Daylight for Sustainable Intervention in Historic Towns: The case of Edinburgh and Cairo (original) (raw)
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Daylight for sustainable development of historic sites
Consideration of daylight is one of the contextual ingredients for maintaining a sustainable identity when intervening in a heritage site. Appropriate consideration of daylighting ensures not only visual and thermal comfort in the urban setting, but also contributes to the preservation of the place visual identity. The historic district of el Darb al-Asfar is undergoing a rehabilitation project that raises questions about the new "sparking" look of the place. The ongoing cultural debate in old Cairo on the extent of success of the rehabilitation efforts in preserving the place identity identified a gap in literature regarding the ingredients that constitute identity in heritage settings. The paper argues that the project using new finishing materials of facades has led to changes in daylight levels in the space and hence the visual perception of the place itself. This paper aims to assess the impact of such intervention on the visual perception and the space identity. A digital model is built utilising a combination of photogrammetric and 3D digital technique. The TOWNSCOPE simulation package is used to trace the performance of direct, diffused, and reflected components of daylight within the original and recently resorted scenes. The output of the simulation exercise has been validated by empirical data. The paper concludes by suggesting a set of measures for achieving an appropriate daylight performance in heritage sites Eastern Mediterranean climatic conditions.
DAYLIGHTING IN HISTORICAL CENTRES: THE CASE OF AN ARCHITECT’S OFFICE IN SEVILLE
Historical towns in Europe use to have as their main feature an extremely dense urban tissue. This in turn generates a wide variety of situations that are often undesirable to bring adequate light inside buildings. On the other hand, the trend for revitalization of cities often demands a change in the utilization of spaces adding even more difficulties to the case because the previous constraints and standards are heavily modified. Architecture today must face this challenge as a new aim for creativity based on the idea of "design with the environment". Basically, the achievement of the said urban renewal of old towns should not entail the creation of a kind of an enclosure where sustainability is absent as the conservationists would have it. With this concept in mind, the project of an architect's office has been built, and though the starting situation was that of "a windowless façade", a number of strategies have been devised to provide for sun and light in the working and living spaces. Simulations of the project taking into account the principles of radiant energy transfer have been duly conducted and after some corrections the office was completed and monitored. The procedure yields both the thermal gains and the luminous distribution of the building in order to assess the performance and comfort level on a seasonal basis. Therefore, we consider that the project is a valid example of sustainability in historical cities not merely because of the former but also due to its integration with professional practice and its audacity to address severe urban and political constraints.
Daylight, Design and Place-Making
2020
Daylight, Design and Place-Making examines the role of daylight in creating and revealing the wonders of heritage and contemporary architecture. Shifting from a purely technical approach to daylighting, this book places importance on the creation of meaningful aesthetics through an understanding of context and culture. Cultural applications of light in architecture differ depending on various historical, technological, and social characteristics. Increasingly, there is a revival of interest in contemporary architecture using daylight as an essential contextual ingredient in the design process. By examining the architecture of daylight in different locales and setting these in their historical contexts, the book argues that appropriate use of daylight will ensure not only visual and thermal comfort in the urban setting and aid in energy efficiency, but also will contribute to the overall identity of new buildings, particularly in urban regeneration projects. This book brings together...
Influence of daylight in urban design as a tool towards a more sustaqinable city
2015
Issues of sunlight and daylighting condition for design of the buildings has had little research and few practical applications among other things, because of the absence of national or local minimum requirements. If we focus on the urban scale, awareness and the number of papers addressing this subject is almost inexistent. Among the principles of bioclimatic urban, some authors like José Fariña Tojo or José Manuel Naredo determine planning criteria which can be drawn basics that directly affect the urban design. First, it is essential structural roads that respond to sunlight requirements for getting optimal orientations for the maximum utilization of natural light both for the street and for buildings annexed. Besides, this road has to incorporate an appropriate vegetation to the requirements of humidity and environmental evaporation (trying to minimize thermal loads), getting all together, a urban morphology with well oriented facades and an appropriate proportion of courtyards....
DAYLIGHT CONSIDERATION FOR URBAN RENEWAL: BUILDING FORM AND MASSING
There are strong correlation between urban climate and the urban design physical configuration and form pattern. Urban design with climatic considerations deals with the wholistic morphology of the city, as well as with the urban details such as street width, form, configuration and orientation, building heights, city compactness or dispersion, urban open space, integration or segregation of land use. Which all related with the physical problem.
A Study on the Design for Daylight in Old Middle Eastern Cities in the Context of Urban Planning
This study will look into how urban planning has considered daylight designs in the old cities of the Middle East which in general have a hot dry climate with long duration of sun exposure, and the planning process and design methods in modern western countries regarding the provision of daylight in the urban scene, and also looking into the region's (Middle East) modern cities, as how they are working toward implementing daylight designs in today's urban design compared to the past and also the modern developed countries, the aim of the study would be to find out the recent natural daylight research methods in order to achieve one of the aspects of holistic sustainability, and an exploratory research approach is taken into looking at the history and development of the region.
Daylight Management in Mediterranean Cities: When Shortage Is Not the Issue
Energies, 2016
Natural resources such as daylight and sunlight are highly appreciated in countries with prevailing overcast skies. Taking advantage of this scarce resource contributes to saving energy on artificial lighting. In contrast to northern, southern European cities are distinguished by a large number of days with direct sunlight caused by a propitious climate condition. While it is a positive issue in terms of energy availability, the abundance of it can be counterproductive if management measures are not taken. Apart from the thermal consequences, lighting penetration into buildings causes a great contrast between inside and outside. This is especially critical when the visual system does not have enough time to adapt, as happens at entrance areas. The aim of this study is to analyze the light contrast between these areas and the urban outside in sunny conditions. To attain this objective, light data from five entrance spaces and their contiguous streets were analyzed and measured. The results were divided into three zones in the visual scene, showing an increasing contrast from top to bottom of the visual field. It may be concluded that interventions applied to urban areas and building pavements can improve visual adaptation in the transition zone.
Significance of daylight in the design and construction of buildings
2013
Other than being highly significant for the comfort of people, an optimum use of daylight in buildings also contributes to a more rational use of heating and air-conditioning systems. Energyefficient buildings containing passive and active systems for the use of solar energy would not be possible without sunlight. The issue of significance and control of lighting in existing buildings during design and construction of new ones on neighbouring plots is increasingly considered on an international scale. Laws and regulations on the use of daylight, currently applied in Europe and the USA, are compared in the paper.
International Journal of Innovative Studies in Sociology and Humanities
Oasis houses are known for their sensitive architectural response to the region's climatic conditions and socio-cultural norms. Courtyard is one of the invariants in oasis architectural forms that contributed in determining climatic, physical and psychological interior environment. Given its effectiveness as an interior micro climatic regulatory element, the daylight behavior of the courtyard in this type of houses is one of the most important passive strategies that can affect the nature of activities and the use of space in a daily manner, Without having to use the interior spaces to do various tasks. In this respect, this article presents an experimental study carried out to clarify the impact of the courtyard on visual efficiency of oasis houses located in the city of M'chouneche (Biskra), using simulation software on model of a real house. The simulation process was carried out at solstice days and spring equinox, taking into account the climatic data of the city of M'chouneche. The experimental results confirm that the obtained quantity of daylight in the most of interior spaces no matter it is not compatible with the required values, gives certain balance with the life style of occupant and the use of courtyard its self.