Daylight Environment Research Articles

Effects of gymnasium envelope and daylight pattern on exercisers’ feedback in a virtual reality

The daylight environment determined by the building envelope significantly influences the exercisers' well-being and perception. However, assessment methods that focus on exercisers' feedback for gymnasium envelope and associated daylight pattern have rarely been explored. Additionally, changing the detailed envelope form is time-consuming and costly in physical environment. The Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) was employed to investigate exercisers' feedback under a virtual matrix of four ratio of covered shadings on the facade (SFCR) conditions and four skylight (SL) conditions. Feedback from exercisers consisted of subjective and attention quality evaluation. The subjective evaluation was employed to measure psychosocial perception of exercisers and validity of virtual environment, including comprehensive assessment, psychological perception, the Igroup presence questionnaire (IPQ), and the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ). Furthermore, exercisers' attention quality was also evaluated by task efficiency of the attention task and physiological responses including electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV). The results indicated that envelope form have significant impact on exercisers' feedback, suggesting that existing gymnasium envelope and irregular daylight pattern were inefficient for improving exercisers' perception. Specifically, better feedback was reported in conditions with SFCR3 (SFCR = 0.7) and SL3 (strip skylight) or SL4 (ring skylight), while the worst feedback was reported in conditions with SL2 (spot skylight), followed by conditions with SFCR1 (SFCR = 0) and SL1 (no-skylight), which were designed to replicate a real gymnasium. The novel assessment method for measuring exercisers' feedback in virtual environment has demonstrated its potential to enhance exercisers’ perception, health, and efficiency.

An integrated climate-based daylight performance evaluation framework for indoor arenas' roof system

Daylight environment plays a crucial role in indoor arenas' comfort and energy performance, characterized by their large spans and large spaces. Design parameters of roof systems in these arenas are essential for enhancing the daylight within competition halls. However, due to the complexity of spatial archetypes in these halls and the unique characteristics of freeform surfaces, more research is needed on the interplay between roof system design parameters and daylight performance. Rapid evaluation of daylight performance in competition halls during the design phase remains a challenge. This study proposes a climate-based evaluation framework for assessing daylight performance in indoor arenas and integrates an efficient practical and research workflow using Rhino + Grasshopper in conjunction with Python.Further, based on this framework and workflow, controlled variable simulation experiments were conducted to explore the relationships between external design conditions, such as climate (represented by three typical climatic zones) and seating capacity, and roof system design parameters, including roof form, redundant height, orientation, skylight form, distribution, and skylight-to-floor ratio (SFR), with time-series, climate-based daylight performance indicators. To integrate the critical factors affecting indoor lighting environments in arenas - illuminance potential, glare evaluation, and uniformity assessment - this study selected Continuous Daylight Autonomy (cDA), Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), and Glare Autonomy (GA) as performance indicators, supplemented by two time-series climate indicators specifically for evaluating illuminance uniformity in indoor arenas: “Uniformity Autonomy (UA) “and “Uniformity Variance Autonomy (UVA) ". Statistical analysis of five performance indicators across 860 experimental models in seven groups shows that different design conditions and parameters affect the optimal range of SFR. The significance of the impact of various design parameters varies across different performance indicators. There is a strong correlation between cDA, UDI, and GA, while UA and UVA effectively supplement the evaluation of the first three indicators.

Integrated daylight and thermal comfort evaluation for tropical passive gymnasiums based on the perspective of exercisers

This study measured and surveyed four passive community gymnasiums with open facades in a tropical climate to explore the relationship between occupant daylight, thermal comfort, and environmental indicators during exercise. A questionnaire survey was conducted on exercisers to evaluate their satisfaction. Compared with the daylight environment, the subjects were more satisfied the intervention mechanism of the daylight and thermal environment indicators for the comfort level of participants in their respective dimensions with the indoor thermal environment of the four test cases. Hereafter, linear regression was used to explore the influencing mechanisms of daylight and thermal comfort on environmental indicators, the result showed that illuminance uniformity and natural ventilation were the main factors affecting occupant comfort. In order to improve the accuracy of the prediction model, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network was introduced to analyze the influence weight of different indicators on integrated sunlight and thermal comfort (IDTC), and a prediction model was established. Compared to the linear model, RBF has improved the predictive fit for DC, TC, and IDTC by 0.42, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively. This study integrates the assessment of daylight and thermal comfort, emphasizing the effect of passive climate conditioning indoors in sports facilities. The findings of the study can provide guidance for the improvement of the environmental quality of sports facilities and the satisfaction of exercisers in hot and humid climate.

