant now, not only because in many major cities where land is scarce and expensive building change of use is common, but also since the world is dealing with a major pandemic that has forced most people to start working from home for a significant period of time. Can homes provide good quality working environment? The Nottingham H.O.U.S.E (Home with Optimised Use of Solar Energy) was designed for the Solar Decathlon Competition in Madrid in 2010 as a starter home. It has found its lasting place on the University of Nottingham campus where it provides office space. In this work, the authors investigated the luminous environment of the office spaces within the house and compare the findings to its designed targets. Onsite measurements, computer simulations and interviews with the users were undertaken and the findings suggest that the building has adequate daylight levels for task performance according to benchmarks. However, the aluminium shading device, essential from a thermal performance perspective, causes impairing glare that can affect the users’ performance. The reflective properties of the device were studied, and solutions were proposed.

Citation

Kankipati, L. S., Rodrigues, L., & Kiamba, L. (2020, September). An Investigation Of The Luminous Environment In Nottingham H.O.U.S.E. Presented at PLEA 2020 - Planning Post Carbon Cities Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, A Coruña, Spain

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: PLEA 2020 - Planning Post Carbon Cities Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture
• Start Date: Sep 1, 2020
• End Date: Sep 3, 2020
• Acceptance Date: Jul 24, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 10, 2022
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 26, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 8, 2022
• Pages: 311-316
• Book Title: Planning Post Carbon Cities: 35th PLEA Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, A Coruña, 1st-3rd September 2020: Proceedings. Vol. 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17979/spudc.9788497497947
• Keywords: Daylight, Nottingham H.O.U.S.E, Visual comfort, Glare, Shading devices
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/13179806
• Publisher URL: https://ruc.udc.es/dspace/handle/2183/26695
• Additional Information: Paper from the 35th PLEA Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA 2020). Planning Post Carbon Cities, held in A Coruña from 1 to 3 September 2020.