Testing the residential daylight score: Comparing climate-based daylighting metrics for 2444 individual dwelling units in temperate climates

Abstract

Evaluation metrics using climate-based daylight modelling paradigms have become the de-facto standard in work environments but have only limited applicability in residential architecture. Qualities of daylight cited in the architectural design literature, such as daily and seasonal availability of daylight as well as access to direct sunlight, are simulated in detail but are usually overlooked in the commonly used evaluation metrics. In a recent paper, a new climate-based, annual daylight evaluation framework called the residential daylight score has been proposed for cold and temperate climates. It assesses daylight autonomy and access to direct light in 12 daily and seasonal bins and proposes targets for seasonal and diurnal daylight autonomy and duration of direct sunlight exposure. While the metric aims to capture essential characteristics of residential daylight, only a few reference cases exist in the literature to adequately judge its achievability and applicability. This paper aims to thoroughly test the residential daylight score and provide reference cases for 2444 apartments from a set of 18 multifamily buildings that compare the new metric with currently used climate-based metrics.