2011 - Daylight Symposium
DAYLIGHTING DASHBOARDS – FROM EVALUATING PERFORMANCE TO SUGGESTING NEW FORMS by Christoph Reinhart
Speakers
Christoph Reinhart
Building scientist and architectural educator
This presentation summarizes results from a series of recently finished and ongoing projects at the GSD-square research initiative at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for a Solar Energy Systems a simulation-based ‘daylighting dashboard’ was developed that simultaneously evaluates annual daylight availability, visual comfort and energy use in daylit spaces . The purpose of the dashboard is to visually present simulation results to simulation nonexperts.
A highly optimized simulation workflow for designers based on Daysim/Evalglare/Radiance for annual daylight availability and glare simulations as well as EnergyPlus for thermal load calculations has been implemented as a plug-in for the popular Rhinoceros CAD environment.
The plug-in, called DIVA-for-Rhino, uses the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) concept to predict the likelihood of an occupant experiencing discomfort glare form daylight. In a follow up project DGP simulation results were tested against five other glare indices and it was found that DGP yielded the most plausible results in the investigated spaces and lighting conditions. In an attempt to deal with multiple positions and view directions simultaneously, the concept of an ‘adaptive zone’ was further introduced within which building occupants may freely adjust their position in order to minimize the effect of glare.
Finally, an attempt was made to develop design tools that not only evaluate what has already been designed but that provide direct advice as to where the weaknesses of a specific design lie. A new algorithm called SHADERADE was developed that directly supports the design of energy efficient static shading systems. For a South-facing office it has been shown that the algorithm is able to consistently generate shading systems with improved thermal performance vis-àvis existing methods.
Christoph Reinhart is a building scientist and architectural educator working in the field of sustainable building design and environmental modeling. Before joining the GSD in 2008, he had worked for over a decade as a staff scientist at the National Research Council of Canada and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany. He holds a doctorate degree in Architecture from the Technical University of Karlsruhe and master degrees in Physics from Albert Ludwigs Universitaet, Germany, and Simon Fraser University, Canada. Dr. Reinhart’s research expertise is in daylighting, passive climatization and the influence of occupant behavior on building energy use. The main outcome of his work are design workflows, tutorials and performance metrics that accommodate the complementary use of rules-of-thumb and simulations during building design.He is the main developer of the Daysim and DIVA-for-Rhino sustainable design tools and has led a number of simulation studies, field studies and occupant behavior surveys. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Building Performance Simulation and guest-edited a special issue on ‘Daylighting’ for Energy and Buildings. He has authored and co-authored over 90 scientific articles including three book chapters and chaired the scientific committee for esim 2008. Between 2005 and 2007 he was a member of the Technical Advisory Group for LEED-Canada and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Architecture at McGill University. From 2002 to 2006 he was a Subtask Leader within the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling Programme.
