360° VR for Qualifying Daylight Design

Anette Kreutzberg,Emanuele Naboni,L Lescop,A Kępczyńska-Walczak

doi:10.1051/shsconf/20196402015

Anette Kreutzberg, Emanuele Naboni + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20196402015

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Abstract

This paper describes the initial findings in an ongoing project aimed at bridging the gap between quantitative daylight simulations and visually perceived daylight quality, using 360° rendered panoramas and animations displayed in virtual reality. A daylight studio equipped with a simple façade pattern for a simultaneous Thermal Delight study was used as case study and test room. The test room was recorded with a 360° camera in sequential image series on days with different weather conditions. The resulting 360° VR time-lapse recordings were proposed for visual diurnal daylight analysis as supplement to thermal measurements used for calibrating and varying the façade pattern on site and in a corresponding thermal simulation model. A comparative experiment was set up to calibrate the perceived visual qualities and ambiance of daylight in 360° photographic panoramas viewed in VR, compared to the perceived visual qualities and ambiance of the real world site. Subjective visual evaluations of the virtual as well as the real space were recorded based on 15 people answering to a questionnaire. Results from the comparative experiment indicate a variety in perception of daylight quality and ambiance but a rather uniform perception of daylight brightness in 360° photographs that can be transferred to 360° rendered panoramas.

Highlights

Introduction and backgroundThermal delight is an important factor within architectural design [1]
The test room used in this research is an existing 1:1 daylight studio used as mock-up equipped with a paper façade pattern for the Thermal Delight study
Comparative experiments with a small sample of participants were conducted on three occasions (12th, 16th and 19th of October 2018) in the test room and once at another location

Summary

Introduction and background

Thermal delight is an important factor within architectural design [1]. Simulation tools can help in the design process to meet building regulation requirements with established metrics to quantify daylighting from a quantitative stand while the visually perceived daylight quality is purely subjective and challenging to envisage. It is true that a quantitative assessment yields a fixed level, whereas a qualitative assessment of perceived daylight qualities reflects subjective interpretations, difficult for creating reproducible outcome, but it is never the less important to include these assessments in the design process. Full-scale mock-ups are well-proven tools in architectural design to assess the aesthetic qualities of surfaces as well as to study daylight distribution and reflection. Virtual Reality can act as a digital substitute or supplement to full-scale mock-ups, simulating a bodily presence in space and is widely used in evaluating and communicating the perception of architectural space [3]. The final aim in this ongoing project is to transfer the findings to 360° renderings of daylighting design, establishing a matrix for daylight quality and ambiance assessment in the digital model at any phase in the design process

Mock-up

Comparative Experiment

Results and discussion