Optimizing window shape for daylighting: an urban context approach

Configuring the optimal shape and position of a building opening, such as windows or skylights, is a crucial task for daylight availability. Computing daylighting requires the use of climate-based data, which involves large data sets and a time-consuming task performed by procedures that in general are not well suited for optimization. In addition, optimal opening shapes may be strongly affected by the urban context, which is rarely taken into account or roughly approximated. In this paper we present a new opening shape optimization technique that considers the urban environment. The exterior contribution is computed through a radiosity approximation. A pinhole-based model is used to model the influence of daylight component on the interior surfaces. Our results show the importance of the exterior influence in the final optimal shapes by computing the same room at different building locations.