An intelligent optimization method of exercisers' visual comfort assessment in gymnasium

Exercisers' visual comfort is an essential factor in successful gymnasium design. Existing research has identified viable indicators of visual comfort and the explained the interaction between humans and the light environment. However, it remains difficult to accurately quantify the impact of the daylight environment on human perception. Given the particularity of exercisers' behavior and activities in gymnasiums, the current general assessment model for exercisers' visual perception is lacking. Taking a university gymnasium in Harbin as a case, this study aimed to establish a computational method for assessing visual comfort from the human-centric perspective via mutual authentication between questionnaire and physiological indices and luminance. An analysis of the questionnaire responses revealed that the synthetical visual evaluation (SVE) was an appropriate visual evaluation index. Machine learning was applied to quantify the correlation between various luminance levels and human perception to assess exercisers' level of visual comfort. Multilayer Perceptron models with the best-fit optimization were selected by artificial neural networks (ANNs) to determine the most optimized visual comfort assessment model. Based on the ANNs, the correlation coefficient between luminance, SVE, and physiological indicator ranged from 85% to 90%. According to the genetic algorithm, the average luminance of the entire field of view (Lfov) was 55–135 cd/m2, the average luminance of the target area (Lt) was 82–375 cd/m2, and the average luminance of the window area (Lw) was 960–1950 cd/m2, for a comfortable visualization.

Use of scanning devices for object 3D reconstruction by photogrammetry and visualization in virtual reality

This article aims to compare two different scanning devices (360 camera and digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera) and their properties in the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the object by the photogrammetry method. The article first describes the various stages of the process of 3D modeling and reconstruction of the object. A point cloud generated to the 3D model of the object, including textures, is created in the following steps. The scanning devices are compared under the same conditions and time from capturing the image of a real object to its 3D reconstruction. The attributes of the scanned image of the recon-structed 3D model, which is a mandarin tree in a citrus greenhouse in a daylight environment, are also compared. Both created models are also compared visually. That visual comparison reveals the possibilities in the application of both scanning devices can be found in the process of 3D reconstruction of the object by photogrammetry. The results of this research can be applied in the field of 3D modeling of a real object using 3D models in virtual reality, 3D printing, 3D visualization, image analysis, and 3D online presentation.

Photon counting lidar working in daylight

Photon counting lidar has been widely used in long-distance target detection and long range active three-dimensional imaging fields due to its extremely high detecting sensitivity. The single-photon level sensitivity extends the detection range of the photon counting lidar, meanwhile makes it suffer from the noise interference. Especially, the strong sunlight background during the daytime limits the detection ability and applications of the photon counting lidar. In this paper, a new type of ultra-narrowband spectral filtering system is designed for the lidar, and based on which, a daytime working photon counting lidar system with 20 μJ pulse energy and 25 mm receiving aperture was established. A 24 km long-distance ranging experiment and a 22 km fast 3D imaging experiment were completed in daylight environment, which demonstrated outstanding daytime working performance of such a “small” lidar.

Daylighting performance assessment of traditional skywell dwellings: A case study in Fujian, China

China's rural revitalization strategy has aroused people's attention toward the preservation and renewal of traditional dwellings. Characterized by small courtyards and small top openings, traditional skywell dwellings in southern China are facing prominent daylight environment problems. However, only few studies have evaluated the visual comfort in skywell dwellings under daylight conditions using incomprehensive methods. To fill this gap, this paper systematically assessed the daylighting performance of skywell dwellings in Xingxian Village from 2D reference planes and 3D spatial interfaces. An accurate daylighting simulation model of skywell dwellings was established and validated with field measurements. ClimateStudio was used to analyze the performance metrics from the aspects of daylight quantity, daylight uniformity, and glare. Results identify insufficient daylight quantity indoors as the severest problem in skywell dwellings, which require artificial lighting throughout almost the entire daytime. Seasonal glare and inferior daylight uniformity were also observed in semi-outdoor areas. The effects of top, horizontal, and vertical spatial interfaces on the daylight environment were further investigated, and results highlight the influence of roof slope and opening setting on indoor lighting, the decay mechanism of daylight quantity on horizontal substrate interfaces, and the mismatch between daylight distribution and the positions of doors and windows on vertical enclosure interfaces. The changes in building orientation and seasons were also found to have limited effects on daylighting performance. These results can guide architects specializing in dwelling renovation, so as to improve the visual comfort of buildings and save up on living and energy costs due to artificial lighting.

