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Problem / Situation
Interior spaces are most pleasant to occupy and most effective when they provide lighting that is as natural as possible.
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Supporting Patterns  | The warmth and comfort provided by direct sunlight is difficult to get by any other means.
Particularly in temperate climates, provide indoor places where people can sit in direct sunlight. |
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 | If it does not come from only one direction, lighting inside a room will be much more natural with less harsh shadows.
Whenever possible, rooms and other spaces should receive natural light from windows on at least two sides. |
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Arrange rooms within a building so that they receive maximum daylight during the times of the day when they are most likely to be used.
For example, place rooms use mostly in the morning on the east or south east side of the building. Likewise, place rooms used late in the day on the west side of the building. |
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 | By creating shadows, it then becomes possible to highlight other areas with light. People will then be drawn to the resulting pools of light. Allow light to surprise people by placing it somewhere where it isn't expected. |
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 | To take maximun benefit of available light, buildings should be designed to maximize how far daylight penetrates into the interior of the building.
As a rule of thumb, daylight generally penetrates into a building a distance of 1.5x the height of the top of the windows.
A variety of patterns, listed below, can be applied to maximize how far daylight effectively penetrates. |
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 | While it is important to provide plenty off natural light for practical and emotional reasons, it is also important to provide a means to control the intensity of direct sunlight. Excessive direct sunlight can cause problems of glare, making some tasks more difficult.
Excessive direct sunlight can also result in excessive cooling costs in places where air conditioning is used.
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See Also  | Windows are among the most important part of most buildings. Many key patterns - from [[natural-light|natural lighting]] to [[refuge-and-outlook|refuge and outlook]] to achieving a [[be-part-of-the-site|connection between the interior and the site]] - are achieved through windows. The patterns in this category deal with fenestration - the placement, sizing and other issues pertaining to windows. |
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