Daylighting Comfort of Verandah in a Traditional House, Thailand

Abstract

AbstractTraditional architecture usually had its characteristic related to its users and climate. For Thai traditional houses, daylighting sequences between spaces were considered as their dominant characteristics to provide visual comfort during the daytime. The highlight is the daylighting characteristic of the verandah, a blurred space between brightness and darkness. The average luminance in the field of view, vertical illuminance at the eye level, and several daylighting glare evaluation indices were analysed to understand daylighting conditions of the verandah. The methods included a field study, an image processing technique, and a discomfort glare evaluation. The results found that DGP and DGI scores reported satisfying condition of discomfort glare. This semi-outdoor verandah showed to have a low level of luminance, which help reduced discomfort glare sensation along with its building form and wooden construction. The results also confirmed that the setting of Thai traditional houses among tropical gardens is vital to ensure visual comfort to lesser the glare sources. The understanding of daylighting ambiance would help designers and architects to recreate local identity and aesthetics.KeywordsDaylightingVisual comfortHDR imageTropical regionTraditional house