Experimental investigation on indoor daylight environment of building with Cadmium Telluride photovoltaic window

Photovoltaic (PV) windows have received more and more attention in recent years since their active energy-saving advantages. Considering the surface covered with solar cell modules, the indoor daylight environment of PV windows is obviously different with clear glass windows. However, despite many scholars have studied the indoor daylight environment of PV windows, there few investigations study it from the perspective of human subjective visual perception. In this paper, the indoor daylight environment and human visual comfort of building with Cadmium Telluride Photovoltaic (CdTe-PV) window were investigated. Firstly, the parameters of indoor daylight environment and subjective questionnaires in rooms with CdTe-PV window and clear glass window were analyzed respectively. On the basis of this, combined with indoor working surface illuminance and results of subjective questionnaires, the daylight illuminance threshold of human visual comfort was investigated by the method of Mean Bias Degree (MBD). Finally, an evaluation model for indoor daylight environment of buildings with CdTe-PV window was developed by Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. The results showed that the working surface illuminance of CdTe-PV window was lower than that of clear glass room, the CCT of different windows room had a minor gap and the CdTe-PV window room was closer to the recommended range that was 3300-5000K. As for CRI, both the CdTe-PV window room and the clear glass room could meet the visual comfort requirements of office staff. Furthermore, it was found that the requirement of human visual comfort was met when indoor working surface illuminance varies between 500-2200lx in the room with CdTe-PV window. At last, according to the comprehensive evaluation model proposed in this paper, it was found that the indoor daylight environment of buildings with CdTe-PV window was excellent in the present experiment.

Study on indoor adaptive thermal comfort evaluation method for buildings integrated with semi-transparent photovoltaic window

Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic (STPV) windows have the potential of active energy-saving and have attracted more attention in recent years. Due to the selective absorption effect of solar cells on solar radiation, the indoor thermal environment and human thermal comfort of buildings integrated with STPV windows are considerably different from that with clear glass windows, and there are few studies on this. In this paper, the indoor human thermal comfort of buildings integrated with STPV window was investigated. Firstly, experiments and subjective questionnaires for the indoor environment were conducted in STPV and clear glass window buildings respectively. Secondly, the influence of illuminance on thermal sensation was statistically analyzed, with the consideration of visual effect, non-visual effect, as well as visual and non-visual coupling effect respectively. On this basis, an innovative thermal comfort evaluation method was provided. The thermo-physiological effect, light-physiological effect and light-psychological effect were comprehensively considered in this method. Finally, the reliability was verified by comparing with TSV. According to tests and questionnaires, it was found that the indoor thermal environment of the STPV window was an uneven thermal environment, and the subjective thermal sensation was more inclined to be slightly warm. When investigating the effect of illuminance on thermal sensation considering visual and non-visual coupling effect, it was found that illuminance had a significant influence on thermal sensation in different illuminance ranges. Meanwhile, it indicated the coupled effect of thermal environment and daylight environment on the thermal comfort of human.

Comparing the performance of four shading strategies based on a multi-objective genetic algorithm: A case study in a university library

Through the control of excessive daylight in buildings, shading devices can reduce glare and improve occupants' visual comfort. However, shading devices may overly reduce illuminance levels. Many shading strategies are available, but they do not perform equally well, and traditionally, it has been difficult to select the most suitable shading strategy. This study proposed a parameterization method for the selection and design of a shading strategy that would reduce glare while maintaining a satisfactory daylighting level, through the construction of Pareto sets based on a multi-objective genetic algorithm. The objective function was created by combining a dynamic glare evaluation indicator, the spatial glare autonomy (sGA), and a self-constructed daylight index, the spatial daylight vote autonomy (sDVA), developed from a field survey. As a case study, the proposed method was used to compare the performance of four shading strategies, including vertical slats (Vs), a perforated aluminum sheet (PAS), serrated windows with southern orientation (Sw_S), and serrated windows with northern orientation (Sw_N) in a university library in Shanghai, China. It was found that the Sw_S and PAS had a relatively bad performance; the Vs performed better than the Sw_N in providing a more satisfactory illuminance level; and the Sw_N was more effective in reducing the glare. The multi-objective optimization process can be used to obtain near-optimal design parameters that create a visual environment with reduced glare while maintaining an acceptable illuminance level, for all four shading strategies. The developed method can be a helpful tool in the design of an appropriate daylighting environment.

