Architectural Repertoire and Daylight Metrics

Abstract

In this article, we highlight the importance of architectural repertoire, methods and tools to uncover basic components set by building science in performance-based regulation. This article elucidates the potential of architecturally-grounded methods when assessing daylight metrics often used in legislation and certification schemes, by rendering the daylight factor metric intelligible through geometry. The empirical material used comprises five architectural cases from 1917 to 2016. These five cases originate from an exhibition room on daylight presented in relation to architectural composition, historical changes in Swedish building regulation, and the 2014 daylight factor building code requirement. As in many other countries, building regulations in Sweden have undergone a historical change from prescriptive regulation to performance-based regulation. With regards to regulating daylight, this has meant replacing requirements based on geometrical relationships with abstract building science metrics. Additionally, we review these findings in relation to findings from a numerical analysis of 2014 daylight factor building code requirements from a larger number of Swedish residential buildings from the twentieth century. This article argues that architectural research based in drawings and geometrical relationships and case study material, whether historical or contemporary, can guide practitioners towards a new understanding of building code.