"Immersive Views Outdoors to Assess the Mediating Effect" by Francisca Rodriguez
Speakers
Francisca Rodriguez (AU)
Research Fellow
Queensland University of Technology
Presentation from the 8th VELUX Daylight Symposium that took place in Paris on 9 October 2019. For more information please visit http://thedaylightsite.com & https://www.velux.com/veluxdaysinparis
It is estimated that the urban population now spends an average of 90% of their time indoors. This has consequences for access to daylight and the outdoor environment, which support physical and mental wellbeing. Building science and design aim to supply functional indoor spaces that have access to daylight and views to the outdoors, which are dependent on spatial, environmental and temporal factors. Although outdoor views promote health and psychological benefits, these effects have only been examined in terms of static view composition, disregarding the temporal and atmospheric changes that may have positive effects on people. The development of new immersive technologies enabled the subjective assessment of spatial and environmental conditions indoors. Novel studies validated virtual reality instruments to examine subjective effects of daylight at specific points in time.
This path supports the use of immersive technologies for testing the effects of views over time under varying daylight and atmospheric conditions. In particular, it supports investigating the extent by which preference for a view is mediated by individuals’ ability to obtain time and environmental cues from that view. This presentation reports the methodology and preliminary findings of an immersive experiment that examines the effects of daylighting and environmental changes on individuals’ response to views. A novel quantitative framework was used to classify, collect and evaluate views under dynamic conditions. First, a sample of potential views (n=125) was categorised using a semantic segmentation method. Next, selected views (n=20) were recorded over the day to produce panoramic time-lapse videos.
Data loggers, spectral measurements, and daylight tracking technologies complemented the collection of in situ view information. Digital images were then processed in Matlab, resulting on absolute lightness variation and hue scaling values for each time interval. Per-pixel information was further analysed in combination with in situ daylight and environmental measurements. Following the implementation of the dynamic views procedure, representative view scenes (n=12) were selected for conducting the virtual reality experiment. Panoramic time-lapse videos were edited to obtain static and dynamic visual stimulus (e.g. photographs at a point in time; video fragments), depicting a range of lightness variation and hue scaling values in views. Participants (n=25) were instructed to wear a virtual reality headset, and rate the randomised visual stimulus in terms of perceived light variation, perceived time and environmental cues, and preference for a view.
Ratings were examined in relation to ground truth information registered during data collection. This presentation exposes the relationships between perceived daylight variations and time cues with regard to view preference using a dynamic approach. Further, it urges the need to consider dynamic daylight and environmental factors in view research. The outcomes of this work lay the foundations of a new evaluation and decision-making procedure, aiming to support individuals’ physical and mental wellbeing through design.
Francisca Rodriguez (MSc Lighting Design, Ba Architecture) is a PhD candidate in QUT Lighting group (Lumielab). Her lighting experience has manifested in diverse professional and academic contexts in Chile, Sweden and Australia. Francisca has collaborated on the revision of lighting standards for the Code for Sustainable Housing Construction (MINVU - Chile), and has presented her research work at a number of international meetings. Francisca has experience collecting luminous measurements through High Dynamic Range methods, processing digital imagery using programming languages, and analysing visual conditions indoors using portable sensoring technology. As a research member of Lumielab, Francisca aims to understand the role of outdoor luminous transitions on occupant wellbeing.