Nonvisual aspects of daylight in the built environment

This paper investigates melanopic equivalent daylight vertical and horizontal illuminances within an indoor space as a metric for the nonvisual effects of its lighting. The article is based on the findings of photobiological research and the recommendations of several institutions for the threshold values of melanopic illuminance at the eyes of users of indoor spaces, which is sufficient for the proper functioning of the circadian system. This study uses a computer workplace as an environment to investigate experimentally the applicability of melanopic daylight metrics for the practical evaluation of the circadian potential of the indoor daylight environment. The article points out a number of problems associated with the practical evaluation of vertical melanopic daylight illuminance in a specific space. The paper also outlines practical guidelines for designing facades and color treatment of building surfaces in terms of their circadian potential.

Energy-Efficient Solutions Depending on Building Forms Design with Tilted South and North Facades

Interactions between buildings and outdoor environment variables, such as the sun, wind and precipitation, depend on building parameters such as orientation, colours, materials and forms. Building forms are one of the most important parameters that directly impact the cooling and heating load energy consumption, daylight environment and urban sustainability. The current study focused on how building forms affect the energy performance of buildings. Inclined forms that were shaped based on the inclination of south and north facades were studied. Many methods were used to explore the impacts of several variables, including exposure to direct sunrays and heating and cooling load. Thermal performance and energy consumption were investigated for many inward- and outward-tilted angles forms for both the south and north directions and compared to vertical facades. In addition, the study developed new building forms based on a combination of south and north tilted forms, which have low energy consumption. The configurations achieved an acceptable balance between cooling and heating energy consumption. A series of computer simulations were developed using energy plus a calculation engine within DesignBuilder, SunCast, Radiance and IES VE. The results showed that outward-tilted facades for the south orientation perform well, as they reduced the cooling load due to self-shading. Building forms that balanced south and north tilted facades saved the most energy. South-tilted facades forming only 30° angles performed the best, with average energy savings of 20%. Meanwhile, forms with 30° south-tilted facade and 10° tilted north facades, such as forms 3–6, reduced energy consumption by more than 23% compared to the base case.

A triboelectric nanogenerator implemented with an acoustic foam for a self-driven silent tire

As autonomous vehicles are rapidly developing, the required electrical energy for operating various in-tire sensors as well as in-vehicle sensors is also increasing. In addition, noise from tires is becoming a critical issue given that the growth of electric vehicles eliminates the noise from engines. Thus, we develop a triboelectric nanogenerator implemented inside a tire with an acoustic foam for a self-driven silent tire, abbreviated as Tire-TENG. The manufactured Tire-TENG maintains the sound absorption ability of pristine acoustic foam while generating electrical energy using the radial acceleration change of a tire. In a laboratory test, the Tire-TENG with a volume of 50 mm × 50 mm × 30 mm shows power of 3.38 mW. As an actual application, six Tire-TENGs with each volume of 120 mm × 110 mm × 30 mm are mounted at the inner surface of a tire. At a speed of 100 km/h and with a weight load of 3500 N, 40 light-emitting diodes were lit bright enough to be seen in a daylight environment without any extra power source. By virtue of its high output characteristics, the Tire-TENG showed feasibility as a self-driven and sound-attenuated in-tire solution thus far not yet reported.

Indoor Daylight Performances of Optimized Transmittances with Electrochromic-Applied Kinetic Louvers

Windows with low visible light transmittance (VLT) and g-values are preferred to reduce the building’s energy consumption. However, low VLT and g-value can create an unpleasant indoor daylight environment. A glass with freely adjustable VLT and g-value as required has been developed and is called smart glass. In this study, the recently developed VLT adjustable smart glass is targeted. Some studies were conducted on the VLT adjustment status of smart windows to create an appropriate indoor lighting environment. Although research on smart glass has been conducted through ecofriendly building certification systems such as LEED in the US, BREEAM in the UK, CASBEE in Japan, and GSEED in South Korea, it was pointed out that there is a limit to creating a uniformity. Therefore, the previous study analyzed the VLT conditions to create a minimal indoor daylight environment. The purpose of this study is to propose and analyze a louver-type electrochromic façade that can create a uniform indoor illuminance. A simulation method was used, and a range of changes in indoor illuminance that could be controlled through an electrochromic louver was derived. The simulation was performed using the Rhino 6′s Grasshopper program based on the Radiance engine. Electrochromic is a class of smart glass with high VLT variable range and durability. The conditions for deriving the optimal daylight environment according to the composition, VLT, and angle of the electrochromic louver were analyzed. The evaluation was made against the criteria of LEED v4.1. Data on the composition, VLT, and angle adjustment of the electrochromic louver that can obtain a high LEED v4.1 daylight score were derived, and organized in tables. Considering the composition and angle, it was found that the daylight environment of the electrochromic louver adjusted with a VLT of 25% to 45% was excellent in composition.

