Enhancing lighting efficiency in deep-plan classroom: Artificial lighting and daylighting

Abstract

Insufficient light distribution throughout the classroom has a negative impact on students. Therefore, it is crucial to implement effective daylighting and artificial lighting strategies in educational buildings. To address this issue, a combination of a horizontal daylight tubes and an overhang was proposed for a classroom at the selected university. The aim was to enhance the availability of daylight, reduce glare and improvement of the artificial lighting system performance. The goal is to achieve a Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) of at least 55% and an Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE) of no more than 10% in the designated analysis area, as stipulated by the daylight assessment criteria outlined in LEEDv4 standards. In addition to the improvements in the daylight performance of the classroom, an artificial lighting system was proposed to replace the existing system, which creates homogeneous and sufficient lighting. Reducing the energy consumption of the proposed system is also among the desired targets while evaluating the proposed systems, Rhinoceros and ClimateStudio were used for daylight simulations and DIALux was used for artificial lighting simulations. The results show that proposed solutions were successful as intended. The sDA value for the zone with the lowest initial value was improved from 1.6% to 59.1%, while the ASE value for the zone with the highest initial value was improved from 16.1% to 9.7%. Additionally, energy consumption was reduced by 72.34%.