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The Benefits of Daylight Modeling

Comparing Design Options

Once you’ve made the important decision to introduce natural daylight to a space, there are still endless ways to go about it. But there aren’t endless ways to get it right. There are material selections, placement and opening size options, as well as building geometries and space orientation to consider.

Daylight modeling allows you to compare multiple designs to see how they will perform.

Glass time-lapse Play Kalwall time-lapse Play
01/08

Material Selection

Not sure whether translucent or transparent glazing is right for your project? Our daylight modeling can show the light levels you’ll achieve with our translucent panels, which diffuse light deeper into spaces versus glass. You’ll be able to identify areas where the glare admitted by glass windows is acceptable and where it’s not. All we need is the visible light transmittance value of the glass being used and we can provide valuable data for your design.

Placement and Rough Openings

Are you planning to daylight with clerestories? Punched wall openings? S-line unit skylights? Or maybe you are looking for more monumental daylighting. Daylight modeling can show the impact of these different placement options and identify where you might need to add, or even be able to subtract, daylighting elements.

Building Geometry and Space Orientation

Is your massing strategy working based on your solar orientation? Are your light wells configured correctly or are they too deep or not splayed enough? Do your roof’s overhangs cause excessive shading that undermines your daylighting strategy? There’s so much more to learn about your daylighting designs through the process of daylight modeling. Try it yourself and experience daylighting done right.

Modeled with punched wall openings

Modeled with punched wall openings and skylights

Verifying Light Levels

The amount of daylight required in a space varies with the specific task(s) being performed and the age of the occupants. Our knowledgeable representatives and daylighting specialists can help ensure you’re meeting the light levels each space needs, verified by the science of modeling.

Useful Daylighting Illuminance (UDI) is one metric measured by modeling. UDI describes multiple categories of ‘usable’ lux levels in a space, reporting a percentage of floor area that falls within a specified illuminance range for 50% of the time. 300–3000 lux is considered a desirable lighting level in most cases.

There are also several creditable organizations that make light-level recommendations. Some of those organizations are:

Some spaces where it’s very important to think about light levels:

Hudson County Tech High School in Secaucus, New Jersey, featuring students sitting in atrium under Kalwall skyroof®
University of Georgia's indoor athletic facility featuring astroturf and running track surrounded by a Kalwall wall system
Benenden Hospital atrium and lounge area with tables and chairs featuring skylight windows with Kalwall structural panels
Exterior shot of Odeon Theatre in Bournemouth, United Kingdom, featuring a backlit Kalwall facade
Elgin Artspace Lofts building featuring man walking on upper level while people walk below under Kalwall skyroof®
West Tennessee Transitional Care Facility exterior featuring a Kalwall canopy at sunset

Schools and Offices

Any space where people are learning or working requires significant light for visual comfort as well as overall health and wellness. The American Optometric Association says presbyopia—the change in the eye’s focusing ability—is among the most common problem adults develop after they turn 40. Printed materials can start to become blurred and harder to read, requiring significantly more light, while glare from lights or the sun is even more problematic.

Sports Facilities

Whether it is keeping the glare off a pool’s surface and out of a lifeguard’s eyes or providing the proper lighting to tape a game or practice, light contrast ratios are a key consideration in gyms, health clubs and athletic facilities. High-level clerestories or end walls provide balanced ambient light and diffusion and are preferable to punched openings. Punched openings can create bright and dark spots that are visually confusing and disrupt accuracy.

Healthcare Facilities

Balanced, glare-free daylight has been proven to increase mood and boost energy levels, improve sleep and help reduce tripping by minimizing shadows on the floor, particularly among the elderly and visually impaired. For staff, there needs to be a subtle balance in light contrast ratios so that readings can be taken quickly and efficiently without the risk of errors or misreads.

Retail Spaces

From decorative lighting for highlighting products and displays to task lighting that provides a comfortable environment, the right lighting can influence spending habits. A Heschong Mahone Group study found that the introduction of skylights to a chain retail store correlated to a 40% increase in gross sales.

Museums and Galleries

Museums and galleries are one area where lighting is considered above all else. Curators and collectors continually struggle with the age-old dilemma of how to find the right lighting for works of art without risking undue damage. And yet, it is only with full-spectrum visible light that the proper colors and depth of artwork can be viewed.

Transition Spaces

Museums and galleries are one area where lighting is considered above all else. Curators and collectors continually struggle with the age-old dilemma of how to find the right lighting for works of art without risking undue damage. And yet, it is only with full-spectrum visible light that the proper colors and depth of artwork can be viewed.

Interior of a building with glass skylights featuring glare on walls and columns
Interior of a building featuring Kalwall skylights that eliminate glare on walls and columns
01/08

Predict Sources of Glare

Daylight is not sunlight. The very practice of daylighting assumes some solar control. Traditional glazing, with glass, does not control the sunlight entering a space, often introduces glare issues and is not daylighting at all. To control glare, people use blinds or shades. Louvers or complex lighting controls may be installed. But with daylight modeling, you can predict where glare may be an issue and prevent these additional costs.

Measuring Visual Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) helps to identify potential problem areas where glare is a concern and where visual acuity is critical. Glare may only be an issue during certain times of the year, month or day, in which case your design does not need to be adjusted.

But glare is a major health and safety concern. In schools and offices where people areworking, glare disrupts visual comfort and reduces productivity. In pools, glare can prevent a lifeguard from seeing swimmers in the water. In nursing homes and other spaces, it can cause a trip hazard for the elderly.

Not accounting for glare can be a huge detriment once a building is occupied. Daylight modeling will help you avoid unforeseen issues.

Glass skylights create many points of excessive glare (modeled in red)

Kalwall skylights remove excessive glare, except by remaining glass window

Exterior of Aspen Music School featuring building covered in a Kalwall facade surrounded by water and mountains with trees
Interior of Aspen Music School shows students playing instruments in orchestra rehearsal with Kalwall facade on upper walls
01/08

Document Code Compliance

Daylighting is a sustainable building practice. It reduces electric and HVAC costs and provides proven health benefits for humans. Our daylight modeling allows you to document daylighting credits within these programs and others:

  • LEED®
  • CHPS
  • BREEAM®
  • WELL™ v2

Kalwall has been a part of thousands of sustainably certified projects. And you can check out our portfolio to see the beautiful results our translucent daylighting creates.

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