Optimizing Shading and Thermal Performances of Vertical Green Wall on Buildings in a Hot Arid Region

Due to global concerns about energy issues, global warming, and urban quality, vertical greening systems (VGS) are receiving more attention in construction and design research. Therefore, VGS has become part of building envelope design as a passive technique for saving energy in building sectors. The current study aimed to investigate shading and energy performances of VGS in buildings in hot climate regions and to optimize VGS design as a building design element. The study was conducted through simulation and field experiments in a student housing building at a university campus (Irbid, Jordan). Field measurements were taken to assess the thermal effect of the green wall and daylight performance as well as the efficiency of the typical green wall design configuration. Furthermore, a methodology for accurately representing green walls was established and used. Both simulation and experimentation demonstrated that the thickness of the air cavity and the percentage of foliage coverage can have a substantial impact on the performance of the green wall system. Results showed that green wall systems are effective natural sunscreens and shading systems. A green wall helped to reduce the exterior wall surface temperatures by a range of 6 to 11 °C compared to the base case of the wall without a VGS on different days. In addition, it decreased the interior surface temperature of the investigated southern façade by an average of 5 °C compared to the base case. Green wall design configurations for hot climate regions, such as Jordan, will help designers to use the VGS as a design element. Our findings indicate that GW could help to improve the thermal and daylight environment and thus the results could be taken as indicative for GW wall design in other areas or buildings.

The influence mechanism of daylight visual evaluation in college classrooms under visual field physiological characteristics of student group: Case study

Continuously low-quality daylight environment in the classroom may cause deviation in the student group's visual field physiological characteristics. This study presents college students' visual physiological group characteristics of college students and the influence mechanisms of subjective visual perception under daylighting in the classroom. Seven experimental parameters-including the desktop illuminance, blackboard illuminance, distance between human eye and exterior wall, vertical eye illuminance, daylight glare probability (DGP), mean light sensitivity (MS), and pattern standard deviation (PSD) that impacted subjective visual perception–along with six distinct classroom daylight conditions (six seats in two classrooms) were determined. This study demonstrates that Chinese college students are associated with the visual physiological group characteristics of low MS and high PSD by the visual field test, and PSD has significant differences between genders. It also validates that MS and PSD have significant effects on the subjective visual perception of daylight. The visual comfort and apparent brightness models were constructed under three typical behavior modes: desktop reading, blackboard reading, and changing-over (sight switching between the blackboard and the desktop). In conclusion, the subjective visual perceptions showed an internal consistency of change trend under different behavior modes. The cumulative weights (normalized path coefficients in the structural equation) of visual field physiological group characteristics on the visual comfort under three typical behavior modes are 15.80%, 15.53%, and 19.86%, and the cumulative weights on the apparent brightness are 4.15%, 0%, and 7.58%, respectively. This study provides guidelines for the future human-based daylighting design of college classrooms.

A multi-objective optimization design method for gymnasium facade shading ratio integrating energy load and daylight comfort

The large-scale use of curtain walls in stadiums and other public buildings will cause glare and increase the burden of energy consumption, especially in summer. In the early stage of the design, the optimization of the shading devices directly affects the decision-making of the building facade. This research proposes a multi-objective facade optimization method (MOO) for stadium design, using image density atlas (IDA) to provide decision-making basis for facade shading ratio (FSR) optimization in the preliminary design process of gymnasium. In contrast to the traditional design method, the optimized design framework proposed in this study will achieve the balance optimization among contradictory goals of daylight comfort and solar radiation at the same time to optimize the daylighting performance while avoiding glare and reducing energy burden. In this study, a gymnasium in Xiong'an, Beijing was selected as the test case. Researchers took the hourly average illuminance, hourly average solar radiation accumulation, and glare index during the opening hours of the gymnasium in summer (August) as the optimization goals. Then, the genetic algorithm SPEA-2 was used to explore the Pareto frontier solution set of FSR. The optimization scheme FSR = 0.37 is formed through comparison and screening. The research results achieved a 38.5% reduction in DGP, a 54% reduction in solar radiation, and control of illuminance loss within the acceptable range. The case study reveals the importance of FSR optimization to the indoor daylight environment of gymnasium in summer, and how parameter changes affect the rules of various metrics.

