4.430
Daylighting
Instructor: Marilyne Andersen
Office: 5-418
Telephone: 617-253-7714
mand@mit.edu
Units: 3-0-6
Level: H
Prerequisites: 4.401 or permission of instructor
This course aims at providing the tools necessary for an efficient integration of daylighting issues in the overall design process of a building. Through an optimized use of daylight in buildings and an adequate combination with artificial (electric) lighting, a building's environmental impact can be reduced significantly while improving the well-being and visual comfort of the inhabitants.
Fundamentals of daylighting and artificial lighting will be introduced and their relevance to design decisions emphasized: the benefits and availability of daylight, the physics of light propagation and solar radiation, photometry and colorimetry (visual perception, photometric quantities, chromatic systems), the sun course, the physics of windows (light and heat transfer, glazing types), visual and thermal comfort, electric lighting and primary daylighting strategies.
More advanced lighting design topics, such as advanced lighting design strategies (innovative glazing and shading technologies, advanced control) and design and assessment tools for lighting management (experimental approaches, computer-based design tools), will also be presented and practiced, through class lectures and homework assignments and through a semester-long design project.
This year, the design project will consist of designing and optimizing a shading/light-redirecting system for controlling daylight on the MIT museum ground floor. It will be organised in three parts: detailed lighting diagnostic of the MIT ground floor, concept for improving daylight control and distribution within the exhibition space, proposal for an optimized lighting strategy including a shading/light-redirecting system on the façade and a freeform light-redistribution system inside. Students will give short presentations of their project at each phase and submit a written report at the end of the term. Selected projects will be refined for construction and installation at the MIT museum over IAP 2010 for the upcoming exhibition ‘Sustainability Through Light’ in Spring-Summer 2010.
Homework assignments will include problem sets and field studies, and one in-class quiz will take place around mid-term. Reading in conjunction with the course will be from selected books on reserve at the library. There will be no final exam.
By getting familiar with the factors and quantities involved in a given (day)lighting situation, students will be able to assess it in different ways (visual assessment, experimental survey, calculations or computer simulations) and to propose advanced (day)lighting strategies to improve it, a knowledge they will apply to the design (and construction) of an advanced light control for the MIT museum façade.