Interior daylight environment of an elderly nursing home in Beijing

To improve the activity spaces and bedrooms in a nursing home for older adults in Beijing, the satisfaction of these individuals regarding an interior daylight environment was investigated through questionnaire surveys and illuminance measurements. A geometric model was then created according to the nursing home's building layout, and the Integrated Environmental Solutions < Virtual Environment> (IES <VE>) program was used to simulate an entire year of the interior daylight environment of these spaces. The validity of the simulation was verified with the measured values. The daylight environment for the entire year was analyzed based on simulation results that used both existing standards and the four-level criteria obtained from an on-site investigation. The results imply that older people's demand for sunlight might be determined not only by their visual requirements but also by psychological or physiological nonvisual requirements. Older individuals could even tolerate certain daylight glare environments due to their eagerness for sunshine. In different functional spaces, older adults have different expectations for sunlight illuminance.

A comprehensive method for optimizing the design of a regular architectural space to improve building performance

Improving building performance is of great significance to protecting the ecology, saving energy and enhancing the living environment. This paper developed a comprehensive method for optimizing the design of a regular architectural space to improve building performance. The research aims to provide architects with robust and accurate design references when conducting design tasks. The entire optimization process is divided into three steps. The first step is to build a database by generating the research objects randomly and performing building simulations on them. The second step is to train artificial neural network (ANN) models as a substitute of the time-consuming building simulation in the multi-objective optimization to predict the building performance quickly. The last step is to perform multi-objective optimization based on the actual design constraints. To demonstrate the optimization process, a common type of classroom space defined by 30 design parameters was selected as a case study. The optimization objectives were set as energy demand, thermal environment and daylight environment. The accuracy of different ANN models was assessed. To imitate realistic design tasks, three design scenarios with constraints are used in the optimization. All the three optimizations finished in 350 s. Compared to the traditional optimization method based on simulation, the optimization calculation is accelerated by approximately 2,570 times. To ensure the reliability of the optimization results, several nondominated solutions of each case were validated by simulation, and there were good agreements between the simulation results and the optimization results. An integrated solution and a reference solution was defined for each case. Compared to the reference solution, the objectives of the integrated solution of the three cases have been improved by 24.6%, 18.7% and 14.2% on average, respectively, indicating that this method is feasible and effective to improve building design in actual tasks.

An efficient method of evaluating large scale urban residential skylight environment and an empirical study of Beijing main area

A good skylight environment in urban residential areas is an important component of a healthy city, and has always been highly valued. With the rapid development of new-type urbanization, the density of buildings continues to increase, and megacities have entered the stage of stock transformation. An effective method for evaluating the skylight environment of large-scale urban residential areas is urgently needed. However, there is still a lack of empirical research methods and cases of large-scale residential skylight environment. In this regard, this article takes the megacity Beijing as the research object, and proposes an efficient analysis method of residential skylight environment that integrates multiple real-world data at city scale. In terms of data, it collects and integrates 3D data of urban-scale building space and residential boundary data; in terms of algorithm, Sky View Factor (SVF) is used as the evaluation index of residential skylight environment, and an efficient analysis method of urban-scale skylight environment based on cloud parallel simulation is realized. Through analysis, it is found that: (1) the average SVF value of Beijing residential area is 61%, which means that its skylight quality is in general level; (2) the skylight environment of Beijing residential area is distributed in a circle, and there are 4 types of skylight environment quality residential areas; (3) The skylight environment of Beijing residential area is relatively weakly related to the distance from the residential area to the city center and the average height of the residential buildings, and is closely related to the plot volume ratio, the residential building density and the shading from surrounding buildings. The highlight of this study lies in the empirical research on the skylight environment of mega-city residential areas that incorporates multiple real data for the first time, which can promote the study of skylight environment on a city scale and provide a reference for the updating of Beijing’s residential daylight environment.